so i go to the doctors and .....

so i go to the doctors surgury and say to the reception staff " see doctor please "

"which doctor ?? " was the reply

humm says i " he will do - glad you have finally got someone good ... as the other 2 are useless "

but seriously - do you think your doc's help or do they just nod sagely and pescribe more pills - knowning damn well there is little they can ( or want to ) do for you ??

[Hidden]

Hi Muffie

I wouldn’t mind seeing a witch Doctor I’ll try anything once.

But yes, I do think doctors are good if you are lucky to have a surgery that has the time to listen to their patients. Trouble is they are pigeonholed into prescribing the latest drugs, have both pressure from the NHS and drug companies and do not have the funds to use some of the better private sources that are also available.

Sometimes I fear we expect too much from them though? as general practitioners they cover such a wide field and just don’t have many answers, which is why I always think their main role is in referring their patients to the right places.

I personally have never responded to meds very well, but I cannot fault any of the doctors at my surgery as they are very kind considerate and caring, they will advise and be very quick to look information up on their data bases that can maybe help.

If someone has reached a crisis point, it has to be the first port of call sometimes, as they are the most accessible and I would think there are very few that don’t take mental health very serious. But there are often no quick fixes and no one treatment that fits all either, so basically that’s what they are, a first port of call that will help anyone when they are in desperate need to see a trained practitioner.

[Hidden]

Before I was diagnosed with depression I went to a doctor asking for sleeping pills because I had stopped sleeping properly. I also told him I felt quite numb a lot. The result? He not only didn't ask any questions or make a depression diagnosis he just got quite annoyed with and called me uptight. He also slung some sleep leaflets at me and that was that. I should have been so lucky for him to have prescribed even pills...x

[Stilltrying_ in reply to Hidden]

I think the lesson from this looking at the above two posts is that GP's will vary depending very much in my opinion in the area you live in and also I do think personally there is fear over mental health as it is thought it will take up too much of their time and so they try and avoid patients with mental health difficulties or respond quite dismissively.

I live in an inner city. I have visited my parents doctors in Shropshire and they seem completely different. Having said that though neither of my parents have a mental health diagnosis (though one of them should have!!) and they have only gone about physical stuff.

I have had mixed experiences. I have found when I went about physical problems with my neck and my back I was told that I could not see a doctor because it was "clearly pyschological" and in my mind. I have experienced a fair amount of prejudice. Because services are becoming more transparent nowadays they are careful what they put in writing but once one of the CPN's showed me my notes as I could see he wanted me to read what had been written and there were so many inaccuracies in them it was unbelievable. Because we are already labelled I don't feel it is taken seriously how we feel about anything as any complaint from us will be see as further evidence of our condition. For example once I complained that a CPN who had promised to see me several times had just dropped me; I was then told I had "anger problems" which I don't. They tend to start out very good; offer you say ten sessions and seem like they have all the time in the world and then particularly if you show as being distressed at any point they will just cut the sessions off. That has been my experience anyway.

What I do nowadays is I never contact when distressed and when I do contact I am as rational as possible and talk like a professional. They deal with you well then but they can't bear to see any actual mental distress! I think it frightens them!!

Gemma

[WantToChange]

Nope. That hasn't been the case for me. Some doctors are like that I guess, but my doctor is great. He really listens.