[bpcyclist]

Just wondering what folks' most disappointing experience with a psychaitrist has been Hope this is not too triggering for anyone. For me, it was my former pdoc not making the bipolar 1 diagnosis for many years, even when there was a fair bit of evidence for it. She called me Major Depressive. I could have really avoided a whole lot of anguish and loss if someone had just gotten me on some lithium or something a little earlier. I am not angry and do not blame her at all. I know it can be really hard for them. But this delayed diagnosis certainly has had a massive cost for me. I suppose my life could have been quite different...

Please forgive me if I upset anyone here. Not at all my intent. But sometimes it helps to talk about these things. At least it does for me. Hugs and love.

The most disappointing experience I have is still ongoing. My pdoc has an "assistant" who gets in the way of everything. I cannot talk to my pdoc at all and the "assistant" always mixes information up. I try to relay messages to my pdoc, but both of his assistants (1st one was replaced by the 2nd one) are stupid and never pay attention. Then when my they relay(ed) information to me, that information would not make sense because they got my details wrong in the first place and then I am getting my pdoc's suggestions based on wrong information because THEY screwed up.

I am trying to switch pdocs, but I am just not stable enough to do so. Maybe one day I can switch, but I have to at least wait for my new mood stabilizer to take effect.

[Mountaindewed]

My Pdoc at my last clinic said no to every single med change. I’d ask him for an increase in Geodon and he’d said no. I said I really needed it. He said “no your fine. If you have a problem go talk to your therapist.” His receptionist never returned calls. And I mean never. In the 4 years I saw him she returned my call once. I literally had to get off an insurance just to find a better Pdoc because my insurance only covered ****** ones.

[bpcyclist]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

The most disappointing experience I have is still ongoing. My pdoc has an "assistant" who gets in the way of everything. I cannot talk to my pdoc at all and the "assistant" always mixes information up. I try to relay messages to my pdoc, but both of his assistants (1st one was replaced by the 2nd one) are stupid and never pay attention. Then when my they relay(ed) information to me, that information would not make sense because they got my details wrong in the first place and then I am getting my pdoc's suggestions based on wrong information because THEY screwed up.

I am trying to switch pdocs, but I am just not stable enough to do so. Maybe one day I can switch, but I have to at least wait for my new mood stabilizer to take effect.

Hang in there, blue. Things will turn around for you.

[bpcyclist]

Originally Posted by Mountaindewed

My Pdoc at my last clinic said no to every single med change. I’d ask him for an increase in Geodon and he’d said no. I said I really needed it. He said “no your fine. If you have a problem go talk to your therapist.” His receptionist never returned calls. And I mean never. In the 4 years I saw him she returned my call once. I literally had to get off an insurance just to find a better Pdoc because my insurance only covered ****** ones.

I hope your new pdoc is better, MD--I really do.

I totally hear you on this, bpyclist! I'm sorry that you didn't get a more conscientious/careful doctor until late in the game. I experienced very similar, though not with any long-term psychiatrist. My experiences were more the stereotypical GP appointments when I was only depressed. As predicted, they prescribed ADs that I only took for a couple days to a couple weeks, max, then switched moods. I lost a lot, too. It is horrible when you have a career that had great potential, and then you find yourself disabled. "BirdDancer, Director of Communications?" Didn't make it to that.

I was sort of lucky that once I finally made it to seeing a psychiatrist, long-term, that they did get it right after about 3 or 4 weeks. The quickness was probably because he also led group therapy that he forced me to attend. He saw the switch, himself. He told me I had "manic depression" and that I should take a moodstabilizer. I basically told him off and didn't return for a year, at which time I was hospitalized. I don't hold anything against him.

Before the above-mentioned pdoc, other than GPs that got it wrong, I saw a university psychiatrist one-time only, who got it wrong after seeing me for only 10 mins max with no future appointment, and just a prescription for Prozac, that I took maybe once or twice. The next pdoc was in a hospital in Taiwan. I was taken there in a severe pure depressive state. Again, he assumed depression and sent me back to my apartment with bags and bags of who knows what (surely at least one AD and probably supplements). Never saw him again, either. I got manic quickly, quit my job and started traveling in Hong Kong and Thailand. Major story about that experience!

After my first hospitalization and a six-month PHP/IOP, I went to a really cold fish of a psychiatrist. Not helpful! I ended up hospitalized soon after. When I attempted to return to him and my designated therapist, I found that they refused my return because I wanted to quit the PHP prematurely, and...something I'd rather not mention. After that, I was forced back to the PHP, then sent back inpatient. Then after the PHP/IOP again, I got my current private psychiatrist of over 14 years, whom I adore. Coincidentally, he was the psychiatrist I had during my first psych hospitalization. Regardless, I was still hospitalized many times, and though the hospital pdocs did confirm, over and over, my bipolar 1 diagnosis, they couldn't stop the kindling effect. They gave me unhelpful medication cocktails. Plus, I was a lousy therapy client. That didn't help. Eventually, my current pdoc did work out a fairly good med cocktail for me.

[*Beth*]

I've seen around 30 pdocs over the years. Most of them have been caring and pretty good. There were a few losers in the bunch, of course. My pdoc now is the best one I've had; I'm genuinely lucky.

The worst one? The last time I was IP was in November of 2018. The psychiatrist I saw in the hospital was awful. I mean a vile SOB. He was uncaring, rude, and sadistic. There was nothing, not one thing, redeeming about the man. I wondered how he had become so miserable, how he even lived through 1 hour of his life. He didn't seem depressed, he seemed to thrive on being cruel. I hope I never see his face again.

[swimmingly]

It was 2015 and I was at my pdoc's office

Possible trigger:

telling them I was suicidal

. They gave me directions to a local hospital. I drove myself to the hospital. I still have no idea how.

[Wander]

My worst pdoc dumped me as a patient after I had a manic episode with psychosis. My psychosis involved me getting obsessed with metaphysics. I believe I was god and that I could create universes and move objects with my mind. I also became dangerously suicidal when it got mixed. My pdoc, a devout Christian, couldn’t cope with my non-Christian beliefs so he told me he was dumping me the day he discharged me from hospital! He had tried to convert me several times during our few years together and I kept politely saying I was not interested and happy with my spirituality.

By dumping me after such a severe episode he risked my life. Not to mention not being able to keep his beliefs separate from his job. He just couldn’t handle my psychosis driven metaphysical beliefs. Isn’t that his job!? Anyway, it was really a gift because the pdoc he referred me to has been amazing and has found a way to keep me stable for 16 months now. I started seeing him over three years ago. It was pretty rough there for a while but my new pdoc has stuck with me and kept seeking new treatment options to help me. After years of average, or worse, pdocs I have finally found a good one.

[bpcyclist]

Originally Posted by Wander

My worst pdoc dumped me as a patient after I had a manic episode with psychosis. My psychosis involved me getting obsessed with metaphysics. I believe I was god and that I could create universes and move objects with my mind. I also became dangerously suicidal when it got mixed. My pdoc, a devout Christian, couldn’t cope with my non-Christian beliefs so he told me he was dumping me the day he discharged me from hospital! He had tried to convert me several times during our few years together and I kept politely saying I was not interested and happy with my spirituality.

By dumping me after such a severe episode he risked my life. Not to mention not being able to keep his beliefs separate from his job. He just couldn’t handle my psychosis driven metaphysical beliefs. Isn’t that his job!? Anyway, it was really a gift because the pdoc he referred me to has been amazing and has found a way to keep me stable for 16 months now. I started seeing him over three years ago. It was pretty rough there for a while but my new pdoc has stuck with me and kept seeking new treatment options to help me. After years of average, or worse, pdocs I have finally found a good one.

Glad you have found a good one, Wander. That first moron should have lost his license.

[Nammu]

Eh,... There's been a couple. I think the worse was one that threatened me with a state hospital if I did take the huge med cocktail he was prescribing. The side effects were horrible and I walked out and spent days hiding out at friends houses scared he called the cops on me and going though withdrawals. The main problem with pdocs prior to 2005 is that they all prescribed antidepressants and those throw me into a mixed mood. Now days it's much more common for Pdocs to know some bipolar people can't tolerate antidepressants even with a mood stabilizer. But this one he was just a pusher.

[bpcyclist]

Originally Posted by Nammu

Eh,... There's been a couple. I think the worse was one that threatened me with a state hospital if I did take the huge med cocktail he was prescribing. The side effects were horrible and I walked out and spent days hiding out at friends houses scared he called the cops on me and going though withdrawals. The main problem with pdocs prior to 2005 is that they all prescribed antidepressants and those throw me into a mixed mood. Now days it's much more common for Pdocs to know some bipolar people can't tolerate antidepressants even with a mood stabilizer. But this one he was just a pusher.

Threats are always a good way to provide healthcare.

I would be dead without my antidepressant, not question about it.

Originally Posted by Nammu

Eh,... There's been a couple. I think the worse was one that threatened me with a state hospital if I did take the huge med cocktail he was prescribing. The side effects were horrible and I walked out and spent days hiding out at friends houses scared he called the cops on me and going though withdrawals. The main problem with pdocs prior to 2005 is that they all prescribed antidepressants and those throw me into a mixed mood. Now days it's much more common for Pdocs to know some bipolar people can't tolerate antidepressants even with a mood stabilizer. But this one he was just a pusher.

Hi @Nammu. My hospitalizations did not stop until the inclusion of antidepressants in my mixes stopped. It's no joke that some of us can not take them. Even Lamictal, at high doses, seems to be too activating for me. Lamictal is the only medication I continue to take, at a low dose, that I regard as an antidepressant, and yes, I know that it is officially regarded as a moodstabilizer.

I am sorry you also had to wait so long for this issue to be accepted.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by bpcyclist

Threats are always a good way to provide healthcare.

I would be dead without my antidepressant, not question about it.

This.. is an ongoing problem for me. I often hear friends saying this. I am very very thankful that you are alive (as for me, not only would my quality of life be much better if I could tolerate such meds.... I would be less in danger myself of things becoming more seriously .... for ME )

love to all

[The_little_didgee]

Back in 1994 I met a psychiatrist who must have been a demon in disguise at a children's hospital. She was horrible, didn't talk at all during therapy sessions and misdiagnosed me. Her therapy was influenced by Freud and it implied that I was inherently flawed. I was basically told I was a ****ed up individual with a personality disorder. After that I couldn't get help without judgement.

Who the hell does psychoanalysis on teenagers?????

The inpatient unit was a joke where social contagion was rife. It ****ed me up, because it was all about conformity and being normal. I entered their unit despondent and left broken. I'm still recovering from that horrific experience.

[busymomof5]

I guess my worst experience was when I was 19 and freshly diagnosed. My psychiatrist had narcolepsy, and she would just randomly fall asleep during our 45 minute sessions. I never knew what to do, and so I either sat there silently or quietly left.