Psychiatrists are retarded because the first thing they do is test you for depression and anxiety and then look to put you on pills. They over diagnose a fuckload of questionable diseases such as anxiety disorders, depressive disorders and adhd. Whereas all those emotions are simply natural and experienced by every single human on the planet and there's absolutely no need to put people on pills which creates more problems IMO such as they start using those fucking pills as crutches.
Psychs are fools IMO and do not deserve the amount of money for the kind of advice I hear from my fucking parents. I do not care how long they spent in school. Psychiatry should be terminated or they should ONLY deal with people in psych wards where they are TRULY useful.
The next time I encounter one I'd have them shitting bricks. If they truly understood how those drugs work they wouldn't be putting 75% of their patients on them.
Great post. I once watched a mini documentary about this awful culture of over diagnosing diseases and over prescribing drugs for a variety of mental health conditions in the USA. He basically went in there with the mindset that his symptoms would just reflect that of the average American holding down a high paid stressful job and was behind on his rent. Before he did the undercover filming, he was thoroughly examined by an independent Psychiatrist who confirmed that he had no 'disorder or disease' and was simply just stressed. Yoga, meditation, exercise, a change of diet and negotiating a better work life balance were the real solutions.
He under cover recorded about 5 Psych appointments and was diagnosed an array of conditions between ADD, ADHD, MDD, GAD, and Panic attacks. He was effectively told that the only way to get better was to start a course of varying drugs such as SSRIs/SNRIs/TCAs/Anti-Psychotics/Benzodiazepines/Z-drugs and Lithium.
I wish I could find the video as I'm sure you'd be as shocked as I was when I first saw it. I'll keep rummaging around YouTube for it, but it highlights the horrible nature of psych's making you fill in a questionnaire, deciding what disease or disorder you have and then pushing a whole host of pills your way and telling you that these will cure your disease/disorder.
It's truly sickening.
Not too long ago, the prescribing and administering of Thorazine to chemically lobotomise patients, as well as insulin therapy to comatose them was seen as cutting edge medicine with regards to Psychiatry. Now we've learned a bit more, we can obvious tell how disgustingly misguided such abhorrent treatments were. And I honestly mean this, but I don't think it'll be too long until we're looking back on the most common of drugs like SNRIs/SSRIs/TCAs/Antipsychotics etc... thinking exactly the same thing.
I have a great psychiatrist. Very open minded, listens to me and takes me seriously, doesn't push anything I don't want to do. He's improved my life dramatically.
Some people need medication. Some people kill themselves or others without it. Over-prescription sucks but there's bad people in every profession. It's childish to look at a problem and want to burn down the entire field.
Doldrugs, I totally agree with you.
I saw two psychiatrists on the National Health Service here in England, the first of which patronised me by saying that my depression was only caused 'by a simple chemical imbalance of serotonin in the brain, which Prozac would naturally restore and rebalance'. The thing is, he said it in such a way that I could tell he actually believe what he was saying. He was well into his 50's, early 60's so probably had a fair amount of clinical knowledge. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It actually wound me up and thinking I had nothing to lose I actually called bullshit on the nonsense he was feeding me and he sat back in his chair and said 'Well yes, you're right, that's not the whole truth to the story. The real truth is, we know very little why they do work and more often than not, a placebo proves just as affective in clinical trials. Still, it's here if you want it'.
The second Psychiatrist on the NHS (6 months later?) told me that drugs they were all addictive and the best thing for me was to go and have a kick about (play some football/soccer) with some friends.
I'd lost faith in Psychiatrist until I paid to see a private consultant. He was fresh, honest, transparent, open to ideas and firmly believed in patient autonomy. He always said that I could tell him how I felt, but he could never feel how I felt. He'd describe what medications may be helpful, the benefits and drawbacks of all and then let me choose. If it didn't go well, we'd try a different plan. As part of my depression I suffered from huge lethargy and fatigue and SSRIs/SNRIs/TCAs just didn't help, they made me even more tired and made it even more hard to drag my sorry arse out of bed. In every single doctor/psychiatrist appointment I had attended with regards to my depression, I was shot down and scorned for even suggesting that I felt a low dose of a mild stimulant (Ritalin) may really help to perk me up, and provide me with a little more energy to try and break out of that depressive cycle.
The only Psychiatrist open to trialling it was the private consultant psychiatrist that I paid for. In England, the NHS is governed by a lot of red tape an bureaucracy with strict government prescribing guidelines - so to some degree I understand they have limited power. Though they should admit that this is the case and tell patients that they may receive better care if they went private as it would open up more options to them.
He was the only person to allow me to take Quetiapine for sleep, I was laughed out of the room by several doctors when I suggested it.
All I can say is just keep on trying, knocking on door after door. Eventually, you'll find the professional help you're entitled to.
As for head docs, I say, if they're prescribing meds for depression and the like, they better damn well know how it reacts to other meds I may be on! We all need them to have that knowledge for our well-being. Personally, I take it upon myself to know as much as I can about the meds I take. I go to the docs and ask very specific questions about certain meds. Many docs are not too comfortable with what I call "informed patients". I actually had a recent PM doc give me the raised eyebrows when I talked about what I knew about some of the meds I was on and what may be an alternative to what I'm currently taking (btw, not said in a "to sound like a smart ass" manner but as someone who really cares about what's in their body). It just proved the point to me that many docs want patients who come in, tell them their problems, take the script, and the whole time shaking their head up and down. I say, it's your job to know about what you take and you're doing no one any favors by being a dumb shit at the doctor's office.
That's excellent advice, and in the 21st century there is absolutely no reason to read up about different medications before you visit your doctor to gain a better understanding of your condition and the treatments available. I always do this and in honesty, it pisses off a lot of doctors because they think I'm being cocky or undermining their opinion. Truth is, I have 5 chronic conditions that I need to manage as well as possible and I have to take responsibility for that to some degree. Last year I was rushed to hospital with kidney stones and I was on Agomelatine and Tapentadol, none of the doctors in A&E had heard of them and didn't want to administer me any medications because they were fearful of interactions, despite me being in crippling pain. Fortunately, I know the mechanisms of both Agomelatine and Tapentadol to a basic degree and explained what drugs I knew should be avoided and what ones were fine. My knowledge wasn't faultless but it certainly hurried up that IV Oxycodone that I was screaming out for. If I hadn't have known, they'd have either had to gone away to seek advice from somebody who did know, or sit down for a while and thoroughly research them on the internet - Wikipedia no doubt.
Unfortunately, when I did this at one my latest pain management consultations I was red flagged on the computer as a drug seeker because I was 'suggesting and seeking specific drugs to attain via prescription' - Ridiculous. That red flag is still on my file and it causes me a lot of trouble, my 5 year long monthly prescription for a few Diazepam tablets to help control my GAD was cut off instantly. It's a shame really, I've lost faith in my doctor's service.
