Something to keep in mind when you visit a psychiatrist... [View all]

[Locut0s]

Just got back from my my recent appointment with my new psychiatrist all and all it's going well considering this is the guy who was rated so horribly online. He seems better than the last guy I saw. One thing though that I've heard many people complain about with psychiatrists is that they are condescending. I have two friends with serious emotional problems, worse than mine, and they both will likely never see a psychiatrist again because of this, they felt hurt or talked down to by the DR. I've seen people online say the same thing. This IS an issue however I also think that it's an argument made by people who are often not yet ready to see a psychiatrist. The truth is it's not going to be easy to see one, even a good one. Condescension IS an issue and they have no right to be down right rude or overly harsh on you. However you ARE going to be talking about difficult subjects and hearing things about yourself that you may not want to hear or deal with. And of course they have to keep their professional distance. Sometimes they will also be somewhat harsh and forceful because that's what they need to be to get the point across to you. People don't want to hear some of these things and it takes a little persuasion on the part of the DR sometimes.

The session I was just in we were taking about the fact that I am emotionally not mature. Intellectually I'm very mature, even beyond my years, but emotionally I stopped developing in some ways as a young kid. I'm a mix of young kid, teenager, and old wise man. It's not healthy and the most important thing is the various sides of me don't know how to properly talk to each other. Talking about this issue is difficult and yes he did seem kind of condescending at times but when I look back on it it's more that I don't want to FULLY accept the truth of the fact that I'm not anywhere near as mature as I should be in some areas and need to work hard on this. I take great pride in my intelligence, probably too much really, so it's hurtful to think of myself as underdeveloped in some other way. However luckily for me I already knew this aspect of myself, someone here on DU actually diagnosed me with this very issue. If I had not been already aware of it myself and had been confronted by the fact it would have been even more difficult. I wonder how many of the negative opinions people have of psychiatrists come from them pealing away layers and revealing things they aren't ready to deal with yet?