First ever appt with a pdoc

Hi Folks,

Lately I have been going through a bit of a "crisis" some might say (re: self-injury). The progress my T and I have been making has come to a bit of a halt, and I believe that both her and my family GP don't really know what to do to help me. So, a couple weeks ago my GP made a referral for me to a pdoc in the hopes that she might be able to provide a different perspective, and adjust my medication if necessary.

Normally this pdoc has a waitlist of a couple months, but on Friday I got a call saying that they were able to squeeze me in on a cancellation - for tomorrow morning! I am both hugely relieved and completely terrified. I've been doing a lot of research on this pdoc, and she seems VERY lovely, and has all of these self-help things on her website. I think it will be a good fit, but I'm wondering what to expect out of my first appt with her.

I realize that a lot of it might be the typical "information gathering" that we have all likely experienced with our current or past T's, but I'm wondering if anyone has had any different experiences with pdocs? Do they typically ask you different kinds of questions? Our appt is for 1.5 hours which feels like a long time... but maybe not?

If anyone has any thoughts that would be wonderful!!!

Thanks,
Jacq

A thorough history on your own mental illness in addition to any physical health issues and meds and med reactions. It could take a long time depending.

I generally enjoy talking to my pdoc more than the therapist. The pdoc, instead of putting me under some psycho scope, has a very pleasant dialogue with me. He gives me a lot of feedback on things not med related. It always just feels like a nice conversation and he gives me a different spin on things. When I have follow-up appts they are always an hour at least and it seems to fly by. He asks about my family (dysfunctional) about my work (emergent trauma team at the same hospital) etc etc. He succinctly describes people's behaviors in different ways than I've thought of -- gives me a lot to think about. I more or less wish he did therapy as well. Shucks.

Good luck..

Thank you so much for your response!!!!!

I don't have any experience of this but just wanted to wish you all the best for tomorrow.

Thanks guys... it went okay I guess. Pretty typical background-y stuff, but she gave me two diagnoses which was really good as I have never been formally assessed for anything. Dysthymia and GAD - not a surprise, but nice to have a label.