Post by Mea on Dec 16, 2015 9:02:38 GMT
Anonymous asked: To see a psychiatrist do I have to take meds? I dont wanna take meds but I wanna seek help.
Answer: Since the primary role of a psychiatrist is to prescribe meds, you will most likely be medicated if you see a psychiatrist. If you don’t want to take medication, you’ll want to see a therapist instead.
Even for people wanting to take medication, I actually recommend seeing a therapist before a psychiatrist. Your therapist will usually recommend you to a psychiatrist and communicate your symptoms to them, and they’ll work together to figure out which medication is right for you. (Or sometimes a therapist will decide medication isn’t a good choice for you.) But if you’re not wanting meds, just stick with a therapist and ditch the psychiatrist.
-Mea
I don’t know if it’s just because things are different in my country or something, but in Canada, it’s recommended that you see a psychiatrist for diagnosis and to determine a treatment plan. That treatment plan doesn’t have to include medication, but often it does. You can say that you don’t want medication. But in Canada, psychiatrists do a lot more than just prescribe medication, possibly because of how our mental health system is structured because of our larger healthcare system.
In my case, the first psychiatrist I saw was the person who referred me to see my first DBT therapist, who was usually quite hard to get into (because of wait lists). But because he recommended me to her based on the severity of my symptoms after a long interview and subsequent hospitalization to really get the full picture of my mental state and how my BPD affects me, I was able to see her right away and that was very, very important, because I got set up right away with the exact therapist I needed, who could address my needs. And I was living in a very rural area in a province with not much in the way of mental health care, so this help was HUGE for me. I don’t think I would have found that psychologist on my own.
So, at least in Canada, sometimes the best way to get set up with a good therapist who can address your needs is through a psychiatrist who has diagnosed you and spent enough time with you to be able to accurately assess your needs.
Psychiatrists can be very helpful to see even if you don’t want to take medication. It can be really hard to find a therapist who works with people who have BPD (or other personality disorders, or schizophrenia spectrum disorders, etc, whatever you’re experiencing) on your own, but a psychiatrist who knows who works with what kind of clients/patients can be a really great resource, as long as the psychiatrist is a good one.
Unfortunately, I’ve had many more bad psychiatrists than bad psychologists/therapists.
Also I don’t know if registered psychologists in Canada (BC in particular) can write the application for Plan G, a special free pharmacare plan that covers psychiatric medication. Psychiatrists do paperwork like that, which can really help you in the long run. They can also fill out parts of a disability application that a psychologist/therapist cannot (though this might be unique to Canada/BC, I don’t know). Psychiatrists can also order brain scans like CTs, EEGs, and MRIs, as well as various tests for sleep disorders which a psychologist or therapist cannot do.
So again, there are actually a lot of ways a psychiatrist can help you beyond just prescribing medication. Especially in Canada, it’s much easier to see a psychiatrist because it’s free to see them, whereas psychologists/therapists are not covered by our free healthcare system. That’s probably the biggest reason why psychiatrists end up being a vital point of contact with the mental health system in Canada, because they’re the most accessible. They can help you get connected with the services you need.
So I guess the advice is different depending on what country you’re from (though I assume the anon is from the US, probably).
-Pandora
Answer: Since the primary role of a psychiatrist is to prescribe meds, you will most likely be medicated if you see a psychiatrist. If you don’t want to take medication, you’ll want to see a therapist instead.
Even for people wanting to take medication, I actually recommend seeing a therapist before a psychiatrist. Your therapist will usually recommend you to a psychiatrist and communicate your symptoms to them, and they’ll work together to figure out which medication is right for you. (Or sometimes a therapist will decide medication isn’t a good choice for you.) But if you’re not wanting meds, just stick with a therapist and ditch the psychiatrist.
-Mea
I don’t know if it’s just because things are different in my country or something, but in Canada, it’s recommended that you see a psychiatrist for diagnosis and to determine a treatment plan. That treatment plan doesn’t have to include medication, but often it does. You can say that you don’t want medication. But in Canada, psychiatrists do a lot more than just prescribe medication, possibly because of how our mental health system is structured because of our larger healthcare system.
In my case, the first psychiatrist I saw was the person who referred me to see my first DBT therapist, who was usually quite hard to get into (because of wait lists). But because he recommended me to her based on the severity of my symptoms after a long interview and subsequent hospitalization to really get the full picture of my mental state and how my BPD affects me, I was able to see her right away and that was very, very important, because I got set up right away with the exact therapist I needed, who could address my needs. And I was living in a very rural area in a province with not much in the way of mental health care, so this help was HUGE for me. I don’t think I would have found that psychologist on my own.
So, at least in Canada, sometimes the best way to get set up with a good therapist who can address your needs is through a psychiatrist who has diagnosed you and spent enough time with you to be able to accurately assess your needs.
Psychiatrists can be very helpful to see even if you don’t want to take medication. It can be really hard to find a therapist who works with people who have BPD (or other personality disorders, or schizophrenia spectrum disorders, etc, whatever you’re experiencing) on your own, but a psychiatrist who knows who works with what kind of clients/patients can be a really great resource, as long as the psychiatrist is a good one.
Unfortunately, I’ve had many more bad psychiatrists than bad psychologists/therapists.
Also I don’t know if registered psychologists in Canada (BC in particular) can write the application for Plan G, a special free pharmacare plan that covers psychiatric medication. Psychiatrists do paperwork like that, which can really help you in the long run. They can also fill out parts of a disability application that a psychologist/therapist cannot (though this might be unique to Canada/BC, I don’t know). Psychiatrists can also order brain scans like CTs, EEGs, and MRIs, as well as various tests for sleep disorders which a psychologist or therapist cannot do.
So again, there are actually a lot of ways a psychiatrist can help you beyond just prescribing medication. Especially in Canada, it’s much easier to see a psychiatrist because it’s free to see them, whereas psychologists/therapists are not covered by our free healthcare system. That’s probably the biggest reason why psychiatrists end up being a vital point of contact with the mental health system in Canada, because they’re the most accessible. They can help you get connected with the services you need.
So I guess the advice is different depending on what country you’re from (though I assume the anon is from the US, probably).
-Pandora
