Elana,
I agree, it can be hard to find a psychiatrist with good therapy skills. I think their training is more oriented toward problem solving than relationship building. But, I'd encourage you to trust your gut feelings about this. This is someone who you will be giving some power to, and someone whose judgment you'll want to be able to trust in your most vulnerable moments. The first session does tend to be a lot of history taking, but if the psychiatrist is giving you simplistic answers for complex life issues without really getting to know you first, and left you possibly feeling worse than before you went in to see him, I think you are wise to be cautious.

I think with a psychiatrist, it is important that they both "get" me at some basic level, and have a plan for me that I have confidence in. I've stopped seeing psychiatrists for both reasons... the first one I ever saw had a reasonable plan as far as medications, but we didn't connect and I didn't feel like I trusted her on that level. Then I saw one for about 7 years who I connected with, but who just ran out of ideas for me. I stopped seeing him after I went through a partial hospitalization and was back at work and feeling good, and he told me that I "actually needed 6 months to a year of intensive day treatment." My current psychiatrist doesn't always remember some of the details of my story even though I've been seeing her for over a year... but she is kind and seems otherwise competent. I don't know... it is hard to find a perfect fit with this stuff. Elana, I give you credit for jumping into this process and giving it a try!

peace,
garden gal