Behind the Strips: Degree in Me

This piece was inspired by one of my favorite stories to tell people who struggle with psychiatrists. Psychiatrists, unfortunately, tend to think of themselves as superior to their clientele because of their “vast” experience and education. But what they don’t take into consideration is that they couldn’t possibly have more experience in YOU than YOU. By default, that makes you the expert of you. Granted, they may have a better understanding of medicine and how they treat certain mental illnesses & ailments, but that shouldn’t discredit all the knowledge that you have of your own body & needs. Your relationship with a psychiatrist should be a collaboration between the two of you at all times, as a rule, with zero exceptions. In my own experience, I had a psychiatrist tell me that I had to be on anti-psychotics if he was going to be my psychiatrist, despite how badly anti-psychotics react with my body. I’d tried to explain my concerns to him, and he replied, “I’m the one who went to school for 12 years to learn about medicine, not you. You have to listen to me.” So I stood up, made an impolite suggestion of what he can do with himself, and stormed out of his office, never to see him again. Needless to say, I haven’t taken anti-psychotics since, and even though I had to learn many coping skills on how to function without them, I appear to be doing just fine. Keep in mind, not everybody can do that. Each person’s situation is different and extremely specific to them. Which is all the more reason that your relationship with a psychiatrist SHOULD be a collaboration and not just them barking orders at you.