On Psychiatry

[docorion]

Some of you have heard my psychiatry rant. In short, it goes like this: Psychiatrists are not doctors, in the "physician" sense. They don't do any of the things I recognize as "being a doctor"; they don't examine patients or their pathologic equivalents (xrays, tissue slides, lab values-doctors do that stuff in some specialities and are still "

Comments

[chienne_folle]

I'm a psychologist, and in my experience, most psychiatrists are terrible listeners who are nevertheless puffed up with self-importance. They tend not to be good for clients, and they make all of us look bad.

That said, I do think they have a place, because there are so many physical diseases that can have symptoms that mimic those of mental illnesses. Is it depression or low levels of thyroid hormone? Is it ADD or untreated sleep apnea? Is it depression mixed with anxiety or really bad menopause? I need someone I can send a client to who understands depression but who also has the ability to order tests of T3, T4, and TSH levels and that sort of thing.

[docorion]

Well, I'll say that Carlat addresses those issues, (and mostly dismisses them, properly in my opinion) from the point of view of the psychiatrist

[mzrowan]

psychiatrists are psychologists wearing an MD without good cause or right

Ha, that's funny, my opinion (having done an MA in counselling years ago) was the opposite -- they were MDs wearing the title "psychologist" without good cause or right.

What really chafed my ass was that, in Ontario, any MD from any specialty could up and decide to start offering therapy and get reimbursed for it by the provincial health insurance -- and someone with six years of training in psychology (undergrad and masters) couldn't.

[awfief]

*shrug* for me it's just as well -- I can get an MD to recommend a drug to help a mental problem, and I can work with a psychologist to help with a mental problem. The only thing I need a psychiatrist for is the actual prescription and the 15-minute visit once every 3 months to get the prescription refilled

[wolfkitn]

Agreed, just about completely