I don’t like my new psychiatrist too much… I go to a great clinic that’s run out of the local university hospital. The resident doctors are who see students, and there are attending doctors who supervise. So the visit usually goes, I see the resident student doctor, then he/she collaborates with the attending doctor, and then they both talk to me to sum up while the resident gives me my injection. Since they are students, the residents change annually.
The clinic is good because everything is up to date, all the doctors are up on their knowledge of psychiatry, they offer the injection, hours are great…
My first two doctors in my years at the clinic were wonderful, I loved them and grew very close to them. Both had been with me at times when I was hospitalized and helped me get through the recovery post-hospitalization.
I have this new lady now. I don’t like female doctors for some reason, I just don’t trust them. My experiences with female women in the healthcare profession have not been positive.
She kind of patronizes me I feel. Like the first time I saw her, I told her I had lost 12 pounds that week (which I did, first week on a diet, lost a lot of water weight). She said “Well maybe it was 1.2 pounds and you didn’t read the decimal.” Like I’m some kind of moron who doesn’t know how to read a scale.
Then I read my write up from my visit a few months ago and she described me as depressed, severely psychotic. I feel like experiencing minimal symptoms does not qualify me to be severely psychotic. She always talks about “maybe going for a visit in the hospital again”. I just don’t like her…
I’m afraid to ask for a new doctor because I don’t want to have to tell people why I don’t like her, I just want to change. But that’s not a possibility.
What have you done to help you get through psychiatrists you may not have clicked with? Did you stick with it, or get out of it?
I had a bad stint with psychiatrists when I was in the military, during my onset. I did not like them and they made me paranoid, even more paranoid. I swore when I got out of the military I would never see another again. This is one of a very few regrets I have about my life. If I had of, I would have received treatment and become stable earlier.
I believed for a long time that my therapist was out to harm me. I stopped going to her, but then my roommates kind of made me go. So I would sit in silence in the session, afraid that she would do something if I said anything wrong. Then one weekend I saw her at a mall, which made it worse. Thought she was following me.
I don’t think I will stop going to see my psychiatrist just because I don’t like her… I hope not anyway. I’m glad I received treatment as early as I did and had a support team (first roommates, then parents), to encourage me to go to appointments.
Nothing. Here in the UK it’s very hard to change pdocs and if you do manage to you don’t get a choice on the replacement. If a pdoc doesn’t like you and wants you off their books that’s a different story.
i have to say my two shrinks , both female, have been great.
i see a female clinical pyschologist who works with my shrink, both helping me.
if you don’t like her then change, but sometimes we as sz can be a little sensitive and paranoid with change.
hope it works out for you.
take care
I think she was just trying to make small talk with the scale comment. It might take time to adjust to a new pdoc, I’ve been seeing mine for 8 years, I’ve had one who just really made me feel helpless when I didn’t want to take meds as she just wrote I was unable to think for myself and had to stay committed while I accepted treatment.
This was my problem in the past, I was not so happy with all of my previous doctors, so I stuck around for a long time, like many years, then eventually with all of my psychiatrists I end up leaving and switching. I think I stayed because I was younger - more naive and I was a lot sicker so my judgement might have been off a bit.
I think that here in the States, where I live, it is easier to switch doctors, especially at the time when I was not on Medicare like I am now. Thank goodness I finally am seeing a competent doctor who is very direct with me - no sugar coating.
My suggestion to you would be to give her some more weeks - so this way it will be easier to assess the situation better, and if you still see that she is getting to you and seems unprofessional , then make the switch.
I would also consider how competent she is. Best of luck to you
I think problems managing doctors are typical for patients. This discussion is good!
My treatment team is made up of several professionals, one of whom is a private pay Ph. D. doctor. I think he formerly liked me a lot more than he does now, but I still want him on my team because he is excellent at what he does. I think he would just as soon I went somewhere else, but oh well.
I did not click with one psychiatrist, luckily he was a private pdoc so I could easily switch. He was just out for my money it seemed, and didn’t encourage me to get hospitalised when I needed it, so I simply just stopped seeing him and saw another pdoc instead, who referred me to the hospital where I go for outpatient treatment now. Fortunately the pdoc I see now at hospital is a good one, so I am happy, the only thing I don’t like is when he is too busy to see me when I have to go for an apt so he palms me off onto an assisting pdoc who doesn’t know my history.
Change doctors, she doesn’t sound like a very good or compassionate doctor. I’ve had to change psychiatrists twice in the last year. Your psychiatrist/therapist should be one of the most important people in your lives.
In the past if I’ve not liked a dr I’ve just left and gotten a new one. But now that I’m older and (ahem) wiser I would try to advocate for myself. In your situation, you are only seeing a resident who is still learning how to be a pdoc. I would take the opportunity to speak up and tell them how I feel about the care they are providing. She’s only human and the only way you are going to get the best care possible is if she knows how you feel about whats been going on.
I’ve stuck through some “meh” luke warm docs… they were just so-so and I wasn’t in the mood to be “fixed” anyway so we were both half-ass invested.
I had one who was very intense and that freaked me out… I feel bad now because due to being so intense that could have been a sign that they were willing to put a lot of energy into me… but I’ll never know now.
The few I’ve just up right stormed out on are the ones who treat my Mom or my sis like they are stupid.
My Mom has been journalling and recording and living with my symptoms/ meds/ allergic reactions… since I was 5 years old… so when some doc tells her she doesn’t know how it goes… that’s it… I’m done. Gone and goodbye.
I did just remember one that made me up and leave too… he was the “one up on you” sort of doc.
He was battling a mental illness… and in theory that should have made him more sympathetic… but he really ticked me off…
If I saw on hallucination… he saw three. If I was having problems with poverty of speech… he was mute for a year sort of thing. I didn’t take any med he gave me because I didn’t think he even listened to a word I said so why should I trust what he gives me?
The doc I have now I’ve been with off and on since I was 20.
When I didn’t care an inch about my health… it seemed like… neither did he.
When I sort of half way cared about getting better… it seemed like he was slightly more interested.
Now that I’m working as hard as I can to get better… He’s a really good doctor and seems to listen to what I say and take my feelings into consideration.
It’s been an odd relationship, but he’s patient and has never been rude so that was probably why I kept going back.
I have only really had one psychiatrist. The first one put me on klonopin, but my hospital doc took me off it, thankfully. (I did kind of lie to the first one, so he thought I only had anxiety)
I try to make due with who I have, but if the disagreement got serious I would move. Some people have a different sense of humor. My social worker thinks my life is funny, because there’s always something weird or bad happening. She thinks I’m a bit of an air head, because I like shopping and I don’t take things too seriously. She is cooperative and helpful, so I don’t pay attention to the rest.
I never know how to approach this. You don’t want to get off on the wrong foot but its hard to trust a new psychiatrist. My first one was horrible and wrote nasty things about me in my mental health record preparing the way for negative experiences for years. I was marked. Had a great doctor for the last year but he quit. See the new guy tommarow. I don’t know what to wear or how present myself. I guess you can just hope their ok