What do to pre seeing a psychiatrist?

[snowmash]

After a bad start (my fault), I'm wondering what it's worth me doing before an assessment appointment with a psychiatrist?

Is it worth writing down symptoms/what's happening?

I'm not sure if there's anything else that I could do - not sure what I could hope for out of it. My GP has made suggestions that it wont be about labelling, but who knows.

I'm also worried that I'm in no fit state for any sort of treatment (not sure if that makes sense - essentially until I move house I will be in constant contact with major triggers).

Any ideas much welcomed.

Keep a diary, it will help the psychiatrist see frequency and severity of symptoms and recognise triggers. Will also help you vent. I couldn't live without my diary to moan at!

OH couldn't agree more about a diary. After suffering a major depressive episode last year and 3 months in hospital, I kept a diary every single day. I am still in recovery and get "blips" from time to time out of the blue and my diary helps me to getit out of my head and stop moaning too much to my supportive partner!

In my limited experience psychiatrists are a bit of an odd bunch (the one I had this time was very odd - no eye contact and was only concerned with whether I was eating and sleeping and the drugs I was taking)

You need to be clear and concise if you can and yes I would write down your symptoms, maybe in bullet points you know one liners as he/she is more likely to read those than a long rambling account, but be honest. You won't be telling him/her anything they haven't heard a hundred times before.

The job of the psychiatrist is to diagnose your condition and prescribe the appropriate treatment. I suppose it is labelling but you do need to be clear on the diagnosis don't you. Is there anything in particular you are worried about re labelling.