How did this VA Psychiatrist get licensed???

Question

Back in April I went to the Minneapolis VA for my psych evaluation for disability. During the interview the psychiatrist already assumed I was full of BS before I even started talking. He continueously forgot my dates of service and I had to remind him many times that I was active army and not national guard.
The real kicker was when I used the term "extrovert" to describe whatever I was talking about, he stopped me and told me that he didn't understand the term!? After that I lost all faith in his knowledge of his area.
I mean HOLY $%#! thats a high school level psychology term. There is no excuse for that kind of incompetence in his field of "expertise". The VA is just like the army, they get everything at the lowest bidder.

Answer 1

He might have wanted to know what you meant by the term "extrovert."

But if he kept forgetting about your being in active service and had to be reminded several times during the same visit, I wouldn't have had much faith in him either.

I have heard some stories about bad care in the VA system--it's really a shame.

Answer 2

Extroversion and introversion were popularized by Karl Jung. There use by non-professional "psychologists" may involve stereotyping and pigeon holing of behavior so do not describe much. That may be why he said "he did not understand the term" because he thought you, being a non-professional "psychologist", did not understand the term. So he was just getting down to your level. Psychiatrists in evaluations want a simple honest description from the interviewee so they can really determine better their mental state. He probably thought you were trying to impress him with your ideas of psychology.

In the VA it takes a lot of evidence and repeated evaluations to get a diagnosis of disabled for disability.

Good luck in your next evaluation if you need one, good health, peace and Love!