gotta love matching in psych.....

[nancysinatra]

1) I decided to actually show up for some of those....
2) your example about comparing usmle scores to gas mileage is absurd. After all, why assume albert pujols is a better hitter than henry blanco just because pujols hits more home runs, hits for a far higher average, gets on base far more often, hits more doubles, etc....why not compare blanco and pujols shoe size?

Look.....my post wasnt meant to be hurtful. Im glad psych is so noncompetitive. I was just pointing it out...thats all.

You don't get why I compared board scores to gas milage? It isn't absurd at all. It's like comparing a drug to a placebo and seeing if the placebo has as much effect as the drug, in which case we need not be so impressed by the drug after all. Do you get it now? Have YOU proven that board scores or medical school grades are predictive of better performance in residency and beyond, or an otherwise convincing measure of intelligence and competence? I'm not saying they're NOT, but it's YOU who is making the argument that psychiatry applicants are subpar candidates. So YOU are the one who should back your claim up with some proof that the criteria you're referring to are, in fact, solid, reliable, and scientifically proven to be predictive of something specific and meaningful. Otherwise, what on earth is the point of your post in the first place?

The fact is, medical schools screen extensively PRIOR to admitting applicants into med school. So already, there has been a serious screen. Maybe further screening only has diminishing returns. Can you actually show that stratifying applicants by the measures you referred to would provide a MEANINGFUL breakdown by intelligence or competence or future performance?

By the way, I wasn't hurt by your post. I was amused by it.

Did you decide to go to those other interviews for the steak and hotel? How was the steak?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

You don't get why I compared board scores to gas milage? It isn't absurd at all. It's like comparing a drug to a placebo and seeing if the placebo has as much effect as the drug, in which case we need not be so impressed by the drug after all. Do you get it now? Have YOU proven that board scores or medical school grades are predictive of better performance in residency and beyond, or an otherwise convincing measure of intelligence and competence?

no, but it's irrelevant. I don't care if board scores are important in determining this or not....the fact of the matter is that every specialty(even psychiatry) uses them in some way. So it's a measure of competitiveness........a measure of quality? perhaps not, but who cares.

 

[nancysinatra]

no, but it's irrelevant. I don't care if board scores are important in determining this or not....the fact of the matter is that every specialty(even psychiatry) uses them in some way. So it's a measure of competitiveness........a measure of quality? perhaps not, but who cares.

But if it turns out to be an arbitrary measure, and if all you can say about it in the end is, who cares, how does that say anything about psych applicants?

A lot of people want go into derm, optho, etc. only because they want the nice hours and lots of money and to not get too involved with patients. So fields like derm have put up minimum board scores. But they could have done something else. They could have invented a test, for example, that would perfectly reveal a person's devotion to the science and practice of dermatology. But they didn't. They just used the board scores. Who even knows how well that's working for them? But anyway, now here you are, saying psych applicants are STUPID because they don't have the same high scores as derm applicants? Maybe psych applicants have different concerns than derm applicants AND they haven't been weeded down using that possibly arbitrary standard. Maybe it's NOT arbitrary. I'm just saying, if it's not, then show me the papers proving it's not, before you post things like this.

If they did use gas milage or some other arbitrary measure, would you just be here saying, "the fact of the matter is that every specialty uses blah blah blah arbitrary measure" because it doesn't matter to you--even if a test isn't proven to show something you still care about where you stand in the group?

You never said how the steak was.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

But if it turns out to be an arbitrary measure, and if all you can say about it in the end is, who cares, how does that say anything about psych applicants?

A lot of people want go into derm, optho, etc. only because they want the nice hours and lots of money and to not get too involved with patients. So fields like derm have put up minimum board scores. But they could have done something else. They could have invented a test, for example, that would perfectly reveal a person's devotion to the science and practice of dermatology. But they didn't. They just used the board scores. Who even knows how well that's working for them? But anyway, now here you are, saying psych applicants are STUPID because they don't have the same high scores as derm applicants? Maybe psych applicants have different concerns than derm applicants AND they haven't been weeded down using that possibly arbitrary standard. Maybe it's NOT arbitrary. I'm just saying, if it's not, then show me the papers proving it's not, before you post things like this.

If they did use gas milage or some other arbitrary measure, would you just be here saying, "the fact of the matter is that every specialty uses blah blah blah arbitrary measure" because it doesn't matter to you--even if a test isn't proven to show something you still care about where you stand in the group?

You never said how the steak was.

it says psychiatry applicants are less competitive...thats all it says. If the standard was gas mileage and derms were blowing away psych applicants here too, then psych applicants would be similarly less competitive. You draw whatever conclusions you want from that, and I'll draw mine.

the steak was good. I had too many drinks at one different place, but I deserved to because the night before dinner was some crappy tex-mex $6 stuff.....so I was going to make the trip worth it with my share of margaritas.

 

[nancysinatra]

the steak was good. I had too many drinks at one different place, but I deserved to because the night before dinner was some crappy tex-mex $6 stuff.....so I was going to make the trip worth it with my share of margaritas.

I bet no one noticed that.

 

[peppy]

I don't think that the general lack of competition in psych reflects on me. Even if the average Psych applicant isn't as competitive as the average Derm applicant, that doesn't mean that EVERY Psych applicant is inferior or stupid.
Wouldn't it be silly to do a specialty you hate just to impress everyone else with how difficult to obtain it was?
I knew Dermatology wasn't for me when I watched my family medicine preceptor squeeze some severe cystic acne on a teenager. I could handle gory trauma casses in the ER or pelvic exams on menorrhagia patients on ob/gyn, but purulent zits are where I draw the line.
Anesthesiology was a no go because I dislike the OR and the malignant personalities that tend to congregate around ORs.
I thought I might actually like Radiology or Optho. Alas, on Rads I literally had to fight to stop myself from falling asleep in the X-ray reading room every morning. That was the one rotation where I *had* to drink coffee every morning to be able to stay awake (sure, I was exhausted on General Surgery too, but I never fell asleep on that rotation!).
While vision loss is a serious issue and I respect Opthos for the work they do, I knew after a few weeks of Optho clinic that *I* would be miserable if I had to spend my life looking at one cataract patient after another day in and day out for 40 years.

So as I see it, if people are not looking at Psych because they're chasing ROAD specialties instead, I get the last laugh. I get to enjoy very interesting patients, a flexible career, benign hours, decent pay, and a very good chance of getting to match into my preferred location (whereas if I were going for a ROAD specialty I'd probably have to accept a high chance of winding up somewhere undesirable rather than risk not matching at all). I feel like those of us who are going into Psych because we like Psych, not because we just couldn't match into something else, are definitely getting the better end of the deal.

 

[HCE]

it says psychiatry applicants are less competitive...thats all it says. If the standard was gas mileage and derms were blowing away psych applicants here too, then psych applicants would be similarly less competitive. You draw whatever conclusions you want from that, and I'll draw mine.

In terms of average applicant board scores, you are correct. But your statement above is too broad, and says nothing about individual applicants. I assume you are not saying that there are no individual psych applicants that are more competitive than any applicants in Anathesia, Radiology or Derm. I also assume just as many applicants score below the average as above, but I'm not a math guy. Someone scoring above the average board score for psych may be "more competitive" than someone scoring below the average for one of the other specialties. And what does "more competitive' mean? More competitive for psych, more competitive for the other specialties? And once you factor in applicant criteria beyond board scores, your statement becomes overbroad to the point of irrelevance....in my humble opinion.

 

[HCE]

I don't think that the general lack of competition in psych reflects on me. Even if the average Psych applicant isn't as competitive as the average Derm applicant, that doesn't mean that EVERY Psych applicant is inferior or stupid.
Wouldn't it be silly to do a specialty you hate just to impress everyone else with how difficult to obtain it was?
I knew Dermatology wasn't for me when I watched my family medicine preceptor squeeze some severe cystic acne on a teenager. I could handle gory trauma casses in the ER or pelvic exams on menorrhagia patients on ob/gyn, but purulent zits are where I draw the line.
Anesthesiology was a no go because I dislike the OR and the malignant personalities that tend to congregate around ORs.
I thought I might actually like Radiology or Optho. Alas, on Rads I literally had to fight to stop myself from falling asleep in the X-ray reading room every morning. That was the one rotation where I *had* to drink coffee every morning to be able to stay awake (sure, I was exhausted on General Surgery too, but I never fell asleep on that rotation!).
While vision loss is a serious issue and I respect Opthos for the work they do, I knew after a few weeks of Optho clinic that *I* would be miserable if I had to spend my life looking at one cataract patient after another day in and day out for 40 years.

So as I see it, if people are not looking at Psych because they're chasing ROAD specialties instead, I get the last laugh. I get to enjoy very interesting patients, a flexible career, benign hours, decent pay, and a very good chance of getting to match into my preferred location (whereas if I were going for a ROAD specialty I'd probably have to accept a high chance of winding up somewhere undesirable rather than risk not matching at all). I feel like those of us who are going into Psych because we like Psych, not because we just couldn't match into something else, are definitely getting the better end of the deal.

Can't an argument be made that Psych should be considered a ROAD specialty?

 

[nancysinatra]

And what does "more competitive' mean? More competitive for psych, more competitive for the other specialties? And once you factor in applicant criteria beyond board scores, your statement becomes overbroad to the point of irrelevance....in my humble opinion.

Yeah, he doesn't say anything about the role of the interview, which I tried to point out earlier. Let's say you are a jerk with a sky high step 1 score and perfect grades. You would be very competitive for some surgical subspecialties. But you would find it very hard to "compete" for a spot in a psych residency, because the interview would weed you out.

You could also look at applicant to position ratio, and also at what the average place applicants go to on their rank list is. There must be multiple measures of "competitiveness." But he only refers to board scores and grades. I don't think he knows what he's talking about.

Also, he insinuated earlier that students who are less "competitive" are "crappy" so he IS making broader statements than what he now says. I don't care what he says--I just think he should be able to back it up or else it's stupid.

 

[whopper]

There is fear of psychiatry, and there are some bad psychiatrists, but if you are out there doing good for people, you won't have trouble finding respect.

Very true.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Can't an argument be made that Psych should be considered a ROAD specialty?

You can't possibly add a P to ROAD and make a cool word. What are you thinking?!

The average medical student would probably rather die than spend the time we do with our patients. The average medical student would probably be fairly happy in any of the ROAD specialties. While we obviously think psych is awesome, it's simply different flavored than ROAD.

Besides, I thought it was EROAD now, with the addition of EM.

 

[BobA]

you can't possibly add a p to road and make a cool word. What are you thinking?!

the average medical student would probably rather die than spend the time we do with our patients. The average medical student would probably be fairly happy in any of the road specialties. While we obviously think psych is awesome, it's simply different flavored than road.

Besides, i thought it was eroad now, with the addition of em.

d-e-r-o-p-a

e-p-r-a-d-o

 

[whopper]

At least from my own experience most medical people don't seem to want to do psychiatry because they fear psychiatric patients or don't want to listen to their troubles.

There's something about the personality of people who want to do psychiatry that seems different. I haven't quite been able to peg it yet in a manner that I can quantify in terms of a personality test. I'm not talking about the people that go into it because they detect it may be easier (e.g easier calls). I'm talking the people that really want to do real psychiatry.

So as I see it, if people are not looking at Psych because they're chasing ROAD specialties instead, I get the last laugh. I get to enjoy very interesting patients, a flexible career, benign hours, decent pay, and a very good chance of getting to match into my preferred location (whereas if I were going for a ROAD specialty I'd probably have to accept a high chance of winding up somewhere undesirable rather than risk not matching at all). I feel like those of us who are going into Psych because we like Psych, not because we just couldn't match into something else, are definitely getting the better end of the deal.

That's the way I see it.

 

[Aurical]

To the OP, I have to say, I find your attitude really troublesome. I am one of those "strong" candidates you are referring to, and I can say that on the interview trail, most of my peers were equally/more accomplished. I was considering radiation oncology before choosing psych and I was competitive enough to get in.

I think at the "best" programs, the applicants are certainly comparable to any other specialty, and the feedback I got from PD's is that psych is getting increasingly competitive. Heck, I didn't get interviews at a few top places when a couple of years ago, I definitely would have, based purely on scores, research, etc.

I think when people go into the field for the right reason, that's great. But when people are attracted to it because they are lazy, or they think it's easy/non-competitive, it reflects poorly on the rest of us. These are the same people who are not truly passionate about it, and will make sub-par clinicians.

Anyway, I just hope that you are going into it because you really find it fascinating and want to help the people you are treating. The rest of this discussion is really moot imho.

 

[heyjack70]

Road + ep?

A doper

 

[BobA]

One thing that hasn't been raised yet in the thread is that psych is non-competitive because the need is enormous is there are a ton of spots.

I also really appreciate cleareyedguy's comments that there is fear of mental illness and that if you're out there doing good you'll get respect.

 

[ForensicPsych]

hi,

nice thread going. but can someone answer this question in this thread? what exactly was your board scores to get into psych residencies? i have been thinking of going into psych residency for quite sometime now...specifically in the NYC area. so it would really help me out to hear others as to what kind of scores they have been getting.

thanks!!!

 

[chameleonknight]

Forget that, where did the OP match?? The people demand to know.

 

[prone2xl]

Yes did they match anesthesia or psych ?
My application was all primed for anesthesia or EM going into 4th year, but something didn't seem right. I think that the "idea" of going into gas was more appealing to me than actually going into it. I hope so at least! I went all in for psych and hope that I made the right choice. I still have doubts as this is a huge decision and it's so difficult to decide as a 4th year.

 

[st2205]

This is hilarious. I knew vistaril had another alt, but it's funny now seeing that vistaril now has (at least) 2 alts. What would possess him to register three times?

 

[jaymon]

Yes did they match anesthesia or psych ?
My application was all primed for anesthesia or EM going into 4th year, but something didn't seem right. I think that the "idea" of going into gas was more appealing to me than actually going into it. I hope so at least! I went all in for psych and hope that I made the right choice. I still have doubts as this is a huge decision and it's so difficult to decide as a 4th year.

You too? I was the exact same way. I had set my schedule up for anesthesia, but I had this nagging feeling that I wasn't doing the right thing. Hopefully that feeling was right.

 

[st2205]

Forget that, where did the OP match?? The people demand to know.

OP matched to a top 10 program in the northeastern Western Hemisphere. He's now successfully completed residency and accepted the only ethical position that was being offered in psychiatry at $130/yr.

 

[xlithiumx]

OP matched to a top 10 program in the northeastern Western Hemisphere. He's now successfully completed residency and accepted the only ethical position that was being offered in psychiatry at $130/yr.

WIN!!!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

OP matched to a top 10 program in the northeastern Western Hemisphere.

Perhaps even one where the "quality of their residents didn't look a whole lot different than the quality of the residents at the medical school I go to (some img's, some do's, and then mostly their own)".
He never was fond of them furriners...

 

[Frazier]

Looking at writing style from this thread and a thread on the front page of forum, OP does consistently have vistaril's unique way of not putting a space between the start of a parenthesis and the letter that precedes it -- along with using pausing ellipses with a large random amount of periods (any number >3).

Entertaining that he enjoyed putting down psych before even matching... too funny.

yesterday an attending emails me at a top 20 program in the southeast(that I didnt even rank because I dont want to go there) and she tells me they ranked me in their top 6(meaning I would be guaranteed to go there had I put it number one)

In what other field of medicine can a person with crappy board scores, a 2.something gpa, mediocre letters of rec, and some poor narrative comments during non-psych rotations(ie medicine and surgery) have "name" programs rank them to match? Gotta love psych! The funny thing is that I had no real interest in going there in the first place and only took the interview because I was bored and wanted a free steak/hotel for the night.

Say what you want, but this is the least competitive specialty of them all. Yes, there are far more unfilled positions in other fields(im, family, etc), but for a person to match at a "top" im program they need to be a good candidate. If a person wants to match at a top psych program they basically have to come from an american allopathic school, have a pulse(most of the time), and not have a serious criminal record

no, but it's irrelevant. I don't care if board scores are important in determining this or not....the fact of the matter is that every specialty(even psychiatry) uses them in some way. So it's a measure of competitiveness........a measure of quality? perhaps not, but who cares.

Oh sheeesh......so you signed up for medical school and are surprised/disappointed that you have to study a bunch of......medically relevant stuff?

You'll be able to do some electives 4th year such that your 4th year has a bunch of mental health related stuff, but the next 3 years are going to be almost all medical stuff and very little mental health stuff. You knew this going in(or should have). That's why it is called medical school and not mental health school.

well one thing to consider is can you do radiology? I take it you are an img(if not why are you in Europe now?)....while radiology isn't as competitive as it was many years ago, it's still orders of magnitude more competitive than the least competitive specialties(psych). Imgs have a fairly easy time matching in psych, whereas most imgs couldn't match radiology. They have nothing in common as fields though. if money is important and you can definitely pick radiology.

And for good measure:

my post was just to make people aware of the numbers. People think most psych programs have 235ish step1 cutoffs. This simply can't be right based on the numbers. If every program had a 235 cutoff, the average step1 score would be something like 255......sheeeesh.

Oh sheeesh......so you signed up for medical school and are surprised/disappointed that you have to study a bunch of......medically relevant stuff?

You'll be able to do some electives 4th year such that your 4th year has a bunch of mental health related stuff, but the next 3 years are going to be almost all medical stuff and very little mental health stuff. You knew this going in(or should have). That's why it is called medical school and not mental health school.

 

[Baller MD]

Can someone fill me in regarding vistaril?

 

[Frazier]

Can someone fill me in regarding vistaril?

He is one of the couple consistent contrarian-debbie downers on the psych forum.

 

[prone2xl]

Oh snap where in Alabama? I'm ranking a couple programs there :/

 

[vistaril]

guys I'm flattered by the attention but surely there are more interesting/better things to discuss these days than me

 

[st2205]

guys I'm flattered by the attention but surely there are more interesting/better things to discuss these days than me

Indeed there are. Just as surely as there are better things to do than post under (at least) 3 screen names, sometimes in the same thread. But to each their own.

 

[Baller MD]

Can't admins or mods check his ip address?

 

[st2205]

Can't admins or mods check his ip address?

Why?

 

[Armadillos]

so is vistaril ibid as well? Or are excessive ellipses just common to all specializing in forum trolling?

 

[notdeadyet]

I think it's only a violation of TOS if the multiple accounts are actually active...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Frazier]

That said, if they are the same guy, this link is interesting fodder (2nd half) when Doctor Bagel calls anesthesiarocks out, and he responds about how he: applied derm/hated psych/proclaims that he trolls psych forum to make fun of it's members/etc...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/be-more-optimistic.702351/

Who knows what the real story is.

 

[vistaril]

Indeed there are. Just as surely as there are better things to do than post under (at least) 3 screen names, sometimes in the same thread. But to each their own.

Dude this thread is like half a decade old. But just for a second imagine that someone is a troll/flamer(whatever term you use to describe someone who is looking to stir up things in appropriately).....All I'm saying is that it's not good either way. If someone is a flamer, you are giving them what they want. And If they aren't a flamer but just an ordinary ******* who isn't very bright, well then that's even more pathetic to discuss or take interest in them.

But clearly this forum needs my presence to liven things up(heck it must if threads about me are carrying on in my absence), so I'll promise to drop by a few more times over the holidays....I want to buy an excavator soon, so I'm having to work a lot to save up. For some of you guys who may not know, that's a backhoe

 

[hamstergang]

If someone is a flamer, you are giving them what they want. And If they aren't a flamer but just an ordinary ******* who isn't very bright, well then that's even more pathetic to discuss or take interest in them.

It's more pathetic to do whatever you've been doing on these forums for years than for us to discuss it. This site is supposed to be a resource for those in residency or peri-residency, and it seems you've been working against that goal for who knows what gain.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Less "Troll" and more "Sociopath, inadequate personality subtype".

(And yes I know that's not in the DSM, and I'm kind of making it up as I go. But it seems to fit.)

 

[vistaril]

It's more pathetic to do whatever you've been doing on these forums for years than for us to discuss it. This site is supposed to be a resource for those in residency or peri-residency, and it seems you've been working against that goal for who knows what gain.

The root of your confusion on the matter lies with your presumption that I've been 'working against that goal'. If some med student comes on this forum and reads some of my(rather mild really) criticisms of our field and decides not to do psychiatry.....well that's probably no loss to psychiatry. I hardly think it's trashing psychiatry to point out things such as:

- the evidence for many of our treatments is lacking compared to other fields
- our salaries are at the bottom of the heap compared to other fields

If someone is upset or offended by those sorts of comments, well.....they shouldn't be. I just don't have any interest in being a nonstop cheerleader as many on here do. That said, I like my job and my patients and the people I work for/with now seem to like how I do my job.

And finally if you or anyone else here find me or some of my comments/opinions pathetic, you are free to block or ignore me or whatever as I've done with a few posters here. Trust me I'll get over it.

 

[hamstergang]

You've misrepresented yourself so many times that you've lost all credibility and are therefore not a reliable source of information. That's the problem.

 

[vistaril]

You've misrepresented yourself so many times that you've lost all credibility and are therefore not a reliable source of information. That's the problem.

Ok then great- so it should be easy for you to disregard my advice/posts/opinions/etc and just ignore me. To the extent that it's a problem, it's certainly not a problem from my perspective.
And don't make up some nonsense about how you have to warn med students or something.

 

[Salpingo]

It's more pathetic to do whatever you've been doing on these forums for years than for us to discuss it. This site is supposed to be a resource for those in residency or peri-residency, and it seems you've been working against that goal for who knows what gain.

I think we're all very captivated by Vistaril, for good reason. The fantasies he creates on this forum are incredible. I remember when he was the chief resident at a top Northeast program, apologizing on behalf of all of psychiatry on the medicine board. Then there was the long-distance GI fiancee that he lorded over the pathologists. The most recent is the He-man contractor/real estate tycoon. Now we have a time capsule unearthed, showing a shaken medical student/aspiring anesthesiologist that got knocked around medical school until taken in by psychiatry (and actively sought after by Emory/UNC!!!), who then began fantasizing that he had stuck it out and made it into dermatology. He is simultaneously brutally honest, giving voice to our inner fears and guilt, while completely deceptive. Its frustrating when he demands that the world conforms to his fantasy, but we can't ignore it.

Plus, this forum is like 80% diverting entertainment, 50% of which is "how much money can I expect to make in private practice", and 30% hearsay and gossip about xxx program. I mean, not every post can be a Splik-ian thesis, so it might as well be entertaining (especially since novopsych is gone). Although while I would be interested to hear what to be an Alabaman community clinician by day, strip club patron/moralist by night.

 

[Armadillos]

I don't think people would be as mad about vistaril if he demonstrated a pattern of being open and honest. Instead he made up lies about being at a top program. Medstudents for better or worse will put a lot of stock into what a harvard trained X says about X field compared to what random state U resident has to say. If vistaril had truthfully said, look I go to X state U program and this is my experience, then nobody would have disputed it as vigorously.

All of the SDN specialty boards have horribly pessimistic posters, but they are accepted because people feel they are being honest and genuine about their experiences

 

[vistaril]

I'll describe what it's like to be a community clinician by day and strip club patron at night is like: you wake up and go to work and do clinical things during the day. Then after dinner late in the evening you go to an adult dancing venue. That's a much more popular entertainment activity than what I'm sure some of you guys in here do in your spare time. Which is fine- it's possible to do be a good psychiatrist and enjoy things less cool than strip clubs.

 

[vistaril]

I don't think people would be as mad about vistaril if he demonstrated a pattern of being open and honest. Instead he made up lies about being at a top program. Medstudents for better or worse will put a lot of stock into what a harvard trained X says about X field compared to what random state U resident has to say. If vistaril had truthfully said, look I go to X state U program and this is my experience, then nobody would have disputed it as vigorously.

All of the SDN specialty boards have horribly pessimistic posters, but they are accepted because people feel they are being honest and genuine about their experiences

We've been over this a million times, but since I always write about psychiatry from a community clinician perspective my background is actually more relevant given those circumstances. And as said before, it was a mistake- if I were to go back about my background I would still change a lot of things, but I would say northeast state program instead. But I'm through arguing that- if someone wants to write off everything I say for whatever reason, that's cool and I don't have any interest in changing their mind.

 

[Ceke2002]

The fantasies he creates on this forum are incredible. I remember when he was the chief resident at a top Northeast program, apologizing on behalf of all of psychiatry on the medicine board. Then there was the long-distance GI fiancee that he lorded over the pathologists. The most recent is the He-man contractor/real estate tycoon. Now we have a time capsule unearthed, showing a shaken medical student/aspiring anesthesiologist that got knocked around medical school until taken in by psychiatry (and actively sought after by Emory/UNC!!!), who then began fantasizing that he had stuck it out and made it into dermatology. He is simultaneously brutally honest, giving voice to our inner fears and guilt, while completely deceptive. Its frustrating when he demands that the world conforms to his fantasy, but we can't ignore it.

Plus, this forum is like 80% diverting entertainment, 50% of which is "how much money can I expect to make in private practice", and 30% hearsay and gossip about xxx program. I mean, not every post can be a Splik-ian thesis, so it might as well be entertaining (especially since novopsych is gone).

BRB, going to create alternative IDs for each of my diagnosis - maybe my anxiety disorder can start an argument with my depression whilst my ADD goes off on tangents somewhere and the remains of my cluster B issues stomps its foot and pouts in a corner. Too entertaining or not enough?

 

[vistaril]

BRB, going to create alternative IDs for each of my diagnosis - maybe my anxiety disorder can start an argument with my depression whilst my ADD goes off on tangents somewhere and the remains of my cluster B issues stomps its foot and pouts in a corner. Too entertaining or not enough?

Have you ever considered the possibility that 'your anxiety disorder' is just anxiety.....and not a disorder?

If we never experienced sadness, how would we know what happiness is?

If our minds weren't sometimes scattered, how would we know what intense focus was?

 

[Ceke2002]

Have you ever considered the possibility that 'your anxiety disorder' is just anxiety.....and not a disorder?

If we never experienced sadness, how would we know what happiness is?

If our minds weren't sometimes scattered, how would we know what intense focus was?

Have you ever considered the possibility that I'd rather take the word of multiple diagnosing Physicians that I actually trust, and that whether I refer to having anxiety as a 'disorder' or not, I don't actually treat it like one.

 

[vistaril]

Then why refer to it as a disorder at all?

 

[Ceke2002]

Then why refer to it as a disorder at all?

It's a simple practicality.

Edited to add: By the way I am well aware of the dichotomy of life experiences (no awareness of happiness without the experience of sadness, no light without darkness, no growth without necessary destruction, etc etc) it happens to be a core part of my spiritual practice. However clinical depression is not simple sadness, a diagnosed anxiety disorder is not a simple case of having the occasional attack of bad nerves, and ADD is not merely being a tad forgetful or scatterbrained from time to time. I personally choose to tackle my issues with a strictly limited use of medication unless it becomes absolutely necessary, preferring to rely on meditative practices, exercise, spirituality and guidance received in talk therapy instead. You've questioned my diagnosis before, to the point that you were edging dangerously close to contravening the forum's TOS - I'd prefer it if you refrained from heading down that path again.