Things You Should Know Before You See a Psychiatrist
Before one goes to see a psychiatrist, it is usually a normal thing for the person to get nervous. Sometimes, the nervousness is usually as a result of you not knowing the things that you should. It is very important that you are aware of some things before seeing a psychiatrist.
When you know these things, you will be confident when you finally meet with the psychiatrist. For you to become aware of the things you should know before seeing a psychiatrist, we will be sharing them with you in this article.
My top 5 things you should know before seeing a psychiatrist
#1. Get ready for an intense session
This is the very first thing you need to know. Understand that seeing a psychiatrist means that you are going to have a mental health evaluation and that is not an easy thing. You need to be able to remember as many things as possible because when you are going to see a psychiatrist, he has to work with whatever story about yourself that you are going to tell him.
Going to see a psychiatrist is usually an emotional and self-reflection process. You know very well that it is not an easy thing. This is what you need to get prepared for before seeing a psychiatrist. Another thing you should know is that you may be seeing the psychiatrist for the first time, to you the psychiatrist is a stranger.
Like we said earlier, your session with the psychiatrist is a mental health evaluation, which means that you are going to be telling the psychiatrist, a stranger, a story of you. Because we said it is going to be an intense session does not mean that you should get nervous, you should just be composed and be yourself.
When I say you should be yourself, I mean even if it get to the point where you may need to express yourself by crying, you should not hesitate, you can cry if you want to. Discussing personal issues is usually draining and it brings back some past events you may not want to remember.
If it makes you cry then you should just cry and be yourself. This is the very first thing you need to know before seeing a psychiatrist. Once you are ready psychologically for the intense session then you will not have any problem when you finally get to meet with the psychiatrist.
#2. Be truthful with your mental health story
The psychiatrist you are going to see is not a spiritual person that will be able to identify when you are not telling the truth, that is why you need to be truthful with your mental health story when you are with the psychiatrist. You might be nervous, it is understood, but make sure that you do not tell lies about your story.
If you are telling lies it may be harmful to you. How this is possible is that if you are telling lies about your story and the psychiatrist prescribes a medication that is entirely different for you that you may not even need.
Take note that the psychiatrist is not there to judge you, he is there to help, there should be no reason for you to tell lies about your story, if you do you are only putting yourself into more danger.
Opening up may make you so vulnerable, most especially when you are just meeting the psychiatrist for the very first time. That is a very common thing that happens a whole lot. However, it should not be a reason why you should tell lies about your story.
#3. Write down your top questions
Meeting someone for the first time who is going to help you with your mental health problem and then you get to ask very personal questions, this may not be so easy for some people. It is advisable that before you meet with the psychiatrist you should write down all the pressing questions that you want to ask.
It is necessary that all of them are related to mental health in order to get all the answers that you want. The good thing about coming well prepared to see your psychiatrist is that you will make it easier for the psychiatrist to be able to understand your situation and how best to help you.
When it comes to telling the psychiatrist your whole story, there is no such thing as Too much information. The psychiatrist needs as much information as possible to know hoe best to help you. So, you should not think that giving the psychiatrist all the information is too much, it is not.
One good thing about writing down all your top questions is that you are not going to forget to ask anyone. Because of how thorough a psychiatric interview is, writing down your top questions will make it possible for you to have all your questions in mind even while going through a thorough interview with the psychiatrist.
It is very good to arrive at your appointment with the psychiatrist as prepared as possible so that you will not get too nervous while you are with the psychiatrist. One of the ways to arrive prepared is writing down your top questions. When you get this done, be rest assured that you will be calm when the session kicks off.
#4. Come with a list of your past and current psychiatric medications
This is a very important thing that you need to know before seeing your psychiatrist. One thing you need to know about psychiatrists is that they can also prescribe drugs as well.
It is possible that the psychiatrist you must have seen in the past may have prescribed some drugs for you that you were taking. It is very important to come with your past psychiatrist medications.
The purpose of doing this is so that the current psychiatrist will be able to scan the previous drugs to make sure that the ingredients does not interfere with the new drugs he is going to prescribe for you.
If the last time you visited a psychiatrist was about ten years ago and you are not able remember the dose of the medication you took last, you can come with information like the name of the drugs or the generic version.
This information will provide the current psychiatrist hints on the new drugs that he will prescribe for you. The aim of doing all of this is so that the ingredients of the old medications will not interfere with the new medication.
#5. Go with an open mind
When you are going to see your psychiatrist for the very first time, you need to know that you should go with an open mind, You should not expect too much and do not expect too little. Be so open minded that when you get to see your psychiatrist for the very first time and it happens that it is not what you were expecting, you should not write them off quickly.
However, if you come open-minded, you will be able to accept who the psychiatrist is and you will be able to express yourself in a calm way. This is one thing that you really need to be aware of.
These five things that we have shared that you need to know of before you see a psychiatrist. When you read them thoroughly, you will be able to avoid certain mistakes and you will get to meet your psychiatrist and still be yourself, remain calm as well.
When you have read and understood these five points, there will be no need to feel nervous when you meet your psychiatrist for the very first time. You should take these points seriously.
What are the different types of psychiatrist to see?
There are different Types of psychiatrist that one can see, it all depends on what exactly is your issue. Let us take you through some of the different types of psychiatrist to see.
- Clinical Neurophysiology
- Forensic Psychiatry
- Addiction psychiatry
- Child Adolescent psychiatry
- Pain management
Clinical Neurophysiology
The name may make you think it has nothing to do with psychiatry, but it actually does. What is it is that it is a type of psychiatry that studies the central and peripheral nervous system by recording of biometric activity. In countries like the United States and Germany, it is seen as a part of psychiatry.
Forensic Psychiatry
This is a type of psychiatry that has to do with criminology. What it does is that it encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. In forensic psychiatry, clinical and scientific expertise is applied in context that involves civil, regulatory or criminal matters.
A forensic psychiatrist provide services such as determination of competency to stand trial, usually to a court of law to facilitate the process and thereby provide treatment like psychotherapy and probably medications to criminals. If you know of any case that needs to be handled by a forensic psychiatrist, then you need to refer the person to one immediately.
Addiction Psychiatry
The name itself is self-explanatory. It is type of psychiatry that deals with the diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of people that are suffering from one or more addictions. It could be smoking addiction, pornography, drugs, etc.
Addiction psychiatrist are able to handle these set of people that are suffering from one or more addictions and are willing to make a change in their lives. Addiction psychiatry is an expanding field that is in high demand. Addiction and substance abuse experts in both public and private sectors are in high demand these days,
Child Adolescent psychiatry
It is also known as pediatric psychiatry. It is a type of psychiatry that focuses on the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of mental health disorders specifically in children, adolescents, and their families. Because of the intense training of these child adolescent psychiatrists, they will be able to handle children and adolescents so well.
Children and adolescents these days do have mental disorders, it is not very common but it happens, if you come across any child or adolescent in need of a psychiatrist, then you need to refer them to one as soon as possible so that the issue does not get out of hand.
Pain Management
This is a branch of psychiatry that deals makes use of interdisciplinary approach for easing pain and suffering in whoever is suffering from it. The pain management psychiatrist will help with their techniques in improving the quality of life of those who are suffering from chronic pain.
This aspect of psychiatry is a very important one, this is because a whole lot of people are suffering from chronic pain and they do not know where or who to go for help. If you are able to refer them to a pain management psychiatrist, then you should do that without wasting time.
These are the major types of psychiatry that we have, There are other ones like Geriatric psychiatry, sleep medicine, brain injury medicine, cross- cultural psychiatry, emergency psychiatry, learning psychiatry, community psychiatry etc.
There are also more out there that you need to know of. One role that an ordinary person can play in this is that, if you are not a psychiatrist, you can help by referring those who are in need of a psychiatrist. By doing this you are providing help and also saving a life. You should take note of this.
You should also check the different types of psychiatrist in this post by BetterHelp.
Final words
In the beginning of this article, we made mention of some certain things that you need to know before going to see a psychiatrist. Once take note of the things we shared that you need to know before seeing a psychiatrist, it will help you get prepared and you will not make expensive mistakes.
We also mentioned things like writing down your questions, being truthful about your story etc. Once you take this seriously, you are only making it easier for you and also for the psychiatrist.
However, if you do not adhere, you will make it difficult for you and you psychiatrist in such a way that if you lie about your story, your psychiatrist may prescribe something different for you. You can see the gravity of it, you should adhere strictly if you do not want complications afterward.
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