"I found the CBT treatment online to be impersonal and very Americanised"

Due to difficult family circumstances I was depressed and very stressed. I attended my (very good) GP who suggested I contact Talk Liverpool. I rang the number and was assessed quite quickly - I was told that if I did CBT online, that would be almost immediate and save the long waiting list for counselling. I opted for this, and then despite the assurance I waited about five or six weeks before anything happened. I was then contacted by a pleasant person who put me onto the CBT website and rang me every week to see how I was getting on. I found the CBT treatment online to be impersonal and very Americanised - they talked about 'cell phones' for example. Because the person was nice, I took the phone calls which actually were just another job to do. I agreed the treatment had been useful although I did not feel it had actually reduced my stress levels at all. A few months later I went back to the GP and asked for anti-depressants. The GP offered me counselling as well and I said to him not to bother, as I knew the waiting time was very long. I post this to say that in my experience, the psychological therapies on offer are very impersonal and take such a long time, I would always opt for medication, which at least has an effect within a few weeks.