Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The idea of when does it make sense to see a psychiatrist is a complicated one, but I
would say that for anybody who's reached an extreme of their symptoms, the answer to that
question is obvious. So really the question is for anybody's who's on the borderline.
They're having symptoms but they're not that disruptive. And my advice to these people
would be to go ahead and consider having an evaluation with the psychiatrist because the
evaluation is a chance to look at your symptoms and to see what treatments are available and
then make a separate decision as to whether to initiate treatment. The other subset of
people that I think should see a psychiatrist are anybody who's been given psychiatric medication.
And the reason that this is so important is it was recently reported that over three quarters
of anti-depressant medication prescriptions are written by non psychiatrists. So most
people who are on medication for psychiatric issues have never seen a psychiatrist and
unfortunately these non psychiatric doctors just don't have the time and expertise to
know enough about the medications to be able to warn patients about side effects or any
new developments associated with the medications. So I would say anybody who's been given a
prescription for psychiatric medication should certainly have an evaluation with a psychiatrist
and then the other group are anybody who's considering the possibility that maybe they
need help, I would say go ahead and say go ahead and have an evaluation because then
you can make an informative decision about whether it makes sense to start any treatment.