Hi Byz, I noticed that the Mayo Clinic blog post you linked to is titled "When depression treatment isn't working". Typo reported here (02-15-2010) that she'd been diagnosed as bipolar and prescribed an antipsychotic, didn't like the overall effects, and stopped taking it after just a couple of doses. I'm not sure how well the article would apply.

It seems to me that some pdocs will respond to that better than others, and the longer it takes you to persuade them to listen, the more of their (expensive) time you'll end up paying for. I can see how if a pdoc seems not to be listening well the first time, you might think twice before deciding to pay for (quite possibly) some more of the same.

I'm interested in what kind of results have others here had from being bullheaded with their diagnosers/prescribers, and what kinds of bullheadedness seemed to work the best. I've seldom had disagreements with providers myself but I know a few others who have. I don't know if I'd be up to being as persistent as they were, myself -- but I've never had the provocation they had, either. I tend to stop, at least at first, at the thought "But they're the doctor and I'm only the patient, so don't they know a lot more than I do about what's likely to work for me?"

Typo's been mentioning therapy a lot. When I searched just now for posts with [therapy] by [Typo], I got 73 hits.

I enthusiastically agree. I know that in some places professionals tend to be in short supply, overextended, and overworked. If a professional seems to be doing a bit less than their part for whatever reason, what works best (at reasonable cost) to get them to, or to find one who can do better?