Assistance Required

Starting Medication

TW anxiety, depression

Tues Feb 23

Virgil took a deep breath as he entered the waiting room. Even though May set this up, he was still nervous about meeting a new person and whatever all of this entailed. He sat down and bounced his leg in his chair as he looked around the room. He couldn't focus on any one thing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try to steady himself. Unlike last time, he was alone. He kind of wished someone had gone with him, but he hadn't even told them about this meeting. It's not like he was going to hide it from them, but he wasn't sure how to bring up the topic.

What was he supposed to say? He wasn't sure how to bring it up. He guessed when he had to ask for a ride to a pharmacy was as good a time as any time bring it up. He didn't entirely want everyone to know. Though it might be obvious if his behavior suddenly changed. He probably would need to talk to someone about this to make sure he didn't forget if he did need medication. Not to mention it might not be the best idea for him to have a bunch of pills in his hands. They were too tempting when he was depressed.

"Virgil?"

Virgil looked up at the man who had said his name. He gestured for him to follow. They walked back into a room. This one wasn't quite as inviting as May's. It was smaller and mostly occupied by a desk perpendicular to the wall. There was a chair on one side and a couple seats on the other. The man gestured for Virgil to take a seat and he sat down on his side of the desk.

"So, you go by Virgil, right?"

Virgil nodded.

"What pronouns do you use?"

"H-he/him."

"I'm Dr. Manning. I also use he/him pronouns." Virgil just nodded in response. He didn't really know what to say. "So, Dr. Ryans said you've been dealing with panic attacks?"

Virgil nodded again.

"And how long have these been going on?"

"Um... they st-started this semester."

"And they just randomly started? You can't think of anything that triggered them?"

Virgil shook his head.

"N-nothing comes to mind. I-I don't know why they st-started like this."

He nodded and typed on his computer for a minute.

"And Dr. Ryans also mentioned something about the possibility of depression."

Virgil frowned. He didn't think that would come up. He had forgotten he had shared a few of his thought before.

"Um... yeah. I guess."

"Have you ever had suicidal thoughts?"

Virgil curled in on himself a little as he nodded.

"Have you ever had random bursts of energy or a sudden euphoria. Like you wanted to rearrange all of the furniture in you room?"

Virgil was confused by the question but shook his head. He had dealt with nervous energy before but he knew what that was.

"Okay, so you're not bipolar," he muttered as he typed on his computer again.

"Have you ever experience a sudden disinterest in the things you used to love?"

Virgil nodded again.

"Y-yeah. It made it h-hard to do my homework. But m-my friends helped p-push me through it."

"That's good. It's important to get that stuff done."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So, before these panic attacks, how would you describe your anxiety?"