I've been referred to a psychiatrist

[jiffnon]

by my GP. I got a letter today confirming my first appointment in which they said it will "be an assessment of my needs" and last for approximately 90 minutes.

I understand that this is probably a positive step rather than a negative one but as somebody who fears the development of severe mental illnesses, I'm naturally worried that it won't just be anxiety.

How was your first psychiatric appointment?

[jon mike]

by my GP. I got a letter today confirming my first appointment in which they said it will "be an assessment of my needs" and last for approximately 90 minutes.

I understand that this is probably a positive step rather than a negative one but as somebody who fears the development of severe mental illnesses, I'm naturally worried that it won't just be anxiety.

How was your first psychiatric appointment?

Your gp may not be qualified and has just referred you,
Probably covering his back

[1Bluerose68]

It doesn't necessarily mean that one has ,"Mental Illness" if they choose to see a psychiatrist. Some health plans wont allow one to just go see a psychiatrist w/o a formal referral. Other people keep their visit totally private and pay cash directly to a specialist of Their Choice.

It's more of a bureaucratic policy in being referred to a specialist than the issue one one being,"Mentally Ill." Otherwise, in America one may just walk through the Yellow Pages until they see a name that they feel like calling or ask an agency for a private referral via crisis line or something like The American Psychiatric Association? Then one would seek out a referral and go see this specialist for the 1st time to determine if they would even be comfortable even seeing that specialist on a long term or even a brief basis.

It's called "Shopping Around' for a therapist of one's choice. In my 20's I did that until I found the right therapist. A few who I saw also told me that they didn't do the form of therapy which I was seeking out, "Traditional Couch-Patient to Analyst-Ears and note pad. So I was rejected too by 1 analyst who didn't feel I could afford her fee if she were to do that style therapy with me, which also requires at least 2x per week at about $100.00 per session, and that specialist didn't even have an M.D. license.

See the Psychiatrist is also a licensed MD. Therefore, if they feel that some of the issues being heard are not totally psychiatric, they are able to communicate that back to the referring general MD. Some MD general also feel that some medical issues would benefit from the care of a psychiatrist as they may be beneficial in seeing 2 types of doctors for 1 issue.

For example; say a person is dying of cancer, and their general physician feels like they may benefit from some type of therapy and not just an anti-depressant med to cover up the true feeling of depression. The depression may be a secondary issue of the cancer they are dying from. Therefore, the 2 docs may work as a team in helping the patient through his treatment of cancer.

Many children at these specialty hospitals like, St.Elmo's (lets say?), see specialists of all types while fighting their cancer off. Some patients recover 100%. Some may never recover, but until they die they have a better quality of life perhaps in voicing all these body and soul issues until the day they are no longer alive because of their cancer.

So many doctors just refer to a specialist for both insurance policy reasons and because they can't do therapy and gen meds because of time limitations in this over crowded society of ours. It doesn't mean that 1 is mentally Ill to be seen by a Psychiatrist...

[gypsylee]

My first psych appointment was horrible. I got put on Xanax, anti-psychotics and anti-depressants. I didn't know anything about anxiety back then or medication, so I took everything and needless to say I felt like a complete zombie. I went back and said I felt worse and he told me to increase the doses!

After about six months of this I was a terrible mess so my mother found a new psychiatrist who took me off everything except the Xanax. This was in 1993 so hopefully this kind of psychiatrist doesn't exist anymore.

Good luck..
Gypsy

[laurendoesntknow]

hmm my first psyc appointment was a mix of
"why dont you eat?"
"what are you scared of?"
"why do you shake so much?"
"how did you cut your arms?"
"why did you take the pills"
and me screaming that im fine and trying to tell lies to get out of it. Not so great I guess, but here is the thing:
Isn't it just anxiety telling you that you wont just have anxiety?

Also as its a psychiatrist they are the ones who prescribe meds, so youre probably just going to see if meds will help you. Be completely honest, they wont put you in a hospital or anything :)
Dont stress!
lara (15)