Psychiatrists and Medication

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I was just wondering what peoples feelings were towards psychologists/social workers/psychiatrists talking about medication on your first visit or appointment with them. I've personally experienced this with every person I've gone to. My personal opinion, this makes me write them off with helping me. It makes my faith in them go away. To me, they're basically saying "I don't know you that well but here's medication" and "I'm not that good at my job, so here's medication, hopefully that helps you."

What are your personal opinions on this matter?

Do you trust their decision when they've only tried getting to know you for about 30 min? Do you end up taking the medication?

Same experiences here. I have taken the medication before, but only when I felt I was past what I could cope with. Heck, even my GP keeps offering meds to me.

I've got nothing against medication personally, but I agree that it just seems to be the end solution too often. Unless it's a dire situation, why not try to explore other avenues or coping methods? I'm usually looking for a new skill set, not to stone myself out until I don't remember the original issues. Medication as sole treatment isn't treatment in my book.

It depends why you're seeing the psychiatrist, I guess.

I don't think it has much to do with whether they're good at there job or not. Usually, they'll offer the medications that have had the most sucess in treating a disorder (Eg, depression) and that they know the most about, before prescribing it (Usually for depression, Celexa, Prozac) instead of one that's newer, and not as well known about (such as Remeron).

Is it the only thing that will cure you? No. You'll need to be doing some sort of therapy as well as taking medication. I've yet to meet anyone who's managed to cure themselves totally by taking a pill or so each day. It doesn't work like that.

I know a Shrink very well, and HE says that most Shrink's ONLY prescribe and do no therapy at all.

Different situation here, though I'm seeing psychological councillor, the subject of medication never comes up despite my depression and chronic anxiety diagnosis.

It does appear medication is not in my best interests such as conflicting side affects and such or granted the NHS is doing all it can to not prescribe medication to keep costs down.

It's at least good to know that alternatives such as coping strategies and trigger avoidance is discussed first before going down the path of medication.

I was just so F*ck*d up by meds FORCED on me by shrinks!! !

Psychiatrists have a vested interest in prescribing you medication instead of exploring cheaper and possibly safer alternatives. Let's consider depression. In Germany, St. John's Wort is prescribed much more often than Prozac is, and scientists and doctors in Germany have also conducted numerous studies on St. John's Wort that have shown it to be a safe treatment for depression, with side effects much less pronounced than they are for Prozac. So let's assume that those studies are correct, and that St. John's Wort is a relatively risk-free treatment for depression.

Now look at the U.S. Very few psychiatrists treating a patient for depression will ever mention St. John's Wort (as well as other safer alternatives to antidepressants, such as L-Tryptophan, 5-HTP, and SAMe, all of which have far less side effects than SSRIs and tricyclics do). Psychiatrists tend to never mention St. John's Wort and instead push SSRIs, for example, as much as possible because let's consider the following scenario: The psychiatrist recommends St. John's Wort (which, again, has a proven track record of being relatively safe, if you look at the studies done in Germany). The patient buys a bottle of St. John's Wort over the counter (you don't need a prescription for St. John's Wort). He gets over his depression over the course of a few weeks, and decides that he no longer needs to see his psychiatrist because he can continue to buy St. John's Wort over the counter without needing a prescription from his psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist then loses a patient. Why would the psychiatrist want to lose a patient?

On the other hand, if the psychiatrist pushes antidepressants onto the patient and downplays the effectiveness of St. John's Wort and other safer alternative remedies, this forces the patient to remain as a patient, because in order to obtain a bottle of antidepressants, the patient needs to keep going back to the psychiatrist and get a prescription. So the psychiatrist keeps the patient and keeps in business.

I HATEHATEHATEHATE basically ALL psychs/headshrinks due to themedication which was FORCED on me decades back! They,basically,F*CK*D up my life .

Psychiatrists wind up spending the majority of their time dealing with medication related issues primarily because of the way the educational hierarchy of the medical profession works out in terms of mental illness. You do not need to be a Phd. to be a therapist. You do not need your medical doctorate to be a clinical psychologist who can make diagnoses. So, therapists normally cover all things talk therapy with some consultation with their partnered psychiatrist (usually). General practitioners are not qualified to make diagnoses of a more complex type of mental illness (they can do simple though), but they can do a number of things that will rule out physical issues that may be exacerbating mental problems. They are also the front line and make referrals as they deem necessary. Clinical psychologists normally cover the psychometrics and testing end of things. Thus, psychiatrists do what only they, amongst all of these people working in the profession, can do, which is medication.

It is unfair to say all psychiatrists are pill pushers playing toady to pharmaceutical companies. That is a very broad, and very unfair, generalization to make.

There is no conclusive evidence to support St. John's Wort being an effective anti-depressant. But that is of no consequence as it is not a controlled substance and you do not need a prescription to purchase it, so go nuts, no one is stopping you. Medical doctors cannot prescribe medications that are not extensively shown via testing to have clinically significant efficacy in treating a particular issue.

Am lucky to have what I think is a good shrink.
We had several appts. of an hour each time,
before I consented to try taking meds. again.