My psychiatrist.. should not be a psychiatrist

Ok, so this morning i went to see my psychiatrist.. At first(meaning when i first started seeing her) she was nice. Over time she started getting a little ruder. Last time i saw her, she tried guilt-tripping me because i stopped taking my medication after 2 weeks. This time, she was extremely rude to me.. my mother does not understand my condition and because she sees me suffer so much she believes i am not making an effort to improve my condition.. in reality my condition is really extreme, but all my energy goes into making sure it doesn't get any worse, and improving it bit by bit but it is so hard and energy-consuming, not to mention time-consuming, and even with all the energy i put in, i'm still in a really bad condition and so people around me try to demonize me by saying i just don't care, i don't even try, i'm lazy, blah blah blah.. but how could they know? can this sort of effort be seen physically? I mean sure i can always tell them how i try to improve my condition but they have to understand that i don't feel that comfortable with all of them to just say things that are so deep and personal to me. I think they should just not be so intrusive and respect the fact that i would rather keep things to myself(except with my therapist because i don't really have a choice to tell her things, besides, i feel comfortable doing so because she understands, and "funnily" enough she's the only one who doesn't demonize me.. what a coincidence, huh?! /sarcasm) and not be so judmental and jump to conclusions so fast without any information to base those conclusions on. If they don't know then they shouldn't pretend they do. But anyways.. back to what i was saying.. so my mom doesn't understands and thinks i'm just not trying to help myself and told my psychiatrist that and my psychiatrist was totally on my mom's side.. she was very rude to me and kept telling me mom that i'm just not motivated, i don't care about getting better, i don't even try, i like being in the state i'm in because i want people to take care of me and blah blah. I was about to storm out but i didn't. I really think i should have. I want to change psychiatrists. I won't tolerate being mistreated and being demonized for something i can't even be blamed for in the first place. It's like blaming a blind person because he/she can't see.. They can't be blamed for the difficulties that come with being blind.. they didn't choose anything, they're just doing what they can with what they have. The same principle applies to me in every way. What do you guys think of this whole situation? I would like your input. Thanks.

P.S. : I want to make it clear that i am not "anti-psych". Well somewhat but not totally, i like psychiatry as a science, as a field of medicine, but i think that psychiatrists today are very unprofessional and incomprehensive, they say what they want without even caring whether it is right or not, whether it could hurt their patients or not, or anything else really. And the worst part is you'd expect them to understand the most since they are the experts on mental illness, yet they just don't. I think psychiatrists like that need to be removed from the mental health industry and be replaced by more professional and more comprehensive psychiatrists who won't demonize their patients because of their "complications", shall we say.

hi zander,

thanks for posting.

i can really relate the the "demonizing" aspect of having a "condition." i think it happens more with the general population, who are uninformed about mental illnesses than medical professionals, though.

i know that you had a bad experience with your psychiatrist, and i have as well. i agree that you would benefit from a change of psychiatrists, and hopefully, this one will treat you with respect (which is what they're supposed to do!). at the same time, however, i don't want for you (or anyone) to generalize the bad experience to all psychiatrists. some are good, others aren't. they might be "professionals," but they don't know everything about mental illnesses. there's still a lot of answers that are needed. research is always going on. new information comes in, and changes the way we look at illnesses sometimes.

i'm very sorry that your mom, others, and your psychiatrist have treated you the way they have. i've heard those things before as well. i can also relate to you in that i expend so much energy into trying to make my condition better, yet others will say that i don't really care, etc. it makes me angry. i liked your analogy about blind people.

i'm glad that you're not completely ant-psych. i'm not either, but i do look at the field differently than i used to... i'm not as fond of psychiatrists/psychologists... but, i hope you will be able to find an empathetic person to provide therapy with you. i agree that your current psychiatrist has been very unprofessional with you... and i think the things she said ultimately worsen your condition... because if she doesn't believe (in) you, then how can she help you? and if you don't believe in her, how can you get her help?

take care*

I know this thread has been dead for over a month, but I felt the need to interject.

If you feel the counselor/mental health services provider/psychiatrist isnt working for you, FIND A NEW ONE. I'm speaking from experience. While I was in the Air Force and entered counseling, I was "assigned" to an "old-school" colonel who took a negative view of women in the military. After discussing an attempted sexual assault at an on-base party, I was asked why I didnt report the incident, and explained that attempted sexual assaults are nearly impossible to prosecute in the military. After giving vivid details of the encounter, including the fact that I had been drinking alcohol, I asked the colonel/shrink whether he would have believed me. He said "no".

I immediately demanded a new counselor, but it was too late. I had already been diagnosed with an adjustment disorder that would end my Air Force career.

Again, if you dont feel comfortable or "compatible" with your counselor, look for a new one. There's no way you can spill your heart out to a person you dont like or who doesnt like you. No one is without fault, not even a PhD holder, and there's a good chance your counselor's personal opinion of you is going to affect your treatment, therapy and/or diagnosis.

While I see why you may have stopped taking your medication, its usually not advised to stop taking it without the consent of your doctor or mental health provider, if for no other reason immediate elimination of the medication can cause more pronounced symptoms of withdrawal. Of course, by now you probably know that.

Take care.