If you have been to a psychologist or psychiatrist, do you think they helped you?

Question

Personally, I breifly went to a psychiatrist for depression and didn't feel like she helped me. All she was interested in was prescribing me drugs, which didn't mix well with me, and she didn't seem interested in understanding my way of thinking.

What did you gain from your experience?

Answer 1

Psychiatrist-made fun of me. Real sweetheart. Gave me a prescription I threw away, since he hadn't bothered to ask, but I drank like a fish at the time.

Psychologist-many couldn't handle what I was going through.

Took quite a few, but found a psychologist that helped me survive, and later gave me tools to handle upsetting situations or memories. Doesn't work for everybody, worked for me.

Finally listened to my psychologist and got some anti-depressants, since depression runs in my family, and it had been going on for years. Waited till I was sure I wouldn't go out and binge...very important point. But had to change them quite a few times since they either kill your sex drive or wear off and stop working (or they drive you psycho, which is NOT fun). For some people all drugs do is drive them nuts, so be careful.

Some people just need someone to listen to them for a while, but some of us are totally out of it and need someone who can handle listening to a lot of painful awful stuff AND who can teach someone else how to handle a lot of painful and angry memories and feelings-not many professionals can handle it-it's hard to do.

You gotta shop around for what's right for you..

Good luck!

Answer 2

I think part of your problem was that you went to a psychiatrist... they are fairly well-known for being trained to look toward meds for help first, then therapy later. I'm not saying all of them are like that, but many are.

A psychologist I once talked with gave insight, but was best at not actually doing much of anything except listening and giving much genuine empathy - something most people need desperately but have a tough time finding. He was of the belief that meds only help with part of the problem - the physiological aspect. However, prescriptions usually (in the case of mental health) don't actually cure anything.

If you're still having problems with depression, look around a bit for a good psychologist who you can relate to. Also, don't expect to walk away from the first session feeling better - the intake session just gets a history and establishes the problem and goals to solving the problem. It may take three to five meetings to get results.

Answer 3

1) yes
2) no
3) to think for myself, I became Buddhist

Answer 4

every day

Answer 5

I got laid.