To ask why psychiatrists are viewed in this way

busyweeks78 · 2019-12-25T23:06:03+00:00

I’ve only ever had positive experiences with them but as a general rule the stereotype seems to be a negative one. Aibu to ask why?

Timberoo · 25/12/2019 23:07

People are afraid of what they might uncover. Taps nose........

aibutohavethisusername · 25/12/2019 23:08

I’ve had good experiences and one awful, awful one.

PanamaPattie · 25/12/2019 23:09

Peddlers of snake oil.

BudgieHammockBananaSmuggler · 25/12/2019 23:10

Because they can read your mind and that’s scary?

PaperbackBlighter · 25/12/2019 23:11

I think a lot of people don’t know the difference between psychiatrists and psychotherapists and then get frustrated when a psychiatrists doesn’t listen to all their woes and advise them on what to do to fix them.

Timberoo · 25/12/2019 23:12

4 of my friends are psychologists. What does that tell you about me!

BanKittenHeels · 25/12/2019 23:12

Because they can read your mind

Are you thinking of psychics?

BudgieHammockBananaSmuggler · 25/12/2019 23:16

I was kind of joking KittenHeels...

BingoLittlesUncle · 25/12/2019 23:18

Is it? I'd never heard that.

kristallen · 25/12/2019 23:18

I've only ever had contact with one and he was a dick. Very condescending.

My friend was in a 20-year relationship with one. He's a psychopath - and he agrees!

But then you have the idea that feelings can be medicalised, that someone living on the poverty line, working full time in multiple zero hours contracts with an elderly parent who needs care plus children is depressed because of a chemical imbalance. They may have one, who knows, but it's far more likely that the reason they feel shit is because of abysmal life circumstances, not because they have a clinical problem.

And then you have people who have multiple different diagnoses for the same symptoms and therefore medicalised treatments - because each psychiatrist sees their state differently and refuses to be wrong/compromise.

The Body Keeps the Score and Drop the Disorder are both books that may help you understand the problem with psychiatry and therefore why psychiatrists say what they do and why they are disliked.

Saying all that I know someone who has an amazing psychiatrist, who has really helped her. He is interested in the whole person though and not diagnosing and/or prescribing. And he listens and engages with her. She lives abroad though.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 25/12/2019 23:21

Maybe because by the time you get to the stage of seeing a psychiatrist you’re probably not at a good point in your life? So they’re associated with that in your mind? Also if you’ve ever been sectioned against your will, I guess the psychiatrist will be the “bad guy” in that scenario, even if the decision was for your own good.

bitheby · 25/12/2019 23:21

To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Two psychiatrists told me I'm not autistic and were looking for mental illnesses to diagnose me with.

I am autistic and was diagnosed by a professional in an NHS autism service. I had to fight to get the referral from the psychiatrists.

Some are good, some are not so good, some are downright dangerous. They also carry a lot of power because they can detain people against their will.

I work with several now and will always maintain a healthy scepticism.

BudgieHammockBananaSmuggler · 25/12/2019 23:28

Totally agree with you Kristallen about wrongfully medicalising feelings. The best psychiatrists are holistic and look at deprescribing as well as suggesting new medications. But some people choose medication which benefits them, for an illness that is not just down to social circumstances or background, and for them it’s not snake oil.

SouthWestmom · 25/12/2019 23:48

But then you have the idea that feelings can be medicalised, that someone living on the poverty line, working full time in multiple zero hours contracts with an elderly parent who needs care plus children is depressed because of a chemical imbalance. They may have one, who knows, but it's far more likely that the reason they feel shit is because of abysmal life circumstances, not because they have a clinical problem.

But that's going to be a GP not a psychiatrist. Getting in front of one is very hard and involves private healthcare or significant mental health issues.

Sparklesocks · 25/12/2019 23:50

I think some people (not all but some) have very poor experiences of Psychiatrists which really shapes their opinion

Gingerkittykat · 25/12/2019 23:54

The Body Keeps the Score and Drop the Disorder are both books that may help you understand the problem with psychiatry and therefore why psychiatrists say what they do and why they are disliked.

This.

Psychiatrists are a mixed bunch from those who are compassionate and caring to those with God complexes.

A lot of the treatment i.e. antipsychotics, benzos, antidepressants and ECT have done a lot of damage to a lot of people.

A psychiatrist works from the medical model, instead of teaching coping skills and an understanding of why a person has the issues they do they just reach for the prescription pad.

Etinox · 25/12/2019 23:56

•By the time you get to see a psychiatrist things are not great.
•The hammer nail analogy above.
•Psychiatrists tend to be men and by definition there’s a massive power imbalance. It’s rarely going to be plain sailing.

Disclaimer- I’ve never met one as a client and the one I know is rather flawed.

DonutMan · 25/12/2019 23:59

Are they really disliked? Everybody jokes about car salesmen and lawyers but I know both in real life and nobody seems to look down on them.

FruitcakeOfHate · 26/12/2019 00:07

Some of them are utterly psycho.

Menora · 26/12/2019 00:11

I actually was a senior secretary in psychiatry and I do find them an odd kind of doctor.
I’ve worked in many different specialties and this one was the most challenging. Majority of them had some kind of god complex, very rude, abrupt and abrasive, did not seem empathetic but then this wasn’t always the case and some were absolutely lovely warm people.

AnyOldPrion · 26/12/2019 00:22

Isn’t it the case that fucked up people tend to be drawn to it?

NAPALT (obviously).

VaselineHero · 26/12/2019 00:29

I dated a consultant psychiatrist in the nhs (so top of the tree) a number of years ago for a very short period. I can honestly say that I have never met someone who is so simultaneously intelligent and interesting, and yet so fucked up at the same time. To give you an idea, it emerged after a few dates that he had a bipolar diagnosis (his colleagues were not aware) and alcoholism. He frequently neglected to take his meds which led to mania, and seemed to have a quite frankly unbelievable, considering his position, lack of insight into his own condition and behaviours. After this experience I no longer can look at psychiatrists in the same light at all.

VaselineHero · 26/12/2019 00:29

@AnyOldPrion That is my experiment too

VaselineHero · 26/12/2019 00:30

Experience* !!

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 26/12/2019 00:33

The only psych I have ever known personally was a completely unstable and really quite insane man.

He was involved in a years-long, passionate, on/ off affair with a colleague. He would cheat on her, hit her, but then "romance" her again. He had a hair trigger temper and when they broke up, his standard threat was that she would be sectioned. He adored miniature poodles, which sat on his lap as he drove (I remember one repeatedly biting his fingers when he was giving me a lift once!). When they died, he put their bodies in a great big chest freezer he had in his cellar, and to get revenge/ torment him after a row, colleague would periodically defrost one and leave it in the kitchen for him to find.

They were an absolutely bonkers couple.

Disclaimer- this is probably completely unreflective of your average psychiatrist!