Not sure what category to put this in… so I put it in health and recovery
Long story,
The psychiatry place I was originally referred to wasn’t gonna work… it was a first come, first serve place…
They wanted me to come in at 7:30 and to hope I got seen by 9am… plus they wanted me to bring a bunch of paperwork…
Like what is the point of a referral then?
So I called my health insurance and told them the issue (she thought it was odd too) so they sent me a list of all the psychiatrists in the area that accept my health insurance (very helpful!) she told me to just check ‘em out and give a call back when I chose one.
Well I found one!
they’re only 2 miles away
they were the only office that picked up when I called
they seem to have the most experience working with patients who have schizophrenia or bipolar (compared to the other doctors i looked at)
The psychiatrist I chose is also a guy/male, which normally I would try and avoid, but honestly my favorite therapist I’ve ever had was a male… soo, I’m hoping it goes well too
His background/schooling sounds pretty impressive, to me at least… and he’s been doing this for like 24 years.
Anyways- I’m excited but kind of anxious too… won’t have an appointment with him until the end of the month.
What is going to a psychiatrist like??
Thanks for any responses!
My psychiatrist does not discuss much with me. They aren’t anything like what I would expect a therapist to be like.
She does ask some basic questions. She does the standard depression screening : “How many days are finding little pleasure in things : not at all, once a week, half the time, all the time?” or something like that. There are like 6 questions in the depression screening.
Then she might as a few sz questions like “Are you seeing or hearing things?”, which annoys the crap out of me because I don’t hallucinate and she should know this by now. Anyway, she asks a few questions in this area. These are all standard questions she asks every time.
Then she asks about medication side effects and such.
Based on my answers she might recommend some drug, like if I’m having trouble sleeping she usually offers me a prescription sleep aid. Anyways like I said, she might recommend me a medication or med dosage change based on the answers.
I think that’s just about it.
Yours might be a little more thorough because it’s your first visit, but mine is very basic. No deep delving into delusions or anything, just basic stuff to see if you are having any issues.
Yeah I’m hoping and assuming it will be more in depth since it’s the first visit…. And I’m wanting to get an official diagnosis… since I’ve explained on here that everyone I see says I have something different which is probably understandable, I read the DSM5 with my husband and wow a lot of the symptoms overlap… it’s confusing
Oh and before i meet the psychiatrist the nurse usually gets vitals like weight, blood pressure, height, etc.
You probably already guessed that but I’m just trying to share the whole experience .
It’s been a very long time since my first visit with my psychiatrist, so I don’t remember what all they asked, but yes, I would expect they will delve deeper than my standard visit. And I’m sure they will be good with you volunteering additional information.
Haha I actually didn’t realize that… good to know!
And yeah, I already got everything I want to be sure to cover written out.. like some of my previous symptoms (that the meds thankfully have gotten rid of) and like the years of my previous hospitalizations and stuff..
which is probably understandable, I read the DSM5 with my husband and wow a lot of the symptoms overlap… it’s confusing
.