davidthegnome
23-02-07, 23:00
Well folks, hope you're all doing well today. I had an interesting, rather unpleasant experience today with a psychiatrist that I wanted to share.
Well, first off, I've been waiting since mid-december just to get in to see this guy. Where I live, in Northern Maine it's difficult to get an appointment with a Psychiatrist because the few we have are always very booked. Still, I did eventually get in (today) and was expecting that he would be very helpful to me. Others have spoken of how great he is and so on so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Well, first thing I did was fill out a mountain of paper work, describing my childhood, all symptoms I experience, my relationship with my family, whether my mom dropped me on my head as a baby (JK about the dropping bit, there were just so many questions) and so on. Finally, after half an hour of doing that, the Doc comes out, and invites me and my Mother into his office to begin our appointment.
First thing he does is repeat every question I just answered in the paper work, so I answered as best I could. We went through all my childhood experiences and traumas and all the recent ones too. I spent two hours telling this guy everything I could about myself and my situation. He would interrupt every so often to direct a question at me or my mother.
Eventually he told me that I need to "apply more effort" to my life, he suggested that I had never really applied enough effort to anything. I nodded numbly as I thought about what this quack would do if he woke up with a racing heart, racing thoughts, a trembling body and an intense, irrational fear of instantly kicking the bucket. I wonder if he has the slightest idea just the effort it takes me to wake up in the morning and have breakfast. I doubt he has any idea what it's like for me just to try going out to dinner with my parents.
He told me that I needed "Less avoidance" and "more exposure" in my life. In other words, I need to get out and be around other people more. This is good advice, advice I received months ago and have been following as best as I am able. Yet he really had nothing new to tell me, despite the fact that I drained myself emotionally by telling him everything I could about myself.
He then wrote me a perscription to increase my zoloft from 100 MG to 150 MG. I asked him if this could be dangerous and he said no. Do these people even study the drugs they perscribe? Great God. I'm not liking the idea of increasing my dose when I'm doing so much better than before already. I think I may go for a second opinion, the downside to this is that it will likely take another two or three months to get in to see a different psychiatrist who may tell me the exact same thing.
Anyone else have similar situations? Maybe I'm being too hard on this Doc, I don't know. Advice and (constructive) criticism is welcome and appreciated.
Anyway, that's it for my evening rant. Thanks for reading all.
God bless you all,
Dave
Well, first off, I've been waiting since mid-december just to get in to see this guy. Where I live, in Northern Maine it's difficult to get an appointment with a Psychiatrist because the few we have are always very booked. Still, I did eventually get in (today) and was expecting that he would be very helpful to me. Others have spoken of how great he is and so on so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Well, first thing I did was fill out a mountain of paper work, describing my childhood, all symptoms I experience, my relationship with my family, whether my mom dropped me on my head as a baby (JK about the dropping bit, there were just so many questions) and so on. Finally, after half an hour of doing that, the Doc comes out, and invites me and my Mother into his office to begin our appointment.
First thing he does is repeat every question I just answered in the paper work, so I answered as best I could. We went through all my childhood experiences and traumas and all the recent ones too. I spent two hours telling this guy everything I could about myself and my situation. He would interrupt every so often to direct a question at me or my mother.
Eventually he told me that I need to "apply more effort" to my life, he suggested that I had never really applied enough effort to anything. I nodded numbly as I thought about what this quack would do if he woke up with a racing heart, racing thoughts, a trembling body and an intense, irrational fear of instantly kicking the bucket. I wonder if he has the slightest idea just the effort it takes me to wake up in the morning and have breakfast. I doubt he has any idea what it's like for me just to try going out to dinner with my parents.
He told me that I needed "Less avoidance" and "more exposure" in my life. In other words, I need to get out and be around other people more. This is good advice, advice I received months ago and have been following as best as I am able. Yet he really had nothing new to tell me, despite the fact that I drained myself emotionally by telling him everything I could about myself.
He then wrote me a perscription to increase my zoloft from 100 MG to 150 MG. I asked him if this could be dangerous and he said no. Do these people even study the drugs they perscribe? Great God. I'm not liking the idea of increasing my dose when I'm doing so much better than before already. I think I may go for a second opinion, the downside to this is that it will likely take another two or three months to get in to see a different psychiatrist who may tell me the exact same thing.
Anyone else have similar situations? Maybe I'm being too hard on this Doc, I don't know. Advice and (constructive) criticism is welcome and appreciated.
Anyway, that's it for my evening rant. Thanks for reading all.
God bless you all,
Dave