I am getting better at communicating my feelings, wants and needs with my psychiatrist, but this was not always the case in the past.
Time is limited, but because I am being more assertive with her, I have been trying to be more descriptive and detail oriented - giving her specific examples of what happens in my life when a certain symptom rears its ugly head.
As an example, instead of telling her that I am experiencing negative side effects from Risperdal, I now tell her specifically what happens to my body when I take certain doses of the drug - how I feel and how long it lasts etc…
Do you guys have a difficult time talking/ communicating your needs to your pdoc?
How do you approach him or her?
Many pdocs are known to be poor listeners - with shorter office visits, it is difficult sometimes to convey our feelings to our doctors - sometimes going into a visit prepared with notes makes things easier
The next time when I visit my Pdoc,I want to tell him this
1.I been thinking of gaming the whole day,when I go to work I think of gaming and not focusing on work,I only spend 2 hours on gaming a day on average.
2.I been feeling my mood is getting worse,Mirtazapine and abilify combination is not working as well anymore,I hope to have some changes,because it’s not working
3.One day I flushed down all my Xanax you prescript to me at 0.5mg a day.It doesn’t really help me relax but make me feel a little sleepy,can I do something about it?
Thank you,I will listen to your advice and try to live my best,thanks doc!
and thank you @Wave for letting me post,hope I will ask him these
When I was starting to get stable again… I was sort of the same way, I wouldn’t say much… I’d try to be vague, it didn’t help me very much in the long run.
Now I do try to self advocate more and try to be more assertive I do honestly believe it has helped.
I too had a hard time with pdocs. I have learned it takes two to tango. I gotta express what is bothering me or I won’t get results. it takes work but it can and has to be done.
good luck.
by the way the pdoc I have now is great. I just love him. judy
It all started with my first pdoc whom I saw off and on for about 8 or 9 years. All was okay until I asked him for a referral to a therapist and he said he also did talk therapy so I tried that until during the second session he interrupted me while describing my anxiety troubles to ask “do you have anything interesting to talk about or are we just going to be doing this the whole time?” Wow.
After that I should have given up on him but no, I asked him to refer me to a therapist. He referred me to one who seemed normal until she had me sign a release allowing her to talk to the pdoc. After that all she wanted to talk about was sexual stuff and if not that then it was all out warfare on my self esteem. It was during this, the most vulnerable point in my life and the beginning of my first somewhat-psychotic break that she introduced the concept of spirit attachment and adviced me to seek the aid of the spirit of a 17 year old girl who purportedly had committed suicide in the house I grew up in…
It was then, as I was preparing to abruptly leave for the west coast that I learned that this pdoc had been convinced I had an alternate personality named Matt.
So yeah…it is next to impossible for me to feel comfortable with ANY psychiatrist let alone therapist. It pretty much sucks big time to say the least.
I’ve always had problems talking to my pdoc. I had to talk to my pdoc about my symptoms still. He said i shouldn’t be experiencing symptoms still that maybe i’m exaggerating. That really offended me, I’m not going to lie about still hearing voices especially just to have a higher dose of meds that have side effects like tiredness with a chance of developing serious side effects later one.
My pdoc is probably the only one I’m honest with. I feel comfortable with him, more so than with the therapist and even my boyfriend lately. I try to be as specific as possible with side effects or what is going on since my last visit. I think because he is an MD Dr. I respect him more. Plus we have a good rapport.
my primary Pdoc is great but I’ve only had like three visits w/ him. when I was in the hospital a month back the Pdocs there didn’t really listen to me & one of them I found quite intimidating. I was scared to open up to him.
I am lucky to have an extremely compassionate and intelligent psychiatrist. I’m not a good communicator though. I can’t really can’t describe to anyone the General Feeling of dread I feel at all times. Its impossible to talk about it.
My pdoc is wonderful. And, he is highly respected and looked up to by everyone at the hospital where he works. The trouble is that he is a trigger for my paranoia and I am very uncomfortable around him because of this. This situation is not the best for remembering to ask questions about my illness. So, most of the time, when I have questions, I ask an internet psychiatrist.
When I had a pdoc I kept going over the same issues again and again. I didn’t know what to talk about. It would be kinda embarrassing to sit their silent for an hour. To tell you the truth, I was underwhelmed by the guy, like I have been with other pdoc’s. They follow that therapy doctrine that the therapist is supposed to be a passive recipient to the patient, and the patient is supposed to project his problems onto the doctor. I can see how that would be punishing for a pdoc, but that approach doesn’t work for me.
