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If we have ever seen a psychiatrist, then there has been some point in our lives when someone told us to go or we told ourselves. I have some questions for you.
How did you hear about psychiatry?
What are your thoughts?
What did/do you understand?
Please tell me your story!
Self-Care Tip – Explore your connection with psychiatry.
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The psychiatrist gives you pills and now you really don’t know who you are. Don’t care either. The psychologists listens and instead of answering your question they ask you what you think you should do. They both jack your insurance company plus your co-payment. Better to speak to hair dresser or the gypsy lady at the Hungarian restaurant. Snort.
snort.
My first experience of mental health was when I was 14 and my mom suffered ‘a nervous breakdown’ and went to hospital. My dad explained, using our electric toaster, that sometimes ‘a wire comes loose’ and ‘the machine doesn’t work too well’. But that it would be fine, because there were – like dentists and GPs – doctors who knew exactly how to fix these things.
pretty cool dad. glad your mum got the help when she needed it.
Let me clear up a few things . Both the previous comments were not exactly good examples of how psychiatry works. The premise is that if a person has tried couch or talk therapy and gotten better or sees him herself in a position that makes them satisfied, that is the end of it. However if the problem does not go away or there is depression, or manic etc. The doctor needs to prescribe a medication to stabilize the person. This is absolutely necessary for the person to have any success with talk therapy. If the equilibrium in the brain is off, no amount of talk therapy will solve the problem. Once the meds are doing their job, the person can effectively deal with their issues and resolve and learn how to cope with loss, poor family situations, ADD, and other issues that affect peoole and keep them from leading happy and productive lives.
thanks mike. i like your summary.
When I couldn’t sleep or rest, my primary care referred me to a psychiatrist. They helped me to get stabilized so I could begin addressing my real issues.
what a primary care physician.
it sounds like from your comment that medical treatment helped you become more available to think more clearly, and then continue to grow and heal with other things outside of your body?
I did have one experience with a psychiatrist. I was a teenager. I cried for three days straight. I couldn’t stop. If I stopped for a moment, my mother would ask me what was wrong, and I’d start again. She did the only thing she knew to do. She called a psychiatrist.
By the time the day of the appointment arrived, I had already dried my tears. I don’t remember what the psychiatrist asked me, but I do remember what my mother told me a few days later. I asked her if he said I was crazy. She said that the psychiatrist said I was sad, but he didn’t think I needed further intervention. (Is that what he really said? I think so, but I don’t know.) I thought he was brilliant!
Life went on and I didn’t remain that sad. I apparently had pushed back my distresses, building a dam inside myself, that finally burst under the pressure. I’ve never since experienced a marathon cry like that.
I think it makes a vast difference which psychiatrist a person finds. I’d have more confidence is psychiatry, in general, if I thought all psychiatrists were a like you, Sana. Blessings to you…
u r a sweetie carol. thanks for your story as well.
I was referred to a psychiatrist by my primary care doc because of years of recurring depression/anxiety, trying med after med, and several bouts of counseling with my psychologist all of which help but still the continual recurrence. It is my understanding that psychiatrists mostly deal with diagnosis and meds, mainly the more complicated meds and mixing several meds. They are experts at it. I have only had my first visit with him a week ago and am on new meds and I am already feeling a ton better. My psychologist said that when you find a good psychiatrist it is like finding a good hairdresser…you never let him/her go! 🙂
u must have good hair 😉
I was 15 when I saw my first psychiatrist. Later on when I had postpartum depression, I finally decided to ask for help other than therapy (meds). I was confused b/c I didn’t know the difference between a psychiatrist and a therapist, didn’t understand why I only saw the psychiatrist for a few minutes or what kind of information he needed from me. Now a days, people are better informed and they know what is expected of them.
that’s an important oversight by our culture – the biopsychosocial model and who is trained to help with what
I have seen a phychiatrist a couple of times in my life. Both were to help me get stable on medication. I took anti depressants for years. I also went to therapy. Life can be hard sometimes, I think that the best explaination I ever heard was that, when we have illness, we see a doctor to get better. Your heart can get sick, (heart disease), your kidneys can get sick (kidney disease), your pancrease can get sick (diabetes). Every single organ in your body can get disease. All those diseases have names and treatments. Your brain is an organ too and it can also get sick. The symptoms of a disease in your brain is called mental illness. We happen to live in a society that doesn’t understand mntal illness. Just like heart disease, you can do some things to prevent it, but it doesn’t always work. sometimes medication is needed to help us deal with the illness. We would never dream of telling a diabetic not to take their medicine, yet we will tell ourselves that we don’t :”need” or want to take anti depressants, bi-polar medication, or various other meds that help to treat mental illness. Since I have started looking at it that way, it has helped me to do what needs to be done and to encourage others to stay on their medication when they need them.
“I think that the best explanation I ever heard was that, when we have illness, we see a doctor to get better.” thank u for your open direct sharing. u share an inspiring story. speak it!
I told myself I needed help but didn’t know where to turn. My Primary Care Doctor told me to take anxiety medications and to meditate and do yoga. I knew it went beyond that and I needed help. Thankfully I knew my Psychiatrist personally before I went to go see her. I am so thankful I made that step. I knew I didn’t need a “couch session” but I wasn’t sure what I needed. She knew what was needed and became my biggest cheerleader and support system through my healing process. It’s a journey that I don’t have to do alone anymore. I am so thankful for her.
great to hear this catherine. i’m sure she is celebrating with u. keep on.
Thanks Sana for everything! 🙂 I’m doing better!
the best kind of news
I’m actually just beginning the process of getting a psychiatrist for the 1st time. I don’t know at all what to expect so I’m just going in with an open mind and hoping for the best 🙂
hey purple! this is an adventure we’d like to hear about as u wish to disclose. keep us posted and all the best.
Psychiatrists are people who throw high-bounce balls at a wall, repeatedly, waiting for one of them to stick. They seem very surprised when the balls just keep bouncing right off. When that doesn’t work, they try rocks.
this sounds like treatment I wouldn’t want to receive. what have you experienced? please tell us if u r willing. thank u for coming by. keep on.
I’ve had trials of every kind of med they use these days. Anti depressants, (atypical)anti psychotics, mood stabilizers, benzos, random other shit that isn’t even technically a psych med (vistaril, clonodine).
What didn’t make me worse, didn’t help at all. I gained over 100 lbs within a couple of years, my memory and cognitive function has SERIOUSLY declined. Some of the pills made me suicidal, some of them made me anxious which required more meds, some of them gave me akathesia or restless leg (more meds), the lithium made me hypothyroid (more meds…)
And because I just kept getting worse they just kept recycling the shit. It was all about hitting on the right “combination.” But there wasn’t one.
The past couple of months have been rough as I’ve been tapering down. In general, though, I have to say I’ve been doing better now than I did when they had me on the stuff. Hell, I can write again, that’s a major improvement in and of its self.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Thanks for asking 🙂
Amanda
this is a story i believe. i’m so sorry. let us know how u do and thk u for sharing.
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