# do psychiatrist really care?



## nbtac41 (Nov 13, 2011)

i guess most of psychiatrists don't even have a longer time listening to your problems and concerns. after you tell her your story, she'd just prescribed you a medicine and 'be back after 2 weeks..' have you encountered such attitude?


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## Tugwahquah (Apr 13, 2011)

The first first one I saw concluded my first session by leaning back in his chair, kicking his feet up on the desk and saying, "My conclusion is...you have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome." Well...da! What a waste of my time, and money. He suggested anti-depressants, which I eventually tried 4 different kinds, and they all turned me into a pooping zombie. Then he suggested I find a woman therapist to confide in, since problems stemmed from my father, abusive men, past relationships, etc, etc. Well, the woman therapist I went to, I suspect had more depression and craziness in her perfect life than I did in mine. She gave me a list of a lot of books to read, and different pill to try. It only made me feel worse talking about my problems to her, she didn't really understand. That was 10 years ago. I've been doing just fine without them. I concluded life just takes time, acceptance, love, and a whole bunch of effort.


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## Aries33 (Sep 22, 2011)

yer i notice the thing about psychiatrists they are really good at finding out your problem but well having a solution they just don't have the answer's , mine is always telling me about the things i need to be doing because of my social anxiety and i already know that but that's about all she really says, i wonder to myself if nest week when i see her if she'd be saying the same ole bull sh*t


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## _AJ_ (Jan 23, 2008)

do psychiatrist really care?
well, the answer to that is simple, and let me be absolutely clear about this: no


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## norad (Oct 24, 2011)

Are you only talking about psychiatrists or also psychologists?

Why should psychologists care?


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## DubnRun (Oct 29, 2011)

Hell ****ing NO. I've seen tonnes of doctors from crisis team including a psychologist and they are either smug, unsympathetic or you get the impression they are either picturin their wages rather than giving a damn about how you feel. They are all drug pushers in my opinion..have no solutions to my problems and treat me like a test subject rather than a human. They are emotionally cold people from my own personal experiences. Their lack of understanding and care makes me feel more alone, and I'm already a loner.

I feel like I could totally break down and rearrange how their "services" are run and do a better job organising **** myself


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## norad (Oct 24, 2011)

This is scary.

What if psychiatrist only want to make people depend on drugs to keep them coming back even if drugs actually make it worse? 

When I told my psychiatrist/neurologist about being depressed he said that we have to do something about it and gave me celexa. But so far it didn't help one bit it only caused more problems by me being tired all day. And he already knew that I am under pressure and have to work and be productive. I don't even know if it was responsible of him to prescribe me something in such a situation without knowing if it would help me. Since I started taking celexa I hardly got to do any work.


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## Fromheretoeternity (Apr 3, 2011)

The psychiatrist I have seems to care, I told her that I don't have any friends at college and full days were a bit much for me. She arranged a meeting with the college for me not to go in as much as I do. She said she was disappointed that the college hadn't got back to me yet. She seems to be trying to help me as much as possible.


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## Rainbowmuffin (Sep 15, 2011)

I think there may be some out there that genuinely care (with any luck anyway), however I believe that the vast majority are more interested about their pay packets at the end of the day. The one I saw was clearly more concerned about just filling out paperwork, going through protocol and getting a good wage. It was so disconcerting as she was visably unconcerned about my welfare, she made me feel guilty about me finally seeking professional help for my depression and SA and almost appeared to be reading from a script. One that considers people suffering from social anxiety as the same rather than as individuals. It's put me off seeking any further help completely as I'd be put on a very long waiting list once more and there's a good chance I'd only be offered her again in the area I reside in. :sigh


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## Kush (Nov 29, 2008)

nbtac41 said:


> b back after 2 weeksQUOTE]
> 
> thats mine exactly:|


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## IsntThisWhere (Jun 17, 2011)

I'm planning on being a psychologist, and I chose that because I care about people and want them to get better. Sadly, a lot of people who I study with don't really care about people. So some care, but others shouldn't have even considered this career in the first place.


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## chair (Jul 5, 2009)

They care about getting you to take them pills.

I think the problem with psychologists and psychiatrists is that most of them simply don't "get" it. Especially when it comes to psychologist. For whatever reason, these people get paid to advise people on feelings and situations that most of them have probably never experienced themselves. So, in my experience, talking to them is about as good an idea as talking to the mailman or the McDonalds cashier about your problems. None of these parties will care about what it is you have to say, and, more consequentially, none of these groups will know what the **** they're talking about or doing when they advise you or prescribe medicine to you.

I personally think it's a huge warning sign if you go to a place and they diagnose you after only one visit, or, EVEN WORSE, when they prescribe medicine to you and are belligerent or coercive about it. The counselors at my current university are literally nothing but drug pushers, with the only exception that what they're doing is "legal" and they can hide all of their aggression behind the veneer of trying to help you (since you're nothing but a poor crazy ******* who needs to do everything they say anyway.). 

My last psychologist was a ****ing bully. She basically told me that I would never get better if I didn't start taking pills RIGHT NOW, because obviously I was incapable of working through my problems like I wanted to- because I had identified the things that were troubling me and just wanted to resolve them. But, of course, she knows me better than I know myself, so she's the one that's best at determining what's good for me. After all, she's the one with the degree.

Went on the pills, and they made everything worse, with the added benefit of making me stupid, sluggish, and extremely suicidal. When I said that I was having bad side-effects, their solution was to make the dosages stronger. Kept taking the medication religiously, while it still did nothing to improve my depression or anxiety. At one point, the drowsiness caused by the medication got so bad that I was falling asleep while talking to other people mid-sentence. It was so jarring. 

The psychologist displayed an utter lack of empathy and understanding when I spoke to her about my problems, but was still totally insistent that she KNEW I should be on medication.

I complained to the doctors continually about the medication being ineffective, but they would never listen to me. They went from saying that the medication should work in two weeks, to saying it should work in three months, six months, two years... At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I was a part of some medical experiment they were hosting. Nothing about their behavior made any sense.

If you're prescribed medications, you'd better make sure you get the right ones the first time, because it's unlikely that the doctors will believe or be willing to change course once you tell them that their plans aren't working. 

I got off the pills, stopped seeing my failure of a psychologist, and although things were very rough for a patch, I still feel way better than I ever did while dealing with them. At the end of the day, I think that people who are going through similar problems are much better to talk to than someone totally removed from the situation. I'm also beginning to think that psychology and especially psychiatry are mostly bs fields occupied by bs people.


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## stupiditytries (Jan 10, 2011)

They care about your money.


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## lissa530 (Oct 29, 2009)

I think some do some don't like anybody.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

I've been to two and both of them just told me to be more social and then gave me a ton of pills. Seriously, I've learned more from books than from any psychiatrist I've seen.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

My psychaitrists in the past have generally not cared, however every psychologist I have worked with has cared.


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## nbtac41 (Nov 13, 2011)

Cletis said:


> I've been to two and both of them just told me to be more social and then gave me a ton of pills. Seriously, I've learned more from books than from any psychiatrist I've seen.


me too!


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## Phibes (Mar 8, 2009)

Most, if not all things in life follow the Gaussian curve/Bell curve/Parabola of distribution pictured below.










If you can imagine, most Psychiatrists would be sitting around the middle region of curve. They are neither really dodgy or really superb. But then, you have leaning towards the ends of both tails, the outliers: Some psychiatrists are bad bad bad and don't care much  and then on the flip side some are the best, most caring ones you will ever find in this world. But you see, there are far less of these two extremes. Most psychiatrists are somewhere around the middle. 

So, if you unfortunately have a bad experience  I'm sorry that happened, but please, continue searching because they are not all bad.


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## loquaciousintrovert (May 23, 2011)

They care about the money they get.


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## diamondheart89 (Mar 21, 2011)

As far as I've seen, the type of psychiatric care we have right now is more art than science. Honestly, there aren't enough tools, funds, nor interested parties to actually find the root of the problem and solve it nor any simple or perfect cure. Even if practitioners do care, they might not be able to help you and a lot of the older ones are so jaded by all the crap that goes on, so they prescribe you drugs and hope some combination works. I guess you can only watch so many patients live miserable lives and not be able to cure them before you become numb to it (this happens to most people working in fields where you see death and misery and all that). One of the reasons I refused to go into psych nursing was because it wears you down inside when you know you can't really make it better for your patients because frankly, there are many things that pills and strangers in white coats can't cure. If you work in that field either you have to dissociate yourself from your patients and their problems while treating them or you will become a patient yourself. In medical and nursing schools, you are taught to never form personal relationships or attachments to your patients and to always remember that barrier between patient and professional, that's why a lot of them seem so aloof. So for them it is a job, and at any given time, how many people are really motivated to give their job all they've got everyday? A lot of them do genuinely want to help patients even if they can't or don't, others are just there to get a paycheck. I've briefly worked at a mental health institute and this has been my experience with being on the other side of the equation. :/


*edit* - It's true about what another poster said about them not 'getting it'. Until you've experienced these feelings/thoughts, you can only imagine what it's like. I personally did not have said experience during the time I worked there and I really couldn't relate to the patients. Now, I think I would be a lot better at it and I care more because I know what it's like.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

^ Very well said.


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## trendyfool (Apr 11, 2010)

From my experience, it really depends on the individual. Like phibes posted, most are neither really great nor really bad, they're somewhere in the middle. My therapist now is really good and helpful, and cares about me. But I haven't had much experience with only seeing a psychiatrist.

When I was in the hospital, it was pretty mixed. There were some counselors there who just *did not get it* at all. They acted superior to us just because we were kids with problems. On the other hand there were some who were really great people, who really cared about us and had been there before too, people who helped save my life.

I'm sorry that so many people here have had bad experiences  good doctors who care about you do exist. There are good people out there who want to help you, you just have to pick them out from the sea of people who just want money.


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## losinghope (Mar 29, 2011)

My Mum and I have basically given up hope looking for a physiciotrist. I have seen about a dozen different ones and not one of them have showed any compassion, or realistic ways to get better. In fact, I have had a couple that have stopped seeing me for no reason at all. A couple that have put me on medications that have made things worse. Some of them you can tell they are just looking at the clock waiting for the time to end. It's sad really because people in that position that should be compassionate and caring and can actually be helping but they don't. So i am really hopeless in the way of finding a good physiciotrist. The mental health system is falling through the cracks.


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## samuel89 (Oct 6, 2011)

they care about their bank account first!


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## Cashew (May 30, 2010)

My current psych doesn't care and it's very clear. Any other psychiatrist I've seen didn't care so much for me, but they did care about doing their job so that's good enough for me.


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## baranok (Nov 17, 2011)

depends on doc, but for most you are just another entity, they dont even care about med side effects sometimes


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## UndreamingAwake (Apr 11, 2011)

Some do. My first psychologist I went to see in 2009 obviously did. Then I got my current psychologist, and he doesn't seem to really care, no. He basically says "yeah, you should do this and that, and if you don't want to do it, it's your choice." Not really emotionally involved, which is understandable, since these people go home to their families and then have their own life.


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## scarpia (Nov 23, 2009)

Psychiatry is a joke. All they focus on is drugging people instead of taking a holistic approach to overall health. And they have to drug people to avoid any liability. I had two even admit that to me - I was locked up in a psych hospital after an accused simple assualt on a child molester. The guy and the school where he worked just said I was delusional - and the shrinks took their side. Then spent two years trying to get a court order to shoot me full on anti-psychotics.


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## trendyfool (Apr 11, 2010)

samuel89 said:


> they care about their bank account first!


That's not true of every psychiatrist. True of many, but not all. Some really do care.


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## Dying note (Mar 17, 2009)

My psychiatrist handles my medication and therapy sessions (30 minutes or more each visit). So if he doesn't care, he does a great job at hiding it and for what's happened since I started seeing this doctor, I don't care if it's all for show. I've been helped, as much as I can be at this point.


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## Knowbody (Jul 5, 2011)

nope, its just their job to act like they do


stop paying and see if they let you in


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## Alexa10 (Sep 17, 2011)

**there's a difference**

Psychologists (correct me if I'm wrong somebody) are the ones who perscribe medication, and the psychiatrists do the actual therapy work; and to me, don't care. I feel that psychiatrists care, but don't know how to help you solve your problems. *hopes I don't sound too childish*


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## UndreamingAwake (Apr 11, 2011)

Alexa10 said:


> Psychologists (correct me if I'm wrong somebody) are the ones who perscribe medication, and the psychiatrists do the actual therapy work; and to me, don't care. I feel that psychiatrists care, but don't know how to help you solve your problems. *hopes I don't sound too childish*


It's the other way around.  Psychologists are usually therapists and psychiatrists are pill pushers. At least, i've only ever been treated by psychologists and when I still took SSRIs, had my meds prescribed by psychiatrists.


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## Trmick (Nov 10, 2011)

I'll bet the ones who truly do care, have in their past been through some serious turmoil of some kind. They can relate because they've been there done that. Others, probably have had a pretty balanced life and don't quite get it.


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## UnseenVigilante (Jan 25, 2005)

I'm seeing a really good psychiatrist right now, and therapist. Even if it just seems like they care because it's their job, then they are doing their job. In the end, they want to help you and treat you. I'm sorry for all of you who had unsympathetic therapists/psychs. I'm really glad I found a good therapist and psychiatrist off the bat. After taking some medications my psychiatrist asked about any side effects and seemed to actually care. I generally think they do. My therapist forgets a lot of stuff I tell her, but she remembers half of it. I guess having like 50 some odd clients/patients to deal with it would be hard to remember everything. She seems to understand me and won't point anything negative out about me unless I say it to not offend me. I told her I think I could have a.d.d. and she said yea I kind of thought so but I didn't want to offend you. So the next session with the psychiatrist i told him and got some tests and stuff to kind of figure out if I have it and did the same thing with the therapist.

My psychiatrist said if the A.D.D. is caused from anxiety it's treatable, if not too bad. One thing to get out of the way. 

Now I'm on clonazepam and I'm LOVING LIFE! I almost peed myself when the first time I saw him he's like, ok what drugs do you want? He said he'll start me off slow, and bam!


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## loquaciousintrovert (May 23, 2011)

Maybe they care about doing a good job because it means they get more money.


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## ryobi (Jan 13, 2009)

Dr House said:


> My psychaitrists in the past have generally not cared, however every psychologist I have worked with has cared.


mostly the same


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## kev (Jan 28, 2005)

Some do. Some don't.

My friend's friend is a psychiatrist. She is a nice person so I would like to believe she has some level of compassion for those she is treating. Not true for everyone though.


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## leave me alone (Apr 1, 2011)

I dont think they do. I dont trust them. They wouldnt be there for you without getting paid.


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## anonymoussource (Apr 17, 2015)

*Are there any Psychiatrists who care? There has to be.*

So I will be having my first psychiatrist appointment sometime next Feb. To give you a little background, I have been suffering from major depressive disorder which further resulted in some psychosis, according to my primary physician and my therapist. So anyways, I have really been worried about this psychiatrist appointment due to the things I hear about psychiatrists. As a result of my persistent worrying, I have checked all of his reviews, and they are very mediocre (3 1/2 stars on average). However, when I read the written reviews for him, most people seemed to be pleased with him. There were only three written reviews and they seemed to imply that he deals with much more serious disorders than what I am experiencing. My overall concern is that his mediocre reviews indicate a lack of empathy. This belief is further perpetuated by myths and truths about psychiatrist I have found on the internet. So, has anyone ever actually had a good psychiatrist that shows some care?


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## The Sleeping Dragon (Sep 29, 2011)

Like in every job and field you have competent people and incompetent people. I would think it's logical that incompetent people reply more on medicating. Because it's a quick 'fix'.


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## hereandthere (Dec 7, 2015)

nbtac41 said:


> i guess most of psychiatrists don't even have a longer time listening to your problems and concerns. after you tell her your story, she'd just prescribed you a medicine and 'be back after 2 weeks..' have you encountered such attitude?


Having seen more than my share of psychiatrists and spent ten years with one who was very highly qualified and well-credentialed... Uhm... I want to be fair about this. Do they care? I don't know. I'd like to think so, but, like any other individual emotion or attitude, I suppose it depends on the individual in question.

It just seems to me that_ it doesn't feel like they care_, because once the session is over, it's over. _True caring_ goes way beyond the "50 minute hour" of a therapy session, or so I should think, and when one walks out of the backdoor of the office it often feels as if whatever caring there might have been was coldly and cruelly left behind a closed door. It hurts, and it's lonely. Been there, done that countless times.

That said, for right or for wrong, caring isn't the psychiatrist's job. Teaching is, and the really good ones have a rather slick way of doing it. The good ones have a way of provoking thought processes without the patient knowing they're doing it. Put another way, their job is sometimes (often?) to teach you to care for yourself in ways you didn't learn during your formative years, and in order to do that they have to remain somewhat emotionally impassive; otherwise, they become the sole source of and foundation for your emotional security and stability. Worse, they can end up adding to, rather than subtracting from, the patient's "emotional baggage," for lack of a better term. Sadly, that would leave the patient in a position of complete emotional dependence or, worse, have the effect of exacerbating whatever the problem might be -- neither of which is the goal, obviously.

For whatever it's worth, I can only say that I understand how you feel, and I know it's a hollow and empty feeling that causes you to question the efficacy of the process. Worse, I do believe that far too many professionals end up relying on meds as if they're a solution. They aren't. They're a tool that can make the solution easier to reach -- nothing more.

Still, the broad goal of the process remains a worthy one, especially if you use it to gather the tools you need and apply them for yourself. And that, I think, is the tricky part.


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## binckie (Dec 4, 2015)

In every job you will have people that care and those that do not.


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## natsumeri (May 17, 2012)

nbtac41 said:


> i guess most of psychiatrists don't even have a longer time listening to your problems and concerns. after you tell her your story, she'd just prescribed you a medicine and 'be back after 2 weeks..' have you encountered such attitude?


True some psychiatrists don't care and some do, the time limit that is given 1hr I assume is to force the person talking to stick to the point and talk about what the problem is and not rant or vent. So the problem can be dealt with faster same with going to the GP talk directly about and get it dealt with is the motto


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