Thread: What Do I Do...
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Old Jan 22, 2018, 02:39 PM
*Laurie* *Laurie* is offline
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Member Since: Jan 2015
Location: California Uber Alles
Posts: 9,150
Quote:
Originally Posted by maybeblue View Post
Some clinics will require that you see a therapist if you see a psychiatrist there. There are a couple of possible reasons for that

1) The medication that the client is on is/could be addictive and by that I mean that the client keeps needing more and more to get the same effect. This is particularly true of antianxiety medications. The psychiatrist might want the client to learn coping strategies and relaxation techniques in order to reduce the need for medication.

2) The psychiatrist doesn't believe that the "real" problem is a biological one. He/she thinks that the client needs to deal with "deeper" issues.

3) The center wants to make sure that the client is monitored more closely than a psychiatrist has time to do.

In any case psychotherapy doesn't really work if the client doesn't want it to...or has nothing they need to change. It might be nice to talk to someone friendly every week, but seems like that need could be met by someone other than a therapist. If you really think that you have nothing that you need to work on with a therapist and the psychiatrist requires that if you see him/her you must see a therapist too, then maybe you could see if you could get your meds from a general practitioner.
I believe #3 is the reason my pdoc wants me to be in therapy. And I guess I'm just not exactly sure why I'm sitting in those sessions. I mean, what the exact reason is for me (not for the pdoc).