Thickntired - that was a real ahole thing for your doc to say to you!! That makes me FURIOUS! I've been a 'victim' of mental health care workers myself and it's ridiculous how rude and dehumanizing these docs can be!! It's like they don't realize how fragile and broken the inpatient people are. We aren't in the hosp cuz we're doing fine! I don't understand why a nurse or somebody didn't take you aside privately and let you know you should be showering. Why do they just assume that people who are so sick that they are inpatient, are just fine when it comes to personal hygiene?! They would offer to help a patient who was physically sick to shower. How exactly are we different? When a person is full blown manic, depressed, psychotic - hygiene is the first thing to go! How did they not learn this in school?!

Sorry for that rant - that just pissed me off what your doc said and reminded me of my own experiences.

It has been a huge comfort to find other people with this issue!