The first meeting with a psychiatrist in my experience is pretty bad - they're basically doing an intake assessment to get an idea of what your problems are, severity and whether you're at risk. I'm like a lot of other people here, my psychiatrist doesn't really do talk therapy - he manages my meds, and he has all the therapeutic warmth of a dead fish. I see him for 20 min. every 3 to 6 weeks depending on how I'm doing, and if we're making changes to my meds. But he's really good with meds and referrals to other programs within the hospital, so I wouldn't give him up for anything. I see 2 different T's on alternating weeks, one for trauma, one for addictions, and I see them both for 50 min., and they both do counselling.

I just had a 2 hr intake assessment at my hospital's anxiety clinic after my pdoc referred me there for a social phobia treatment group. It was horrible. 2 hours of a guy with no facial expression, going rapid fire through a series of diagnostic tests getting into my whole mental health and addictions history, as well as my experience with SA and my anxiety. I got through it - mainly because I really want to get into the program.

So yeah in my experience first appointments are usually pretty grim.

--splitimage