What is it with the superiority complex doctors have?

420star wrote:
Seriously, can't stand mental health professionals. How are you supposed to trust somebody with your most secret problems if they're condescending w*nkers?

You can't trust a person who thinks you're crazy

PsyChris wrote:Sometimes people get into the medical profession for the wrong reasons. You just have to smile and nod sometimes. I work in the medical field and have worked with doctors for a long time. I can say that there are some good doctors, some bad doctors but most of them are just average.

You got that right

I remember being in the institution where I was treated by a "newbie" pdoc and once I asked him why he chose to become a pdoc. I bet you'll never guess the answer he gave.... it was because he "can listen good to the people". I asked him if that was all and he nodded...

I mean, come on. Listening to people with deep problems is important, sure, but it'll never cure them if your main reason is there to listen. They need a bit more than that. Oh, did I mention that he never heard of social phobia either and instead tried to diagnose me as having plain paranoia? ...

I tend to agree, but I think this is really a natural part of any human who puts in so much effort and ends up at the top of their field. Now, I may disagree with the field, but I tend to think we see this type of 'complex' in any similar circumstance, so why not mental health professionals?

jonas20 wrote:I tend to agree, but I think this is really a natural part of any human who puts in so much effort and ends up at the top of their field. Now, I may disagree with the field, but I tend to think we see this type of 'complex' in any similar circumstance, so why not mental health professionals?

Well, for once, and this is just my current opinion which is subject to change at any time (and I haven't really thought much about this subject either) is that the mental health pro's tend to present their findings/diagnosis as pure indisputable facts, while at the same time, there are actually very few tests they can do to support their conclusions and the mind/psych is still the most "mysterious" part (and one of the most complex too) of a human being and we still don't know much about it. Other fields, like for example computer science, cosmology, quantum mechanics, etc actually have ways to prove/disprove their claims with often very high precisions (sure, not all can be proved or disproved yet in these fields either) but at least they don't act if they know all and only their decision is correct -- eg, go to 5 different pdocs, explain the exact same story and most probably you'll get 5 different diagnoses/views. I have very big doubts that after talking to a pdoc for 15-30 minutes and explaining my issues, he'll be able to tell me correctly what's wrong with me, and more importantly how I became like that and what can be done (most mental illnesses sill are incurable). This coupled with my inability to express my thoughts and views (which mostly comes from the fact that words for me are just not sufficient to explain very precisely a complex mental image or state, combined with highly dynamic variables changing most of the time and influences from outside which also have an effect) and the fact that it's one thing for a pdoc to "understand" a situation but it's a different thing when he actually experiences it which is always rooted very deeply inside (to the core) and completely changes a person and his views/though process/etc, makes me very suspicious of how "correct" they all think they are and how much better they are

Yes, psychiatry has made advances during the years, some things are now better understood, etc, but it still remains the only field in approved medical science (AFAIK) that has the biggest fail-rate and misdiagnoses out of all others. Also, there is this tendency in professional circles where due to knowledge or something, they tend to think they are better/more knowing that those who come for help and their advice, without actually knowing the interests/backgrounds of people when they meet for first time, yet automatically assume that because they are "professional's", they directly know better or understand all (does it really hurt so much to admit a fault if you made one or admit you don't know it all?). A pdoc doesn't have any "special" talents, doesn't have any more "abilities" or insight that a "regular" person who has a deep interest in such topics and educates himself due to shear interest but doesn't go work in that field

isn't it true that a high number of doctors are narcissists or sociopaths? maybe that's why.

If you think that a doctor has a superiority complex, it's because they are actually better than you

Not if you've ever watched Scrubs...
Doctors are just people too... who can study much harder than I can...
Even if I'm pretty awesome myself.