Anxiety over my first psych visit?

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I don't even have a fixed appointment for my first visit to the psychologist/psychiatrist (I'm still trying to gather the courage to get a referral from my doctor) and I'm already feeling overwhelmingly anxious about it. I feel sick just thinking about being in a little office alone with some person I just met and trying to explain why the f*** I'm there without sounding like an idiot. I've never been to one before, what the hell am I supposed to do? What can I expect? Is there some sort of first day protocol for like, orientation of newbies or anything?!

Every time I try and mentally walk through the process, my brain only gets to the image of me standing in the doorway to the person's office, where I promptly begin to hyperventilate.

Can anyone tell me what I can expect and what is expected of me on my first visit? I would like to be as prepared as possible but its like I'm trying to study for a test and I don't even know what subject it covers.

Just make an appointment. Walk into the office. And if there's something you would like to tell someone but you usually can't or you do but they don't understand, maybe that's something you should try to get out there. Then you don't have to think about whys and whens.

Even if you happened to be one of the most abnormal persons (by common standards) you're unlikely to unify the great number of most "awful", "disgusting", "hilarious" and "alien" things that "normal" people with "normal" issues and people with common disorders and disabilities have managed to come up with in front of the average mental health professional.

Seriously, even if you were eating your faeces regularly or started to masturbate in public/in front of the professional, it wouldn't make you exceptionally weird. Even someone who seems normal but is extremely hypochondriac isn't exactly uncommon either. Reporting of strange people having put strange things into your brain that can make your explode if you're revealing your unwilling position as a secret (anti-)governmental spy - not so rare.

What I mean to say is: I wouldn't worry about sounding like an idiot.

I recommend taking this time to sort out the reasons why you are seeing a psychologist (or whoever you end up seeing) and what goals you would like to accomplish, and break those down into bullet points that you can easily communicate to him or her.

The first time I saw a psychologist, she asked me some basic questions about myself, my family, and my history to get to know me and to try to find any problem areas in my life. At the end of the meeting, she told me to fill out a questionnaire at home, and asked me to think about what my goals with counseling would be.

My goals were along the lines of: "Get a diagnosis of Asperger's or whatever else might be causing me social distress" "Gain the confidence to apply for jobs" "Learn how to react to certain social situations" "Learn how to cope with my symptoms of hyperfocus and executive dysfunction". Just thought I would share to give you examples and jog your brain for your own personal goals.

During my first visit, she told me I couldn't have AS because if I did, I wouldn't have any friends. Before I went back, I went over some of the criteria for Asperger's and wrote down the symptoms I thought I had, and examples from my life that proved I had them.

Eventually I ended up not going back because I didn't feel I was connecting with her. She seemed eager to chalk up all of my experiences to other varying things, anything but Asperger's. Hopefully the person you see will be more knowledgeable. She was very kind and polite, though, so I never felt embarrassed around her. She was actually one of the nicest people I have ever met.

I hope that helps calm your nerves!

I was also eggstremely anxious about my first psych visit. I had no idear what I was going to say to the psych. Hello, uhhhhhhhhhhhh, uhhhhhhhhhh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhh, uhhh?

It wasn't as bad as I eggspected. I went there to tell the psych about how I fried my brain, sizzle sizzle, and the psych asked me questions, so I didn't have to take the lead in the conversation. I could just try to answer the questions. My answers were very incoherent, but it was only the first appointment, and there was plenty of time to make sense of all that krap later. That is what the psych's job is, to help people make sense of the krap in their heads, so their heads can work bester for them. I would not be embarassed about telling things to the psych. The psych has heard many many many things from many many many people, just like medical doctors have seen all kinds of horrible physical ailments, so chances are that your deep dark derkisms are purrrty normal to them.

I learned a lot from seeing a therapist, ackshuly. I learned to talk about myself and to talk bester in general. I learned to write things down. I even learned the word "anxiety" for that horrible I'm going to be killed feeling that I got before going to my first psych visit. I use that word all the time now. I have much less anxiety than before, but I use the word much more now.

I was a little nervous about seeing a new psychologist today, but it tended to be like my first visit a few years ago. I took a test and then talked to the doctor for a while. She had questions to guide the conversation, but it was not scripted the questions flowed with the conversation.

:ven though it seems daunting, it should be less stressful than meeting a new person for a different reason. I am able to be very open with the pros, but if there is something you don't want to discuss until you feel safe, that should be fine.

My first psychologist said that there are some people she disliked treating, but the ones she mentioned were those who are openly antagonistic... It should be a good experience for you especially if you find someone who has specific experience.