tell us of your horror stories with psychiatrists...

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this thread was inspired by this post by "littlelily613".

"I agree with the advice to see a psychologist rather than a psychiatrist. Many of us have had nightmare stories with psychiatrists."


please make a list of your horror stories with psychiatrists, and psychologists too if they've been a problem for any of you. i'm curious what's really going on with these professions from the perspectives of the members of this forum.



i'll post mine later. i'm tired now.

I had one tell me I was bipolar practicaly as soon as he walked in the door and if I didn't take Abilify he would have me commited where they would make me take it. He also went on to say AS is a dieasese. He said his son has AS but I figured he was just making that up.

When I was a kid, I had a psychiatrist who refused to acknolodge that my being bullied all the time was the root cause of my agression. She just wanted to drug me. Supposedly she wanted to get me to "calm down" first but she did nothing to resolve the bullying or suggested anything and the medicine she gave me did nothing but make me sick.

I have lots of storeis about horrible phycologists as well. The most recent one saying that my AS diagnosis should be changed because I am so high functining. He also admitted he had never heard of Temple Grandin. Another lady was nice but she was just stupid. She didn't know anything about AS and it as if I was paying her to teach her about it.

One was just plain rude to me and turned it around to make me out to be the one that was rude. I felt as if I was being interogated for a crime. She sat so close to me it was as if she was sitting in my lap, she was also like, "I understand you have Asperger's Syndrome" with a very condesending tone and in the same tone she snaps, "I notice you don't make any eye contact." She said I didn't have AS, but had ODD.

I saw the title, and I thought I might have inspired this!

I've only had one experience with a psychiatrist, and I HAAAATED it!

I had been going to doctors and psychologists my entire life as my parents tried to figure out what was "wrong" with me. I was seeing a psychologist for awhile, and I really loved going to see him because I do not connect to many people. Apparently (I found this out just recently), he said there was nothing more he could do for me, and dumped me onto this awful psychiatrist. I don't know how long I went to see this new guy for. I must have been 9 or 10, and I hated him from the moment I met him. As a result, I would not speak to him, would not nod or shake my head, etc. Every single time I was in that room with him, (my mom just found this out recently as I was too scared to say anything then), he threatened to put me into an asylum. I could see him out of the corner of my eye...he was older and had a really creepy look with glassy eyes. I wasn't even a teenager yet, and he threatened me everytime to have me committed. All for things I could not control and he should have picked up on. He also put me on medications. I do not know what exactly they were for, but I think they were supposed to fix my behaviours (I had horrible meltdowns). On top of that, he ate his lunch while he spoke to me--apple and raisin sandwiches. I always thought that was rude that he seemed to focus more on his dinner than he did on me. Not that I wanted him to focus on me anyway...but that was just one other reason why I didn't like him. It was the unending threats of a mental hospital that terrified me though. I feared going to see him every single time. I absolutely dreaded it. I may have gotten help a lot sooner if it wasn't for him too because after my parents finally let me stop seeing him, I was too scared to see another doctor for YEARS after that.

I`d love to but frankly I don`t have the time! lol

Manny Misdiagnosis first told me that everything I was experiencing was because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from an abusive marriage that I survived. While I have PTSD legitimately, he thought this also explained all the behavior I had before I had even met the guy. Then when I said that my mother was likely bipolar because her behavior was like an amplified version of her other daughter's behavior, who was diagnosed with bipolar and takes medication, he decided that I was bipolar, too. He tossed aside my previous Aspergers diagnosis on the grounds that I love my kids. Then he took me off Wellbutrin XL by telling me to stop taking it and refusing to refer me to the Nurse Practitioner who could evaluate and prescribe me appropriately. (Turns out my Wellbutrin XL just needed a hike in dosage.) All the while he was neither a psychiatrist nor a psychologist so he couldn't diagnose or do any of what he did. He also used to interrupt me to complete my sentences and he was always wrong so the sessions felt like an on-going argument because I was constantly correcting him and never felt like he was listening to me. He reminded me of those annoying college kids who say, "All people can be narrowed down the three different types..." and then they list some vapid labels based on inane criteria, demonstrating an actual zero understanding of people. Most college people who have that annoying behavior grow out of it. I guess he never did.

There was a psychologist that I saw as a marriage counselor for my first husband (the abusive one). We were ordered to go after my ex-husband had an incident where he drank himself into oblivion, threatened to kill me and threatened to kill his entire unit by running the bus that he was scheduled to drive off the road. So, as part of many things he had to do, we went to marriage counseling. She started out by having us fill out a questionnaire with little dots that we fill in, to determine if we strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree. Knowing the reasons why we were there, she determined from the little questionnaire that we didn't need marriage counseling. We were fine, she thought. But we were ordered to go so we all had to do the required number of sessions. In these sessions, I told her that he was pushing and hitting me. He admitted it and said he doesn't like being that way but loses control when he's mad. She suggested that I do laundry more often, since that was one of his complaints, and maybe he wouldn't hit me so much. She also suggested that because he likes to drink and relax when he gets home, that I keep our 2 year-old son away from him until he's ready to participate in activities with the child. This is what this woman told us. My ex-husband was thrilled because now we had validation that everything was my fault. I was a lousy wife and mother. Most of the time in these sessions I was really distracted by how much she looked like Swoozie Kurtz. It was uncanny.

These are two bad professionals. I have seen some awesome professionals and my experiences with the competent professionals completely wash away the bad taste left by the quacks.

I never had horror stories but my psychologist,as someone above said the same,said that i can't be Aspergers since i am very High Functioning,sociable and talk.Also because i am very sociable in inrernet forums and that Aspies can't even do that.

I only remember seeing 1 psychiatrist out of all the shrinks I've been to (probably close to 10 over my lifetime), & that was just last year.

Here's the bad: Ms. Know-It-All said I had to be bi-polar & wanted to prescribe pills. Oh and that I was also suffering severe depression. I agreed to being depressed but it was brought on by circumstances in my life. She didn't care & just wanted to have me take pills. She said it didn't matter what I've been through, pills are the best way to treat it. This was within my 1st 5 minutes of being in her office. I told her I'd only take meds if/when I was tested first for a DX. I've been tested previously, but the shrink couldn't give me a DX though she knew there was something odd about me (I'm guessing Aspergers, but because that was 10 years ago, she probably didn't consider it being it was mostly unknown). Not her fault, just bad timing. She tested me thoroughly.

Back to Ms. Know-It-All: after blathering on & on about what she knew during this same visit, she abruptly insisted that I must spend loads of time in casinos gambling away wads of cash. One would only have to look at my bank account to see I never draw out huge amounts of cash (don't have it anyway). Also people who really do know me I'd rather be dead than spend time in a casino. It's just not for me due to all the sensory issues I have with cigarette smoke, noise, bells, other loud electronic sounds, flashing lights, drunk people who don't understand personal boundaries, etc. This was after I told her about my SIs, my sensory issues, AS, etc. Needless to say, at this point I cut the office visit short & walked out. She's no longer listed at this particular office....dunno if she got fired or what, but that's on her. Anyone who claims to be a psychiatrist needs to know exactly what they are doing, & not make assuptions without going through the proper channels first (testing, interview, research, etc).

Here's the good: Fast forward to 9 months later: My current shrink's first office visit consisted of an hour long interview of me & my past experiences from early childhood through current life. She also said it would be good if I went through testing. She brought it up, & I didn't have to push for it. Hurray! After going through something like 4 or so different shrinks, I think I have found someone decent who listens. That's all I ask. I hate when someone throws out assumptions based on tidbits of information. As I said, I'm not against meds but am against taking something that could do greater harm than good. I also don't like the fact that drug companies push their products on people without knowing all the potentially harmful side effects. I refuse to be a doctor's or drug company's guinea pig. Ain't gonna happen!

Tomboy

They're absolutely useless. Both of the psychiatric consultants I've seen recently have zero idea as to what Asperger's is.

The second fella told me that I didn't have Asperger's, that my diagnosis was, and then asked me what Asperger's Syndrome was!

no "horror stories". thus far.

however, i have had psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and similar professionals say and do things that i found condescending, unprofessional, and insulting.

for example:

the 10th grade school psychologist had the nerve to tell me that the middle school students bullied me b/c they were jealous that i did better than them at school, and that if you work hard, "
you can be whatever you wanna be when you grow up."

she had never interacted with the students before. she had no clue what emotions or thoughts they had. likewise, even if someone is jealous, someone might express that in many ways, or not express it altogether. no, you cannot be whatever you wanna be when you grow up. she was not psychic or telepathic. some of us have advantages, such as being born into families with more money, inheriting a high IQ score, parents with large social networks, and et cetera. things are neither ideal nor fair.

but whatever.

in her defense, maybe her job description said she had to tell me what she told me. and there is no method for a client to find out.

a psychologist had the nerve to tell me to buy clothes from a consignment store. then he told me that i walk like i was from "the hood". ok, that is so arrogant. after walking several yards from the waiting room to his office, he made that "observation" and felt compelled to tell me. seriously. and then he told me that when he first saw me he did not know if i was male or female.

i am trans. this was 2008. a clinical psychologist told me that.

_____________________________________________________________________________

idiots like them scared me away from all counselors. for a long time. but the current one (5 months and counting), so far, seems (to me) down to earth and nonjudgmental. but, of course, maybe she is just more skillful at disguising her judgments, than other LCSWs. or maybe she will suddenly change her behavior, in the future.

when i first came out as trans (2004, san diego), plenty of precious little "people" that looked otherwise like "good people" (worked full time, not in jail, looked nice, academically smart), turned out totally homophobic. they did not match my misconception of a homophobe. and i did not match their stereotype of a transsexual.

then in 2012, equal employment opportunity commission added gender identity to the list of protected statuses. in 2016, the military started taking transsexuals. in 2017, the boy scouts started taking transsexuals. in 2015, the job corps started taking transsexuals.

in other words, i was not "lying" by saying i was trans. i was just before the times.

idiots that told me i was "lying" by asking them to call me "he" instead of "she" were just homophobic. they did not know what they did not know. they did not just say we had different opinions. they assumed they were morally superior. they did not just tell me i was "lying". they acted like i invented "lying". and "lying" was the worst crime in the solar system. and they were perfect little angels (redundant, i know) and that they had never done nothing wrong before in their innocent little lives.



likewise, sometimes i wonder

maybe, 10 years later, there will be laws mandating the passive aggressive acceptance of something that precious little "people" reject about me today. and of course i do not know what those laws are, b/c i ain't psychic. and if i were, nobody would believe me. and if they did, nobody would care.

the dictionary defines "care" as "to attend to". "care" is not necessarily moral, legal, positive. the junior high school students that physically assaulted me attended to me. they "cared" about me, according to the dictionary.

and if they believed me and cared, then what? they are just one person, and then they would have the monopoly. in that i would be willing to do anything for them to be my precious little "friend", b/c otherwise i would have no friends.

and besides, nobody i know has political power, besides voting.