Too much division of labor?

It seems that nowadays, at least in the professional/practical aspects of treatment, there is a dichotimy between therapy (talking, etc) and psychiatry (meds). Although I was often told that the psychiatrists read your therapists (if you have one ) "notes" and converse with them, it was always rather irksome to me that the person who was dispensing drugs to me saw so little of me, especially in the mental hospitals. It so often felt to me as if they were taking one look at me and just tossing me meds like they were candy. I'm wondering if anyone else has any thoughts they would like to share on this subject.

I have thoughts on this issue - yeh - and I agree with you entirely. My psychiastrist would charge me 100 Euro and then only see me for around 5 minutes. After two sessions, he diagnosed me with OCD. Okay, he was correct, but theres' much more to me than just OCD. It felt wrong to charge so much and see me for such a short time. My therapist, however, charged the same but would see me for an hor each time. I don't think that the division of labour is the problem really.... ...I'm not sure what is. Maybe it's just the lack of time that we spend with some doctors? I get the feeling that they try to maximise theior income, rather than genuinely caring about their patients.

This is a good point.

Actually I think its more a case of the medical profession way of doing things, compared to a consultants way of doing things, they really come from entirely different schools of thought.

If someone did a medical degree + psychariatry major + psychology masters they would be in demand (and would be at university for about 16 years ) and would be very useful for better capturing the entire mental health management process for a patient.

Psychiarists (and medical doctors in general) see themselves as there to solve problem in their speciality as quickly and efficiently as possible using the tools they know about which is basically medication which is easily dispensed. Usually they are overworked (but not underpaid!) and have lots of people to see each day so per person time needs to be quick.

Psychologists see the world differently their "medicine" takes a long time to dispense as it is defining and talking through issues and are less quantity focused.

udaitaxim wrote:It seems that nowadays, at least in the professional/practical aspects of treatment, there is a dichotimy between therapy (talking, etc) and psychiatry (meds). Although I was often told that the psychiatrists read your therapists (if you have one ) "notes" and converse with them, it was always rather irksome to me that the person who was dispensing drugs to me saw so little of me, especially in the mental hospitals. It so often felt to me as if they were taking one look at me and just tossing me meds like they were candy. I'm wondering if anyone else has any thoughts they would like to share on this subject.

That's essentially my opinion of psychiatrists as opposed to clinical psychologists. Drug dispensers and all that.

In my opinion it would be better if 90% of the time the drug dispenser role could be consolidated into the clinical psychologist, with specialized psychiatrists for severe medical interventions (like balancing lithium dosages, administering ECT, etc.)