Psychiatrist

[superchick22684]

I don't really know who to ask about it this so I decided to bring my question to the forum. I've had the same psychiatrist for about three years now. He is the one that prescribes my meds because around three years ago my gp pretty much told me they couldn't do anything else for me.

I see my psych once a month and we chat a bit about how I'm feeling, any med side effects etc. I also have someone that I see every two weeks for counseling so I do a lot more talking at those appointments that at my psych appointments.

I'm going to go ahead and cut to the chase, the last two to three appointments I've had with my psych he will ask me how things are going and then log on to his computer and surf the internet mainly looking up news articles and sometimes ask me my opinions. This last time I stated something about what I was working on in therapy and he completely ignored what I said to him.

I'm not really sure what to do about this. I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be ignoring me and looking up news articles while I'm in his office even if I'm not being particularly chatty during the appointments. I mentioned the issue briefly to someone I know and they think I should be able to contact someone who is higher up to make a complaint about his behavior.

Have any of you ran into this issue with any mental health doctors/specialists?

[Anne1221]

I have never had any type of doctor, Psychiatrist or other type, who did not pay attention to me 100% while I was talking to them. That is wrong. The Psychiatrist I see works for himself, so if he didn't pay attention to me, I would have to go to another doctor, but thankfully, he does.

(I've had other bad doctor experiences, but not being ignored)

[gypsylee]

My psych deliberately doesn’t even have a computer (which means he hand-writes scripts and takes forever lol). He does go on about irrelevant things though and I can tell he’s worn out. I mainly go for medication and just to “touch base” with him.

But yes, surfing the net while you’re there isn’t good. Next he’ll be looking at porn! ;)

[superchick22684]

Anne1221: I've never had a medical professional ignore me until my psych just started doing it recently. I think he's kinda stressed out/worn out but I still don't think that's a good excuse. Unfortunately my psych works for himself as well so I don't know what to do about it. He's the only psych in my area that takes my insurance so I might just have to deal with it. I don't think ignoring a patient counts as malpractice, its just extremely rude.

[Anne1221]

It sounds like you will have to just deal with it, unless you felt brave enough to comment to him about it. It sounds like something is capturing his attention and he keeps getting drawn to his computer. Reminds me of a new neighbor I have who is newly divorced and just started dating again. She will be talking to me, a good conversation, but she just HAS to check her phone.

So many people, who don't have anxiety like us, are addicted to their phones! The latest research shows that when people put their phones down, it creates more anxiety for them because they feel they are missing something. Apparently the new phenomenon of social media has created a whole group of anxious people! (I saw this on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper. He was even anxious during the interview because they made him put his phone across the room).

To those people who have new anxiety about missing messages on their phones, I say, "Welcome to our anxiety club!"