I moved across country and was hooked up with a psych NP here. She asked about what I had experienced, but never did a full evaluation (at least not like I was used to). Since then, she only spends 5 minutes with me every couple of months (soon it will be extended to every 3) and just goes over the meds I'm on.

I'm used to 30 minute visits, both in California and Boston. The pdocs got to know me. We talked about how I was feeling and my life.

Do you think it's important for a pdoc to know you well? I think it's very important to know the patient at their baseline so that you can recognize when they're not, and can do targeted therapies for that person.

Just as an example, I'm a naturally fidgety person. I bounce my leg up and down, that's the way I am. Worse when I'm anxious. In any case, I don't want her to think that that's some indicated of hypomania. If you get to know me (and ask) you know that that's just my baseline; my hypomania's and certainly mania's are very different. I want her to be able to differentiate baseline from true depression or hypo/mania. How can she do that if she only sees me for 5 minutes??

What do you think?