argh! Oh how mad I am reading this. How mad I am!

I visited a psychiatrist yesterday. It was a one time visit after my regular psychiatrist left the mental health clinic at our county in favor of an adjacent county. So I do not yet have a regular psychiatrist assigned to me, and this guy was a stop gap.

So he talked to me as if I were a complete idiot. I mean - just the most idiotic person on Earth. He asked me whether I ever hear voices and other such things. At the same time he acknowledged that my former psychiatrist had left very good notes (and thus, should have explained well that no, I do not hear voices). But, this guy has 450 patients in his caseload, as he told me, so he he does not have time to read notes.

And a whole host of similar questions that should not have been asked.

And then I told him that I stopped eating because of anxiety. I do eat very little - there is some "psychological nausea" inside my throat that makes even thinking of eating overwhelming. I am not restricting or trying to lose weight - it is an unusual manifestation of anxiety. And, my former psychiatrist told me that I was anxious (before the food thing even started), so I kind of expected this one to be a little more helpful. Do you know what he told me?

He told me that I needed to eat protein. Protein is very important. If not meat, then tofu, but I need protein.

And I wanted to tell him: "Oh thank you so much. So much. You are unbelievably helpful - that my mother told me that protein was essential when I was three years old was not enough; the 40 years that followed were not enough either; really, I mean, REALLY, I needed to drive and wait in line to see YOU to learn that I need protein. Finally, you were able to get the message about the importance of protein across..."

I mean - there is some kind of a weird psychological issue that prevents me from eating; I might even need a temporary anti-anxiety med since the level of situational anxiety-provoking material (objectively and not as a result of my imagination - I have a court case trying to get visitation of my children, am working, preparing to apply to grad school, etc etc) is through the roof...

...and all he has to offer is that I need protein. Geez, this is so helpful. Geez.

In other words, those suggestions to do things that are entirely obvious are patronizing, condescending, paternalistic, and just plain idiotic.