I write about the psychiatrist-patient relationship extensively. What you are experiencing is going to become more and more common in mental health treatment. There is a serious shortage of psychiatrists. The average age of a psychiatrist is in the 50s. Medical students aren't attracted to psychiatry because its emotionally demanding and has relatively low pay as physicians go. In-patient psychiatrists are hardest hit. They work with the most ill and sometimes most dangerous patients. Dermatologists are not bitten, spat on or physically assaulted by their patients. Psychiatrists are. Who wants that when you can work low stress 9-5 and be paid way more money. No one calls their dermatologist at 2 AM threatening to harm themselves or others.

The increased wait times and the lack of choice for seeing a psychiatrist is going to be a reality for most patients in a decade. I really don't think most patients appreciate the coming problem.