Why do Psychiatrists and Psychologists only ask questions?

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The reason why I hate psychiatrists and psychologists is because all they ever do is ask you questions which most of the time I don't want to answer. They try to make me remember things I'd rather forget and they spend the hour taking notes on their paper bloc. What a waste of money!

Why do they think that talking helps? It makes me feel worse, a lot worse. And angry.

Are there any other kinds of therapists out there? Ones that don't ask you annoying questions? That don't get paid just to take notes?

It's not by asking me questions or comparing me to others that anyone is going to help me.

Before they can help you they first have to figure out exactly what troubles you, what's causing the problems and then find a way to help you get past them or work around them.
If you know of a better way to do that than talking about it, I'd be very interested.

But after two years you'd think they'd know better than ask "How was your week?" I don't give a damn about telling them how my week was. It's not going to make me feel better or get me friends or a girlfriend.

Also a middle aged looser with an ugly tie who isn't even married isn't really someone I want to share with.

Note that part of a psychologist's job is to monitor his patients' progress, periodically asking them how their life is going, according to them, is part of that process. I don't know how good your psychologist/psychiatrist is at his job, but what they do takes a long time with dips and peaks in patient progress.
I also don't think it's wise to question his ability to help you based on your perception of how he lives his life. Maybe he just likes his ugly ties and doesn't have any desire to get married.

I tried several they all sucked.

because "questions" are the only tools they have to get the data they need to compile an idea of who you are.
i am happy to report my answers to medical people that ask me questions.

I've always been shy when asked to provide information about myself - but I am currently in a position where I am not a functional adult and I realize that being incredibly (and, at times, uncomfortably) open with my psych team is the only way I'll get back on my feet.

...because I can't stand being dependent on my 'rents. God, I hate it.

Independence trumps discomfort.

I like going to my psychologist , i see it as someone to talk to which is great. I would rather talk than do nothing , for me it is much better to tell the truth than a load of lies or to ignore the situation and think it will go away. Ignoring the situation does not make it go away , if anything the situation or problems will find other ways of coming back and messing about with you.

How would they know if something notable happened to you during your past week if they didn't ask?



Therapeutic progress demands that a basic but healthy relationship is established between psychiatrist or psychologist and patient as soon as possible. (Not the most comfortable thing actually but it can't be helped.)

If your therapist and you cannot form a most basic relationship at all, you might want to consider getting yet another one. Of course, you'd better ask yourself if you can agree to relationship with any good therapist and accept their non-autistic lead to a therapeutic relationship.

Meaning that if your AS or other impairments cause you difficulties with relationships, you can imagine (right now) to accept to be supported to teach yourself about the social expectations of other people or to be enabled to teach yourself about whatever else impairs you and why it does so. Also meaning that you can imagine to feel comfortable to be supported to develop and adopt new responses to (social) expectations if you have any desire to form relationships in everyday life, be they casual or even romantic.

If you can't imagine this one tiny bit, maybe ask yourself if this moment is the best time for therapy?

If you can imagine it, go about it and hunt down a real good therapist. There are just as many good and bad and so-so ones as in every other job category so there's got to be one for you too if you want/need one.

It's because that is what they are trained to do and they think it is helping. It depends on what you are going to the Psychiatrist for. Most people who go to Psychiatrists are hoping for a prescription of some kind. If you need an Rx, the Psychiatrist can help you get one.

So I'm supposed to reveal my deepest darkest secrets to someone with an average IQ, much older than me whom I consider to be a total looser?

They don't need to be smarter* than you or younger than you for the therapy to work. But they do need to be somebody you don't think of as a loser. If you think a particular clinician is a loser, there is no reason to make a follow-up appointment.

You probably do need to clarify exactly what help you are looking for. Different people help with different things and they tend to be highly specific and stay in their niche.

*This is an absolute guess but kingfisherx has an ongoing thread about her succesful social skills therapy with somebody hired to teach her exactly that. As she has described the situation, it is unlkely his IQ is as high as hers, but that doesn not appear to be detrimental to the process. This is just my guess.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt153181.html

somewhere in the thread she might explain how exactly this fortuitous relationship came about

I know where you are coming from. I don't like discussing personal stuff in close personal contact with strangers. I feel so weird and usually chicken out after one or two sessions. I don't consider them losers, though. I mostly think they couldn't possibly understand someone like me, so I think I am wasting my time and theirs and it's not going to help me or get me anywhere. If you don't like talking to them you can cancel your appointments.

Well, they need information to go by, so they can personalize their help thoroughly.
It sounds like what you want is to present your problem, sans deep, dark secrets, and get generic advice. The only places that you'll get that from are forums and Yahoo Answers. And some of those posters may be wearing bad ties, fancy the horror.

Why see a doctor if you don't want their help? I mean you are there to get help and for them to help you, they need to ask you questions and if there are things you don't want to tell them, why go?

Sure you can keep things to yourself by not admitting it but it may lead to an inaccurate diagnoses or to a misdiagnoses or not get the help/treatment you need.

That's true, Doctors are there to help but you have to do your part or they aren't going to succeed. You either get in there and give it your all or don't bother with it. There is no point in going in fighting the treatment. That's sabotage.