I was thinking… if I wear a nice outfit, straighten my hair, put make-up on etc for an appointment, they are less likely to take me seriously because I appear to be functioning well.
If I wear a really casual outfit, do nothing with my hair, wear no make-up, wear odd socks - that kind of thing, then they will take me more seriously.
Do you think this is true? It is ridiculous how clothes and accessories can make us seem like completely different people.
My shrink just talks to you. Gets an idea of how you are. Asks a couple of questions to see how your focused then we talk cricket. He is a fan and so am I…we have a chat…he decides I’m presenting well mentally and we move on…
I turn up looking so shite sometimes…beard a bristling…lo self upkeep but walk out because mentally I’m good…
I’d be suspicious of a psydoc who pegs you by your clothes…it’s an art and they are missing the message!
Your pdoc’s are trained to take your appearance into account before a therapy session. In a way, it’s a no win situation. If you’re well dressed, you’re compulsive. If you’re dressed slovenly you are antisocial. If you’re dressed super well you’re narcissistic. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just dress how you feel comfortable and let your pdoc think what he wants.
You can look well and still need help. I don’t really ever worry about looking too good. I just like to be clean, neat and well dressed. It’s appropriate to dress nice when seeing your doc or therapist. Yeah, this is something I’ve never worried about. I guess my advice would be to dress somewhere in between casual and formal. Dressing nice just shows you care about your appearance.
Just go as you are… they’ll take you seriously but possibly give you a wrong dx. So my advise don’t overthink it.
I once got told by a camhs counsellor that I don’t look like the kind of person he would be seeing because I look happy and confident, just because I was wearing nice clothes and make-up (which is because I was at college before seeing him). Even though he knew beforehand I’d been having panic attacks and feeling depressed.