Red flags to look for in psychiatrists

lynati:

deadcatwithaflamethrower:

einarshadow:

monstermonstre:

– if they do not like that you research your disorder/s and treatment/s
– if they do not explain the reason/s behind certain treatment/medication that they are prescribing you
– if they are reluctant/refuse to let you access your medical records
– if their first response to symptoms is medication without any talk therapy
– if they say they “don’t believe in therapy”
– if they say they “don’t believe in medication”
– if they insist on seeing your parent/legal guardian without you being present
– if they tell you that there are no other treatment available if you complain about your current treatment/medication not working/having unmanageable side effects
– if they diagnose you without explaining how they came to that diagnosis, what it entails, and which treatments you have at your disposal
– if they fall asleep during a session (you’re laughing but it happened, several times, and i’m not boring)
– if they assure you that you cannot have [insert disorder here] because you are too young/wealthy/poor/fat/skinny/smiling/old/whatever bs (the only valid reasons for not having a disorder is if you do not meet the minimum criteria for it, age/body/ethnicity/etc are not criteria)
– if they tell you that you obviously do not want/are not ready to get help (that’s a super abusive technique, would only see this as a valid comment to make if you are pressured into seeing them by someone who has authority over you)
– if they insist on you continuing to take a medication despite the side effects very negatively affecting you (for example: if you are recovering from an ED and you get the “gaining weight” side effect and that is very triggering to you)
– if they are flippant about/disregard your feelings

i’m probably forgetting a lot. feel free to add.

EDIT: I made a blog to vent about bad mental health practitioners @shrinksfromhell. Check it out and submit your stories!

@deadcatwithaflamethrower

You can also apply most of these to standard physicians. Useful list, folks.

These people are supposed to be providing you with a service. If they’re doing a terrible job, it’s time to “fire” them and find someone new.