To ask why psychiatrists are viewed in this way

[busyweeks78]

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?

If that's the case, I must be seeing the wrong ones lol! keep trying to convince him to prescribe sleeping tablets - might as well be looking to get me hands on heroin

GREATAUNT1 Would you let a surgeon operate on your heart? Or would you require him to have had triple bypass surgery himself?

A GP? Never had abdominal pain?

Interesting. I have met many psychiatrists professionally. Like everyone else there are some great and others not so great.
They are also (like GP’s - disclosure here I am one) limited in what we can do.
The role of trauma is huge but there is very very little talking therapy available in the public system. When dealing with stressed, unhappy people, often disproportionally affected by poverty, childhood trauma who are distressed the only thing readily available often is medication. Time and psychological therapy is woefully absent.
The thing that would make a huge difference to mental health is putting loads and loads money into women before, during and after pregnancy and care of young children and spending resources there.
There is no political will for this however and society much prefers locking people up in jail and an awful lot health spending is spent at the end of life on futile treatments which do not help length or quality of life.
Mind you, I have depression - I remember the first few days after starting antidepressants I remember realising I could see colour and hear the birds - I have prescribed antidepressants lots and I am always amazed at the power of transformation and healing they give to those who need them.

@PanamaPattie psychiatrists are medically trained doctors, they are about as far from pedlars of snake oil as it’s possible to get.

Lots of people don’t seem to have the first idea what a psychiatrist is. They are not psychologists and they are not psychotherapists.

Psychiatrists get paid EXTREMELY highly (somewhere in region 70k to 120k per year) and all they do is see a person for 10 mins and prescribe medication. They do not get an understanding of why a person has the symptoms they do, or give any psychological support. Most have a small range if meds they prescribe and most of the nurses and others working with them could easily do the same job but get paid very little.

Psychologists get paid less but have to work hard to help the client discover the true reasons for their difficulties and support them with therapy and coping skills. They have more qualifications (all are educated to doctorate level) but get paid a lot less.

Psychiatrists are generally middle age men. A lot are on power trips and love the heirachy.

In the teams I've worked in, the paychitrists all wear suits and insist on being called 'Dr ......', whereas the psychologists (who actually have a doctoral level qualification (most psychiatrists are NOT educated to doctoral level)) are just known by their firsts names and are much more a part of the team.

Paychitrists are often very scathing and nasty about people with personality disorders (but are nice to their face, just horrible about them.in team meetings).

Psychiatrists usually think they are god.

I'm not a fan. At all.

Because not everyone has had ALL positive experiences!

Why would you assume everyone has the same luck as you or that all psychiatrists are like the ones you've known?

I have had both positive and negative experiences. Like every profession, some individuals are brilliant, some good, some average, some bad, and some terrible. Some will be a good fit with a particular patient and some will not.

@LunaTheCat you are absolutely right but as long as women are massively unrepresented in government there will be no political will to prioritise the health of women. Women are basically second class citizens as far as healthcare is concerned.

Talking therapy has dubious outcomes, does it not?

Floppy when you say that psychiatrists aren't trained to doctoral level do you mean that they aren't trained to the equivalent of PhD level? They've got a medical dr title because of medical undergraduate and then they essentially have an equivalent to a masters in psychiatry? I know the academic and medical route are different, but I understood that medical specialisation took a good few years, so was more like a PhD equivalent. Have I got it muddled?

My Mum is a Psychiatrist and is phenomenally clever but utterly fucking inept as a human.

She is great at what she does; she believes in the holistic view that she "adds" to the person rather than playing God and simply medicating the problems and concerns away. I think it helps that she has a spiritual side so the whole ego-god-complex doesn't tend to take over when she's working. She's widely respected and has worked in some quite important places. She's knowledgeable and smarter than I can explain. But her head is an absolute shitshow of mood swings, ego and god complex. How she separates the work life from the personal is beyond me, but those who've worked with her adore her and rave about her abilities.

As a Mother she wasn't/isn't great. As a psychiatrist I think she's pretty good. I know which I'd have preferred.

@kristallen I'm still not understanding the difference between psychotherapy and counselling.

A family member is one and once he described his patients as twats. Hmmmmmmm....bad day at the office i guess.

Psychiatrists get paid EXTREMELY highly (somewhere in region 70k to 120k per year) and all they do is see a person for 10 mins and prescribe medication. They do not get an understanding of why a person has the symptoms they do, or give any psychological support.

This is a massive generalisation. It may be your experience, but it definitely isn't everyone's.

I saw a psychiatrist regularly (once a fortnight to start with, then tailing down to once every two months) for six years. They did prescribe meds, in conjunction with my GP, but they also gave me tremendous psychological support. Each appointment lasted 45 minutes to an hour on average. I honestly don't think I would be here today without them.

(This was on the NHS).

Interesting thread.
I’ve had trauma & CBT therapy for almost 3yrs.
I’m medicated for PTSD, depression, anxiety. Unable to work.
My GP referred me to psychiatry for help with medication & they declined the referral as I’m having intense therapy?!

Also it’s a product of my circumstances. Things happened / happening outside of my control. Which is why I’m struggling. I cannot fix my circumstances but how do I learn to live with them?

I have suicidal thoughts but I’m not suicidal if that makes sense.

General stigma about mental health. Nobody would bat an eyelid if you said you had an appointment with a dermatologist or nutritionist, but psychiatrist carries a stigma still.

One of my DD's friend's dads is a psychiatrist, he's a lovely man. Very gentle and softly spoken and is apparently very good at what he does. (working with prisoners and people with addition issues mostly).

I will be honest I had to stop working in MH as it was so utterly soul destroying. I worked in adult psych - with a very ‘scary’ unpredictable, horrible Male psychiatrist - despite being his secretary and seeing him every day he never made any effort to make a working RS with me.

I became depressed by the model (that he had a hand in designing) - older adult in to appointment, long history taken, 2nd appointment diagnosis and meds and then discharged. I often felt really heavy typing up these long letters about people’s deep traumas and personal lives to know that on the NHS this would probably just be medicated, and that there were not enough services to actually make a difference to their lives. When it was dementia I found it very sad but also people with life long MH issues, they would be in and out of the inpatient unit like yoyo’s their whole lives, they would have good period and bad periods but never seemed to make long term progress, and he was just focused on medicating them to stay out of the units. Not his fault there isn’t enough therapy in the NHS to make a difference

I now work in a different environment in the NHS which is very very proactive rather than reactive and it sits better with me

Interesting thread. I used to work with a lot of psychiatrists and psychologists. Many were lovely people, some weren't, much like any other walk of life. Some were so lacking in empathy that it was a mystery to me how they'd ended up in a caring profession. I do think there's something in the idea that for some psychology/psychiatry is a draw because they haven't a clue how normal people think/feel. Also, some of my ex-colleagues had very difficult family backgrounds, family members with addiction problems etc, and their career choices had been influenced by a desire to do what they could to help others with similar problems.

As far as I understand it, a counsellor is someone you go to to talk through personal difficulties, which won't necessarily be classed as mental health problems - e.g. relationship problems, coping with bereavement, family stress - although obviously if bad enough any kind of problem can lead to a mental health problem like depression or anxiety. They should be non-judgemental and don't tell you what to do, but they guide you to think through your problems and work out coping methods. I've not seen one, this is just based on having read about it - is this accurate?

I think a lot of people get confused between psychotherapist and psychoanalyst (I certainly used to). Psychoanalysts pop up in old films and books, and are psychiatrists or psychologists who've trained in Freudian or Jungian analysis, which would involve having extensive therapy themselves, and their patients lie on a couch talking about themselves (in films, anyway). That kind of analysis takes years and years so has tended to be the preserve of the wealthy but worried well. Uncommon now? I don't think it has a very good success rate in helping feel better about themselves, but am prepared to be corrected there!

Psychotherapists might be psychiatrists but are more likely people with psychology degrees who've had some postgraduate training in administering a particular therapy, like CBT, or a range of therapies. They might be clinical or counselling or health psychologists. If I understand correctly, the therapies involved take a lot less time to administer than traditional analysis, so are far cheaper. Research seems to indicate that CBT is quite successful at helping people with various common mental health problems, when used in conjunction with a short course of medication.

My experience is a positive one. I can honestly say if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today.

I have had cause to see both relatively recently. My psychaitrist was a middle aged man who literally saw me for minutes each time, was not interested in what I had to say and who medicated me up to the hilt. He keep on increasing my medication even when I knew that it was harming my mental state - but I was in a secure ward and you are not allowed to refuse. I felt powerless and very vulnerable at the hands of a doctor who didn't really understand why I was ill.

My psychologist was a younger woman who was utterly fantastic. I saw her for about a year and we untangled my issues and she turned my life around with me and I am now medication free.

As I see it - they are there for different reasons. My psychiatrist stopped me from killing myself and I needed the medication in a time of crisis. He instructed me, my GP and my CPN that I needed to be on this medication for at least 2 years though. I disagreed and think that the whole 'chemical imbalance' argument is on very shaky ground.

My psychologist took a holisitic view and actually empowered me for the long term and this was the massive difference.

Sorry for any typos!

Tbf I've never had a psych dismiss ne in ten mins or anything like floppy says. It must be down to individual experience. As shit as the system is they've always taken the time to listen to my "back story" even if their final advice or instructions aren't helpful for me.

I thought psychiatrists did another 2 years after their 7 years of medical training.
My experience is in the treatment of a family member with Parkinson's and dementia and they have been imv kind, pleasant people and the medication has helped a lot , though of course, no cure.
People posting with complaints against a string of psychiatrists must be pretty rare in real life. I don't know anyone , even family member, who has had dealings with many psychiatrists.
Are we mixing up psychs, psychotherapists, psychologists. If so the qualifications are v different.

Psychotherapists are not Psychologists or psychiatrists @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g.
Psychotherapists usually have training in psychotherapy ( degree or not). It’s not much different to counselling, anyone can call themselves one.
Psychologist (clinical/counselling/health) is a protected term only those with the requisite doctoral training can use. I worked bloody hard for it so please don’t call me a psychotherapist.
As for the medical model- most NHS trusts push for a biopsychosocial approach to mental health, including psychiatrists. The medical model is pretty outdated now, however that’s not to say some find it hard to shake.