Disclaimer: Please don't just spam the thread with psychiatrist abuses or cases of bad diagnosis. I understand that such unfortunate experiences can happen but doing nothing and avoiding the issue isn't the solution. Thanks.I made this thread to ask what should I look for when seeking a psychiatrist? What are the red flags and how do I figure that the medication which they give me is appropiate and that they don't misdiagnose me? So far I only managed to get an appointment with an old lady (I assumed that she's more experienced) next week and I found an online interview of her saying that even though the diagnoses are the same for everyone, each individual has an unique basis upon which the mental issue developed so that makes each case to be a challenging one for the psychiatrist. I thought to be a good thing that she acknowledges this rather than lacking nuance and simply believe that the correct diagnosis is enough to cure the mental problems of every patient. What do you think, anons? Any advice?
>>33871737>Please don't tell me about how it's bullshit.>Also I only managed to find an old lady despite me messaging others.>Also the online reviews say she gives out the same advice to everyone no matter what they tell them.Psychiatry is pure bullshit for people who don't actually have problems, specially for men. You already know what you have to do and you either don't want to do it, or literally can't because of whatever reason.
>>33871737>an old ladySee what she is like, but feel free to tell your primary care physician that you want to try someone else.If it were up to me, I would avoid female psychiatrists all together. It would take too long to explain the reasons, but just know that physicans can and do harm patients despite their best efforts not to. They are not perfect, nor is the knownledge base on medicine anywhere near complete. Only a fraction of physicians honestly and openly acknowledge this and endeavor to be the best at what they do, and they do this by constantly critically reflecting on their clinical practice, keeping up to date with the latest knowledgebase, and holding themselves accountabe to their responsibilities and duties to their patients. It is actually very stressful and very risky to practice medicine this way. I told you, physicians make mistakes more often than you think, and if they were to honestly own up to their mistakes and try to make things right with the patient, they will have to deal with increasing liability over their careers especially in the litigation conscious world we live in.I haven't not seen one female physician of any specialty confront this reality head on in their clinical practice. Most of them believe that they can do no harm by following best practice and don't care about their patients much beyond that. Some practice defensively. That means they will do the absolute minimum required and nothing beyond that.If you are serious about improving your own quality of life with the help of a psychiatrist, find one that also values that objective above all.It won't be easy to find one, as they are few and far in between, but you will know when you find one, because they require you to put as much effort into improving your own quality of life as they do for you too.I'm speaking from my own personal experience (of seeing shrinks) as well as my professional experience.Hope this helps.
To be more specific, I deal with panic attacks and such states that make me unable to improve my life by ordinary self-help means. I also tried natural medicine which doesn't require a psychiatrist to give you prescriptions but that had no effect on me.
>>33871824>panic attacksrather than blunting your mind with drugs, master itjoin a fighting gym and learn to operate under duress, in a safe environment
>>33871824So a shrink might prescribe you something to eal with your anxiety attacks, but he should also expect you to reflect on the factors that trigger your panic attacks and do you best to learn to deal with them constructively. You will have to do this by a repeated cycle of trial and error and critical reflections on the outcome. Your shrink will give his expert advise on how well you are managing your condition, make adjustment to the psychopharmacotherapy as needed, recommend adjunctive treatment, etc.The point is that a shrink won't expect you to improve your life by ordinary self-help means. He will do the best he can within his means, but he will expect you to take as much risk and put as much effort into improving your own quality of life under his treatment. That means you will have to be as honest about yourself so for your shrink to give you a proper guidance.Of course, these are are what you should be discussing with your shrink, not with us anons.
>>33871737Very VERY broadly, shrinks can be divided into two groups - those who use mainly the "talking cure" of exploring and guiding your thinking as you work through your issues, and those who see mental issues as largely chemical and rely on medications.I lean very strongly toward the first, because the second seems to be a "quick fix" of symptoms while the first tries to get to root causes. But root causes can take a long time to get at, and the process depends on developing a lot of trust in the doctor.So, as unscientific as it sounds, a lot depends on your gut feelings about the psychiatrist. Do you feel that you will be able to open up to, be vulnerable with, and trust the advice of this person?
>>33872092>But root causes can take a long time to get at, and the process depends on developing a lot of trust in the doctorI've seen that therapists have a mania for discovering what those supposedly are but it seems that they mostly use them as a scapegoat for the much more complex chemical and biological process that led to the patient's issues. Like can you give some actual example of how knowing this supposedly root cause help the curing process?
>>33871737>each individual has an unique basis upon which the mental issue developed so that makes each case to be a challenging one for the psychiatristWhat do they mean by this? Do you they mean that your specific situation/environment/history affects how your treatment plan affects your life, or are they insinuating that each person presents with slightly different symptoms because each person's unique biology and resultant social behavior affect how the illness presents?>>33871824>I deal with panic attacksAsk for hydroxyzine for instant relief. Buspar also works decently well for anxiety and it isn't an SSRI (I don't know why doctors give people SSRIs for anxiety). I would not take Benzodiazepines. My advice is to get a psychiatrist who has an MD in psychiatry. People without these credentials can give out medications as well.
>>33872672https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/elisabeth-von-r-case
