Do you really trust psychiatrists?

I'm not trying to convey. I said (=wrote) that we all were abused one way or another. You said (=wrote) you weren't, so, lucky you.

I consulted depression with a guy who once opened the door with fly unzipped (administrators are requested not to react, it really happened, man was elderly).

He was such a sweet person, although slightly too dogmatic on dosage and I decreased Prozac against his wishes (good decision). Of course I informed him over the phone before taking any action. And yes, he looked exactly like Freud We didn't discuss Hitler though

I'm sure he could tell a lot about war. Afters so many years I still remember him immaculately clothed in tweed, sitting behind old, pre-war desk. Old hunter he was, with two dogs for company. Long gone now.

I do trust mine, however, I have seen two in the past that I found not to be trustworthy and I quit going to see them. Both of which prescribed too much medication in my opinion.

The one I have now listens to what I want out of medication and what I don't want and goes from there. He got quite frustrated over the last two years because nothing was working but during part of that time I wasn't able to afford anything but generics and they weren't working. I'm med resistant and in bad shape. It's much easier now that he found some that work.

I don't put trust in nucturne Des-Dur composers.

Lucky me? There is nothing lucky about my experience. Just because I wasn't abused doesn't mean life has been easy. I've struggled a lot.

If you say so.

I say it's luck not to be abused in comparison with kinds of abuse I've heard of. My thinking is 'It could have been me', and luckily it wasn't me. Of course it doesn't diminish responsibility for different kinds of abuse that happened to me.

The pharmacy companies are out to profit as much as they can. So they take every drug that affects the brain and claim it can help with psych problems. The pdocs follow like sheep, claiming there is lots of science supporting what they do with meds. Baloney. Drug companies can design studies to produce any result they want.

Patients end up claiming that they are being helped because they want to believe that.

There is one antidepressant that helps me, which I take. When I was on 5 different psych drugs, I wasn't any better off. So I stopped taking all that excess junk.

I don't trust drug dealers, and certainly not the "legal" kind.

Anecdotal answer:
pdoc #1: always very rushed, rarely answered calls, made appointments as short as possible, expensive, seemed to be a good pdoc in terms of medication (very cautious, never overmedicated me), but was out of there the minute the short appointment was over. Also believed in treating the symptoms, not the diagnosis, and avoided diagnosing me. Not my favorite.

pdoc #2: willing to work with me, answered phone after hours and at odd hours and always within 24 hours, cared about lifestyle things as well as medication things - best pdoc ever

pdoc #3: never answers calls, cares maybe a little too much (a little too parental and commenting on things like weight and acne), not my favorite

Answer to your question: none of them seem to be pushing meds, but there are varying degrees of dedication. The best pdoc I had (#2) was the most easy to reach and willing to listen. Unless I was in a paranoid place, I trusted him. I never trusted the first pdoc (#1) but that was probably due to the intense paranoia I had at the time. Last pdoc (#3) I trust on some things, but sometimes she is uninformed.

anxious type

marketing type

calls back; speaks out of experience in a shady manner, long story short
stranger danger - advice pusher, one supposed to use some blusher.

Here docs don't push meds the same because tax money has to pay for them. But we have a whole other issue now, we have too few doctors in training because the current ones have a say how many should be accepted into university. The fewer docs the bigger salary. So now we have a bunch of narcissistic freaks who makes tons because a lot of clinics lack a doctor, and to temp there they ask for like 5x normal salary. IDK, it's all messed up.

I dislike pdocs and hate Big Pharma, it's all about making money. Neither one really cares about the patient.
If I listened to my pdoc, I would be a catatonic, drooling mess from all the meds he wants me on.

I do not tend to fully trust them. Also I do not think the FDA really has our best int rests in mind, I take any info that comes from them with a very large grain of salt...and to me the term 'FDA approved' means nothing of any value to me.

PERFECTLY stated. remarking on post # 8
I am overwhelmingly grateful my PCP for 18 years of service. A brilliant woman, willing to fight insurance circus for paying and non paying patients.
Therapist 14 years, I trust him 99% Keeping perfect allbeit hard to read notes... Great guy AAA service and yes takes medicaid/ if you live NJ....
Psych DRs' well, no, my reasoning is that for me I found too many eras in notes!
IF you fit into a box you get a pill
Cognitive/DBT therapy works and takes time and dollars.
TRUST YOURSELF remember your dr. is working for YOU, advocating for YOU, if not see another until those sparks ..........
We should help each other find those resources, PC is a wonderful first step.
SORRY started to rant... Perfectly stated.
H.

PS. Lets not confuse topic, often you will hear about all the bad experiences, as i too had the pleasure of.....
There are great Doctors' whose dedicated life and limb for patients. The FDA is a different monster, not to be trusted, thanks !

While I'm sure that most some therapists act with integrity, and do a good job, looking back it is clear that the one I saw for several years treated me as a source of income.

In retrospect, I can see that my problems were centred around my relationship with an absolutely typical narcissistic parent. He ticked ALL the boxes. But the first time I heard of the idea of the narcissistic parent was watching The Sopranos! How come one episode of a TV drama taught me more about my situation than years of 'therapy'? Its ridiculous.

So, I am naturally suspicious when I hear of therapy going on for years. I understand that in some cases this is necessary, but I can also see how this situation is open to abuse. Therapy should be about two things, crisis management, and developing the skills to enable you to live autonomously. Basically, its about unlearning the 'crap', and learning what a good parent would have shown you, and to do this a quickly as possible. Otherwise, it just gets too cosy. The 'therapee' gets their weekly chat, the therapist gets their monthly check, and the years pass.

Lacan had an interesting take on this. He noticed that people padded out their sessions, and only started getting to what was critical at the end of the session. If people had an hour, they used an hour. So, instead of allocating them an hour, his sessions had no defined time. He, basically, ended them if he thought they were going nowhere. Tough love. Worth thinking about, though. Basically, if therapy is going on for years, you gotta ask, is it working, and who for?

With my first pdoc, I felt like a guinea pig & I hated all the side effects that I was going through with them.....even with the smallest of doses & even in the hospital he almost didn't believe that I was having the side effects that I was having.....one stupid medication they gave me at night in the hospital....I woke up & couldn't even sit up in bed as all my joints couldn't move.....it was horrible. My own pdoc had priviledges at that hospital so I always was under his care even in the hospital & he would always put me in the hospital if he tried to change a medication because of the horrible side effects.

I never understood how medication could help a situational depression because no one could change the situation that was causing my distress & it was bad enough that it wasn't something that could just be accepted or changed.....& medication didn't lessen the reaction I was having to the situation.

LOL....he quite treating me when he said....no more suicide attempts & I didn't want to live...they weren't just attempts it's just that I wasn't successful even when I should have been.

I ended up in a private mental hospital & they assigned me this pdoc....initially I really didn't like him & felt unheard & asked to be changed....but the staff suggested that I sit down & really talk with him & discuss my concerns.....I did & he listened....he was the best pdoc I ever could have had....he was also up on natural care that didn't include chemical meds but natural like the Omega's & other options including the light box that he loaned me for awhile to see if it would work before going out & buying one that I didn't have money for.

He was also there to give me some major medications for the trauma I went through even though it totally knocked me out...it was what I needed due to the horrible nightmares I was having......I have to admit, he did have his weaknesses like when I was going through the trauma he was trying to brush it off as my NOT seeing what was going on accurately because of the extreme weight loss I was experiencing.....because of the trauma I was going through & the stress I had been going through with the cancer that my mother was going through & trying to make sure she got the care she was needing because her oncologist was being negligent in his care for her because she was OLD.

Also had one time when the last pdoc prescribed a medication to help me get through my neck fusion stress....only problem, I ended up staying on the med afterward & that mixed with the nausea medication for the migraines....landed me with parkinson's symptoms & he didn't catch that it was happening.....ended up going to urgent care & they caught one med....a month later I was still not better & I went back to the neurologist I was seeing before the neck fusion & he caught the other med.....a month later, the symptoms were finally gone.

Having left my bad marriage of 33 years & living alone....I refuse to take any medications because they leave me grogy & non-functional & living alone.....I NEED TO FUNCTION......so I just take care of things with HOT SHOWERS.....& distractions.....wonderful therapy & a great DBT group.....& I never bothered getting a pdoc here because I refused to take any meds....so why pay for a pdoc if you aren't going to take anything to need them for (saves me $)

Yes this true. However in the minute circumstances, which I am a part of, it takes however long it takes. Some people are hard wired damaged goods, broken and beautiful stamped in the medical logs for eternity only to be beneficial to someone in the future. I have marked goals, I am making improvements, it is a tool such as a crutch (medically necessary) until I can firmly walk on my own. IF you NEED it long term it is there.
All others can exit anytime.
Tough Love,, get over it,, havent skimmed the surface or lack the sensitive receptors of communication to those so deeply injured.
Not You parse, just remarking. No judgement, just observation.
Get to know me before making any personal remarks, I am friendly and fragile.
I have a degenerative disease. Receiving PALLIATIVE care I have many issues in addition to a Nov. car wreck all stemming from ground zero.
H.

I had a bad response to lithium. I lost my fine motor coordination. It was very hard to write and I had trouble going down stairs. Pdocs at my clinic told me that couldn't be from the lithium. It was from the lithium, which I stopped taking.

Then seroquel made me so groggy I would walk into walls and fall asleep with food in my mouth. I was pressured to keep taking it, till I refused. Now I think psychiatrists who push meds are like witch doctors.

I remember researching about big pharma to some extent for a research paper, when there was a controversy surrounding diagnosing children with bipolar disorder and giving them powerful medications. The guy who wrote the main research paper and led the research project ended up getting caught in a huge conflict of interest case... and there are a lot of similar cases.

I know one nurse in particular was super psyched on getting me on this one antidepressant, I asked to be put back on a med I had been on previously and had worked for me, and she kept saying this new med was way better, and having done the research on it even a little it doesn't have any higher efficacy statistically then other ssri's, so it really felt to me like she was maybe getting a bonus for prescribing it to people....

I dont think docs are all conniving I think most mean well, I think some are pill pushers though for their own financial benefit, and I think big pharma is shady as hell... as shady as anything can be really.

I don't trust them just because they have a diploma. It takes a while for them to prove themselves to me. I've had a couple I considered incompetent but I've had 3 that I felt were quite trustworthy. I'm seeing one of those now.

not really no

Ha, I don't trust psychiatrists at all.

I'd say...Nope. They were weak because they couldn't figure me out and kept on experimenting...which is actually inner torture to me. It is actually them without the empathy. One nearly killed me, literally. The other said I have no issues. Another said I have social phobia or anxiety, but also gave up on me rather quick. Thanks for that, old chap. At the last place, I've been marked as a schizoid. Really now?

From all this experience, I just learned to not seek comfort or advice from others. They won't understand you. They weren't there in your past. How could they ever hope to know or understand you? You have to understand yourself and then accept and adapt to who you are. In the end, you have to seek the strength in your Self. No other option remains.

OK, I'm irritable at times, other times devastated, etc. I'm definitely not one to talk. Nowadays, I don't even care anymore how the hell I am or am not. Figures it just all passes, like emotions, so I just sit by idly and let it rampage in the inner side...Not like it matters...When I'm not like 'that', I learn wisdom from the sages to reduce making mistakes in life and to improve the Self. Still, I mess up in the social world all the time.

The first therapist I had was rubbish. The second I saw for 8 sessions when I was really down, and she helped me through that. The point is, here, in the UK, anyone can set themselves up as a therapist. I was recommended to see the first guy by a friend in social services, so I thought he would be good. I think he used me to get himself some practice!

That's not right at all!