Is it just me? Or are psychiatrists nuts?

[nancysinatra]

I'm a PGYIV psych resident and I swear, the longer I am in this field, the more I am convinced that at least 65% if not more of all psychiatrists are completely crazy. Like right now, my program is having this debate about who will cover the weekends at a certain hospital. So people are sending emails back and forth, and one of them starts talking about "primitive defenses" and another is talking about "role identity" and another is using cognitive behavioral therapy terminology to summarize their position.

Oh and our department made us all go do yoga together once at a park. Is that typical? Or just really weird?

What's the general consensus about psychiatrists out there? Has anyone else gotten the impression that they tend to be strange?

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[Dejavu]

I'm surprised it took you that long to figure that out.

Present company excluded of course, but in 36 years in the business, every psych guy I ever knew met DSM IV crazy criteria.

 

[michaelrack]

I'm a PGYIV psych resident and I swear, the longer I am in this field, the more I am convinced that at least 65% if not more of all psychiatrists are completely crazy. Like right now, my program is having this debate about who will cover the weekends at a certain hospital. So people are sending emails back and forth, and one of them starts talking about "primitive defenses" and another is talking about "role identity" and another is using cognitive behavioral therapy terminology to summarize their position.

Oh and our department made us all go do yoga together once at a park. Is that typical? Or just really weird?

What's the general consensus about psychiatrists out there? Has anyone else gotten the impression that they tend to be strange?

I agree. However, it has been my experience that only 20% of dually certified (either neuro/psych or med/psych) psychiatrists are strange.

By the way, if you want to get out of yoga, tell your dept that it is against your religion:
http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-yoga.html

 

[peppy]

Axis II pathology is abundant in the medical field. I've met some very odd personalities in medicine and surgery (and for that matter in med students who haven't yet differentiated into a specialty). However, I do have to agree that psychiatry seems to be attractive to quirky people. My experience has been that psychodynamic/analytic types are often extremely narcissistic (though I've met some exceptions).

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I'm a PGYIV psych resident and I swear, the longer I am in this field, the more I am convinced that at least 65% if not more of all psychiatrists are completely crazy. Like right now, my program is having this debate about who will cover the weekends at a certain hospital. So people are sending emails back and forth, and one of them starts talking about "primitive defenses" and another is talking about "role identity" and another is using cognitive behavioral therapy terminology to summarize their position.

Oh and our department made us all go do yoga together once at a park. Is that typical? Or just really weird?

What's the general consensus about psychiatrists out there? Has anyone else gotten the impression that they tend to be strange?

I don't think we're more nuts than anybody else in medicine, but we show our nuttiness a little more. It sounds like you're ready to be done with training. I've got to admit I love the discussions like you referenced above, so I guess I'm in the right field. In fact, I recently accused my program of changing the frame midstream, leading to lots of dissatisfaction. And yoga in the park -- why not?

 

[Top Gun]

Well, they say it takes crazy people to know crazy people.

 

[peppy]

Oh and our department made us all go do yoga together once at a park. Is that typical? Or just really weird?

As far as this aspect, that just sounds like one of those "team building" things that a lot of residencies (not just psych) try to make residents do. I think I'd prefer doing a little yoga over some of the other team building things I've heard of residencies making people do (like making everyone do a rope course or spend a weekend camping together).

 

[gutonc]

As far as this aspect, that just sounds like one of those "team building" things that a lot of residencies (not just psych) try to make residents do. I think I'd prefer doing a little yoga over some of the other team building things I've heard of residencies making people do (like making everyone do a rope course or spend a weekend camping together).

I was only "too sick" to report for duty twice during residency. Both times were on days where we had "team building" BS planned and our clinical duties were already being covered.

 

[nancysinatra]

I agree. However, it has been my experience that only 20% of dually certified (either neuro/psych or med/psych) psychiatrists are strange.

By the way, if you want to get out of yoga, tell your dept that it is against your religion:
http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-yoga.html

I actually spent most of my intern year trying to get my program to open a med-psych residency. Even then I was skeptical of some of the untempered psychobabble. With neuro-psych, though, isn't there a risk you might get a distillation of some of the strangest of the strange? I've met some weird neurologists.

And wow I had no idea Yoga was so "blatantly anti-Christian." My program is WAY into "spirituality" so they will respect that.

 

[nancysinatra]

I was only "too sick" to report for duty twice during residency. Both times were on days where we had "team building" BS planned and our clinical duties were already being covered.

Hmm, are you in surgery? You must not be in psychiatry, is all I can say. In psych, we are bombarded with pressure to "focus on self-care." People call in sick with vague ailments all the time. To the point where it's actually rather embarrassing to witness it.

 

[gutonc]

Hmm, are you in surgery? You must not be in psychiatry, is all I can say. In psych, we are bombarded with pressure to "focus on self-care." People call in sick with vague ailments all the time. To the point where it's actually rather embarrassing to witness it.

No...IM. I was just never really sick. But I got very "sick" on those days when we had to "team build."

 

[Smurfette]

No...IM. I was just never really sick. But I got very "sick" on those days when we had to "team build."

Totally understand.

 

[michaelrack]

. With neuro-psych, though, isn't there a risk you might get a distillation of some of the strangest of the strange? I've met some weird neurologists.

.

(I deleted the comment I made about neurologist/psychiatrists, since my identity is public and the neurologist/psychiatrists I know could possibly be identified). The 5+ Med/psych docs I know are normal, with the possible exception of myself

 

[docu]

.

 

[P Diddy]

I will be your friend.

p diddy

 

[Winged Scapula]

well i think psychatry isn't that good, because they all believe the voices in people's heads emanate from a disease process of the brain and label it schizophrenia, when i have experienced voices, but they are the voices of a demon and an guardian angel trying to protect me from that demon. i can even converse with them. psychiatry ruins our belief in the unseen. very few people i know believes that these voices are real entities when actually they are 100% real.

but truly the meds can work, they can remove demons, as they did for me. i take meds to alleviate the chest pains i get from the demon possessions and to keep the demon away (its not an MI, i know for sure, im way too young and too in shape to have an MI). everytime i get off the psych meds the demon comes back to possess me. i had to call an exorcist/shahman guy to remove the demon from me when i forgot to take my meds and it worked. the other way to rid of a demon is to read a holy book from cover to cover, but mine is around 1000 pages, i did that before but it was scary and takes too long to rid of the demon. its just easier to call an exorcist, but they charge a lot of money. i think world wide spirituality should be learned by all psychiatrists if they are truly that good. in every other culture there are demon possessions, but when a person is possessed by the demon in america, they are just called crazy and medicated. the psychiatrists i went to treated me like im stupid and know nothing but truly they're the lost ones that don't understand the unseen. i have to act like i don't hear voices anymore, to the psychiatrists so they don't over medicate me. but the meds don't work in keeping the voices out, just the chest pains from the demon.

i really think even depression emanates from the presence of demons and the meds just somehow thankfully make your body a hostile place for them to live. a demon can come around and make one feel depressed and feel bad, as i do in a demon possession. i start to cry for no reason with these chest pains that feel like physical symptoms of depression, then i take my meds and instantly im better. i mean psychiatry helps to an extent, but it doesn't explain everything.

everyone i know labels me with chronic schizo but truly i know these beings i talk to are real. its sad but true. im an MD for gosh sake, so i know what im talking about. i know im going to get bashed on this forum big time but i dont care. im not that stupid to label myself as something im not.

one time i saw the show, untold stories of the ER, and it had a lady with a demon possession (a demon in her liver, giving her pains), someone put a curse on her (i never believed in curses but there is such thing, its even in my holy book and possibly others, so i totally believe in it..thats why God wants people to know Him, to rid of these types of things from your life and keep you safe). the doctors didn't know what to do, so one resident was smart enough to call in an exoricist and what he did worked., so its not just me. its all over.

well maybe there will be no more black magic, demons, or ghosts in the world because i asked this angel to remove it all from the face of the earth and he said he did. ..so maybe it will be a better place to live than what i have to experience.

 

[danzman]

I second that.

 

[notdeadyet]

I think the "weird psychiatrist" vibe varies a lot by program and I've noticed that the stronger ones weed them out during the application process (unless a particular program goes for that vibe for some reason). On the interview trail I had to low rank a couple of programs I'd been very excited about because the faculty and residents just didn't jibe as folks I'd want to be working long hours with for a number of years.

I'm not the most touchy-feely guy, but I respect the need to be more in touch with discussing emotions than your average bear. I have no beef with that. It's part of the job. What gets irritating is when folks keep on their "work hat" outside of the clinical environment. Shrinks occasionally do that (the irritating maladaptive ones do it all the time). I've seen pediatricians wear their hat and surgeons too. It's an irritating affectation regardless of specialty. I think it's more bothersome when shrinks do it because it can come across uncomfortably personal or just plain weird.

 

[nancysinatra]

I second that.

That post above is the weirdest thing I have ever read.

 

[wooster201106]

That post above gets my vote for "Post of the Year". Homie be trippin'.

 

[notdeadyet]

That post above is the weirdest thing I have ever read.

Just want to mention that docu is not a psychiatrist. For the record...

 

[Thanatos]

Oh and our department made us all go do yoga together once at a park. Is that typical? Or just really weird?

Thats just really weird. I can just picture us all fighting to get out of that.....

"hey man I can't go to yoga, the ER needs help draining a perirectal abscess, I better go help them out."

"No, no you should go to yoga. I will help the ER after I go check on everyone in the MICU, maybe they need help with a line, or a chest tube.....maybe there are some families I need to go talk to."

"No, no, no! I will help the ER and the MICU, but first I need to see if the pediatricians need help drawing blood on anyone. You know what, I should probably just call phlebotomy and see if they are short staffed today. Does anyone need any dictations done?"

 

[docu]

Just want to mention that docu is not a psychiatrist. For the record...

nor would i ever want to be. i can't even write a heartfelt personal statement in that field, thats how much i hate it.

 

[smq123]

Thats just really weird. I can just picture us all fighting to get out of that.....

"hey man I can't go to yoga, the ER needs help draining a perirectal abscess, I better go help them out."

"No, no you should go to yoga. I will help the ER after I go check on everyone in the MICU, maybe they need help with a line, or a chest tube.....maybe there are some families I need to go talk to."

"No, no, no! I will help the ER and the MICU, but first I need to see if the pediatricians need help drawing blood on anyone. You know what, I should probably just call phlebotomy and see if they are short staffed today. Does anyone need any dictations done?"

 

[jdh71]

That post above is the weirdest thing I have ever read.

You clearly are new to the internet

 

[Dwindlin]

that post above gets my vote for "post of the year". Homie be trippin'.

+1

 

[chocomorsel]

nor would i ever want to be. i can't even write a heartfelt personal statement in that field, thats how much i hate it.

I have a close family member who is a paranoid schizophrenic. They always have hallucinations about death, dying, murder, slaughter. Never happy hallucinations. Heck if they were happy, it wouldn't bother me, but they are so morbidly disgusting that I throw whatever I can at this person to help quiet the voices. Meds don't really work for my family member though. I wish I understood it.

What you are saying, I can't knock you on. But why only negative voices, why not happy ones?

 

[docu]

I have a close family member who is a paranoid schizophrenic. They always have hallucinations about death, dying, murder, slaughter. Never happy hallucinations. Heck if they were happy, it wouldn't bother me, but they are so morbidly disgusting that I throw whatever I can at this person to help quiet the voices. Meds don't really work for my family member though. I wish I understood it.

What you are saying, I can't knock you on. But why only negative voices, why not happy ones?

i really don't know about anyone else. but my voices are a demon and an angel protecting me from it. i talked back to the voices and they started talking to me like they were real, so i dont hear anything neg. (initially i did...it was awful and gross...) what if it is a demon talking though...thats the only thing that would talk negative stuff. the meds do protect you somewhat from that though. so maybe for other people it is beneficial i take the meds so i dont get posessed. if it wasn't for that i wouldn't be taking them. try going to an exorcist and see if they can do anything. 734-904 2322, ask for James. he's a shaman/exorcist. charges money though.

 

[Mattchiavelli]

while I think the intersection of shamanism and medicine is interesting from an academic/anthropology type angle, I sense a large off-topic disturbance in the force which I opt not to feed at the moment...

Although, by some definitions, a shaman is one who travels between worlds and occupies a limnal space in both society and practice. I think this describes a lot of good psychiatrists, who must venture into the world of mental illness and un-reason and make it compatible with our world of mental health and reason, occupying a limnal space between crazy/not crazy in order to both empathize with patients while not getting sucked into the void of insanity. Some got their skills from having mental illness issues themselves or in people close to them, but not all. These are the people that are not only able to diagnose and treat but put mental illness into a personal social and cultural context relevant to the patient to ultimately ease their suffering. In essence, the creme de la creme of psychiatrists. And some of them are nuts. The chair of our psych dept is someone like that, he's kind of nuts but is excellent at what he does.

it also depends on what one's definition of "crazy" is. Is it being overanalytical sometimes to the point of being detatched from reality? eccentric behavior? some of the cluster A personality disorders like scizoid or scizotypal PD? people who are very OCD/OCPD? Mood disorder/cluster B PD? substance abuse/alcoholism crazy? Crazy in the bedroom crazy? Might make your face into a lampshade crazy?

All I know is I've never seen a batman villain that used to be an anesthesiologist or in PM&R.... but there are a couple of psychiatrists on the patient side in Arkham

 

[danzman]

while I think the intersection of shamanism and medicine is interesting from an academic/anthropology type angle, I sense a large off-topic disturbance in the force which I opt not to feed at the moment...

Although, by some definitions, a shaman is one who travels between worlds and occupies a limnal space in both society and practice. I think this describes a lot of good psychiatrists, who must venture into the world of mental illness and un-reason and make it compatible with our world of mental health and reason, occupying a limnal space between crazy/not crazy in order to both empathize with patients while not getting sucked into the void of insanity. Some got their skills from having mental illness issues themselves or in people close to them, but not all. These are the people that are not only able to diagnose and treat but put mental illness into a personal social and cultural context relevant to the patient to ultimately ease their suffering. In essence, the creme de la creme of psychiatrists. And some of them are nuts. The chair of our psych dept is someone like that, he's kind of nuts but is excellent at what he does.

it also depends on what one's definition of "crazy" is. Is it being overanalytical sometimes to the point of being detatched from reality? eccentric behavior? some of the cluster A personality disorders like scizoid or scizotypal PD? people who are very OCD/OCPD? Mood disorder/cluster B PD? substance abuse/alcoholism crazy? Crazy in the bedroom crazy? Might make your face into a lampshade crazy?

All I know is I've never seen a batman villain that used to be an anesthesiologist or in PM&R.... but there are a couple of psychiatrists on the patient side in Arkham

This is a respectable response to an otherwise bat-****-crazy entry by docu.

i really don't know about anyone else. but my voices are a demon and an angel protecting me from it. i talked back to the voices and they started talking to me like they were real, so i dont hear anything neg. (initially i did...it was awful and gross...) what if it is a demon talking though...thats the only thing that would talk negative stuff. the meds do protect you somewhat from that though. so maybe for other people it is beneficial i take the meds so i dont get posessed. if it wasn't for that i wouldn't be taking them. try going to an exorcist and see if they can do anything. 734-904 2322, ask for James. he's a shaman/exorcist. charges money though.

This made me go back through his/her post history and I have admit I am surprised I had not seem some of them earlier. Absolutely classic stuff! If you google the number above it takes you to a strange ghost hunter in MI.

http://pimsuccess.com/index.php

docu. If you are joking around, then mad props to you sir, as I can't figure it out. If not, you may just need to get in contact with your psychiatrist as i think its time for a med adjustment. And while I know nothing of the field of the head-doc, it don't take much to diagnose crazy. And you sir, are.

 

[docu]

This is a respectable response to an otherwise bat-****-crazy entry by docu.



This made me go back through his/her post history and I have admit I am surprised I had not seem some of them earlier. Absolutely classic stuff! If you google the number above it takes you to a strange ghost hunter in MI.

http://pimsuccess.com/index.php

docu. If you are joking around, then mad props to you sir, as I can't figure it out. If not, you may just need to get in contact with your psychiatrist as i think its time for a med adjustment. And while I know nothing of the field of the head-doc, it don't take much to diagnose crazy. And you sir, are.

whatever. don't believe me. what do i care. i dont need a dose adjustment. im completely fine for your info. he's also a ghost hunter. he sees spirits and he also saw the demons that possessed me. he saw ghosts of my uncle and grandmother who passed away who were protecting me from the demon and he sent them back to heaven where they belong. he said he saw 2 demons surrounding me and threw them into some abyss somewhere...probably not on earth. not sure. some people are gifted like that i guess. whatever he did during my demon possessions completely worked. not trying to advertise him, but just trying to help.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

OK, putting aside docu's mental illness and thinking back to yoga in the park -- do they make you do that in your time off? Because if so, that would totally suck. Yoga in the park should be a protected morning off work and a free offered yet not required activity if it's on a weekend. Otherwise, yes, it's against your religion.

 

[45408]

We had some kind of meditation speaker for one of our "residents' day off" sort of activities. I just fell asleep in my chair while the guy droned on.

 

[docu]

this is not mental illness.....and those that diagnose me with it have no clue.

 

[nitemagi]

I'm a PGYIV psych resident and I swear, the longer I am in this field, the more I am convinced that at least 65% if not more of all psychiatrists are completely crazy. Like right now, my program is having this debate about who will cover the weekends at a certain hospital. So people are sending emails back and forth, and one of them starts talking about "primitive defenses" and another is talking about "role identity" and another is using cognitive behavioral therapy terminology to summarize their position.

Oh and our department made us all go do yoga together once at a park. Is that typical? Or just really weird?

What's the general consensus about psychiatrists out there? Has anyone else gotten the impression that they tend to be strange?

I see nothing crazy about your situation. We all choose to use common vocabulary and use our training to interpret the world how we want to. Every specialty uses it to rationalize turf wars and why they shouldn't be seeing a pt from the ER, for example. Using psychodynamic and CBT language I would expect is just another way to use common language to communicate a point. Doing yoga together is "weird?"

If that's your criteria for "crazy," then I think you need to broaden your clinical exposure. Smearing your own feces on the wall is crazy. Giving overworked residents a day off to go to a stress relief class isn't.

 

[Bartelby]

If that's your criteria for "crazy," then I think you need to broaden your clinical exposure. Smearing your own feces on the wall is crazy. Giving overworked residents a day off to go to a stress relief class isn't.

I also think it is kind of cool that many psychiatrists feel comfortable enough to be themselves around their colleagues instead of hiding their quirks. Most of us are not totally normal in every way (sounds kind of boring doesn't it?). Not necessarily a bad thing.

Throwing in psychoanalytic lingo to justify or criticize your/your colleagues' actions isn't my cup of tea, but fortunately I haven't seen anyone do that in a non-joking way.

 

[Tone2002]

well i think psychatry isn't that good, because they all believe the voices in people's heads emanate from a disease process of the brain and label it schizophrenia, when i have experienced voices, but they are the voices of a demon and an guardian angel trying to protect me from that demon. i can even converse with them. psychiatry ruins our belief in the unseen. very few people i know believes that these voices are real entities when actually they are 100% real.

but truly the meds can work, they can remove demons, as they did for me. i take meds to alleviate the chest pains i get from the demon possessions and to keep the demon away (its not an MI, i know for sure, im way too young and too in shape to have an MI). everytime i get off the psych meds the demon comes back to possess me. i had to call an exorcist/shahman guy to remove the demon from me when i forgot to take my meds and it worked. the other way to rid of a demon is to read a holy book from cover to cover, but mine is around 1000 pages, i did that before but it was scary and takes too long to rid of the demon. its just easier to call an exorcist, but they charge a lot of money. i think world wide spirituality should be learned by all psychiatrists if they are truly that good. in every other culture there are demon possessions, but when a person is possessed by the demon in america, they are just called crazy and medicated. the psychiatrists i went to treated me like im stupid and know nothing but truly they're the lost ones that don't understand the unseen. i have to act like i don't hear voices anymore, to the psychiatrists so they don't over medicate me. but the meds don't work in keeping the voices out, just the chest pains from the demon.

i really think even depression emanates from the presence of demons and the meds just somehow thankfully make your body a hostile place for them to live. a demon can come around and make one feel depressed and feel bad, as i do in a demon possession. i start to cry for no reason with these chest pains that feel like physical symptoms of depression, then i take my meds and instantly im better. i mean psychiatry helps to an extent, but it doesn't explain everything.

everyone i know labels me with chronic schizo but truly i know these beings i talk to are real. its sad but true. im an MD for gosh sake, so i know what im talking about. i know im going to get bashed on this forum big time but i dont care. im not that stupid to label myself as something im not.

one time i saw the show, untold stories of the ER, and it had a lady with a demon possession (a demon in her liver, giving her pains), someone put a curse on her (i never believed in curses but there is such thing, its even in my holy book and possibly others, so i totally believe in it..thats why God wants people to know Him, to rid of these types of things from your life and keep you safe). the doctors didn't know what to do, so one resident was smart enough to call in an exoricist and what he did worked., so its not just me. its all over.

well maybe there will be no more black magic, demons, or ghosts in the world because i asked this angel to remove it all from the face of the earth and he said he did. ..so maybe it will be a better place to live than what i have to experience.

*bookmarks*