You are not a freak! Not a freak. You are the opposite of monster.

I remember once my psychiatrist said to me "BirdDancer, only you and one other patient of mine, take so many medications." After he said that, I felt confused. The first thing I thought was that I must be sicker than maybe all but one of his other patients. And yet, on second thought, the look on his face was not of pity, but I think of possible disappointment in himself. Maybe he thought that HE wasn't using the right strategy to help me with my illness. Yes. I think that was it. Of course, not all psychiatrists may be thinking such a thing. Some just pile and pile and move on to the next patient. Or some may legitimately not know quite what to do. Sometimes they need to be challenged to think a little harder about the big picture. Hopefully, they will. If they won't, and the situation worsens or stagnates, it might be time to get a second opinion.

I'm just a patient, too, but I've learned to question my psychiatrist's decisions, at times. He respects that. With him, we've made great progress over the years, and are still working on more.

A lot of psychiatrists seemed to make wrong choices for my medications. In some of their defenses, it just isn't crystal clear what one patients needs as opposed to another. Trial and error. Working together is better than letting them make all choices alone. A good psychiatrist welcomes and considers feedback. Maybe they sometimes say "No", and that's OK, but only if they often say "Yes" after careful consideration. Careful consideration. That's true caring.

I think good questions for many to ask their psychiatrists are "What does each of my medications do?" and "Could one (or more) of my medications be working in a counterproductive way?" Having a clear idea of these answers can help make us feel more comfortable with our med cocktails, whether they include only one medication or even 10.