What are YOU doing to give psychiatry more validity?

[ShrunkenHeads]

It will be a while before I can try to make any positive waves in the field of psychiatry, but what are you doing to to give the field more visibility and credence? It's a little upsetting that mental illnesses can be tossed aside as moral issues, but that won't last for too long. I commend anyone that has a genuine interest in improving the lives of their patients and those around them. It's so much deeper than most realize, but that's why you are here.

For those of you with a clean conscience in psychiatry/psychology, don't doubt what you provide to humanity. Ever. Regardless of what the most intelligent/accomplished/respected of your peers may say.

Personally, the biggest tragedy in our civilization is people not living up to their potential.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Wish you could all have been there last night for our hospital foundation's annual gala--this year the proceeds, better than a half-million bucks, were given explicitly to mental health programs.

Big Thank You to our board and adminstration, and to our community for supporting this.

 

[Ibid]

Personally, the biggest travesty to our civilization is people not living up to their potential.

For me its the proliferation of fast food outlets. That and processed cheese. This is cheese.

This is not

 

[ShrunkenHeads]

For me its the proliferation of fast food outlets. That and processed cheese. This is cheese.

This is not

You got me.

 

[Ibid]

If Edward Gibbon was around today (The History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire note the publication date 1776, surely no coincidence) he would note the egregious use of....

in the average American home instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano and say with certainty that the American Century is over.

 

[flash]

what kind..I'm buying it this week. Seriously, what kind.

 

[Ibid]

what kind..I'm buying it this week. Seriously, what kind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmigiano-Reggiano

If you want the real thing, this is it. Only if it has been made in specific parts of Italy is it genuine and will be stamped as such.

Worth holding out for the real thing. Shouldn't be to hard to find. You will need a little cheese grater to make fine crumbs, it won't slice and it's no good in chunks anyway. Freshly grated it has a lovely aroma.

Stays fresh for ages esp if you wrap it up but it's addictive and usually does not last long. Well, not in my house anyway.

Once you have had it you will never go back to putting salty yellow powder on your food.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

If Edward Gibbon was around today (The History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire note the publication date 1776, surely no coincidence) he would note the egregious use of....

Hehe, I was reading (lets be honest--parts of) Gibbon the other day and was thinking to myself how many passages I could lift wholly and apply to the present day...

 

[whopper]

This sounds so simple, but IMHO if even just a "simple" clinical doctor does good practice, that in and of itself makes big waves in the lives of hundreds of people. In turn, several thousand will then be helped because of the indirect benefits those people experience.

I use the word "simple" because several doctors tend to look at research as being above clinical work. While IMHO, research tends to be more difficult, good clinical doctors are rare. From my personal experience, several doctors IMHO do poor practice.

I know several patients that feel the entire field is bull after they've had a few psychiatrists, and none of them had a good experience with any of them. After reviewing their cases, I noticed several mistakes made by the other doctors, so I understand the frustration on the part of the patient.

 

[zenman]

What? No pics of head cheese!

 

[ShrunkenHeads]

This sounds so simple, but IMHO if even just a "simple" clinical doctor does good practice, that in and of itself makes big waves in the lives of hundreds of people. In turn, several thousand will then be helped because of the indirect benefits those people experience.

I use the word "simple" because several doctors tend to look at research as being above clinical work. While IMHO, research tends to be more difficult, good clinical doctors are rare. From my personal experience, several doctors IMHO do poor practice.

I know several patients that feel the entire field is bull after they've had a few psychiatrists, and none of them had a good experience with any of them. After reviewing their cases, I noticed several mistakes made by the other doctors, so I understand the frustration on the part of the patient.

I'm glad you made the point about big waves being felt due to the hundreds of patients helped and it spanning across thousands.

The fallout of untreated mental illnesses has immense collateral damage, and while difficult to quantify, it should be done, as it would be easier for the layman to make sense of.

 

[whopper]

I remember in the show Quantum Leap, Sam is told by someone who likely was God that while he only helped a few dozen people, the good that these people were able to do as a result of the good Sam did for them payed forward big time.

If someone is mentally ill and their family and friends care for them, to get that person better does immense benefits for the loved ones emotionally and likely financially.

Good doctors are rare, and this is a shame because medical training is extremely difficult. I'm surprised how bad I see the bar set given how hard the training is. One of the doctors that trained me in residency literally told me that being a medical doctor was akin to being in a club of privilege where the medical doctor earned the right to have an easy life and do minimal work while still earning a high salary. Well let's just say his work reflected his philosophy. He didn't know WTF he was doing and when you brought up a patient to him, he didn't know what was going on. The resident was pretty much doing everything and all this guy did was sign the notes. Unfortunately, this type of doctor is not a rare thing from what I've seen.

The only time I've seen consistent good treatment from a body of doctors was at one institution. I won't name it though based on where I am, you might be able to figure out by detective work which one it is. The guy heading it as the CEO is literally one of the world's top psychiatrists, and he has some of the world's top mental health people working for him, and they are committed to doing excellent care. It's definitely the first place I'd want to send a loved one if the were mentally ill.

Aside from that, going to most hospitals and offices IMHO is a hit or miss where the odds of getting a bad doctor are in the double digits and I'm not talking 10%. I'm talking 5x that number.

 

[nitemagi]

I remember in the show Quantum Leap, Sam is told by someone who likely was God that while he only helped a few dozen people, the good that these people were able to do as a result of the good Sam did for them payed forward big time.

If someone is mentally ill and their family and friends care for them, to get that person better does immense benefits for the loved ones emotionally and likely financially.

Good doctors are rare, and this is a shame because medical training is extremely difficult. I'm surprised how bad I see the bar set given how hard the training is. One of the doctors that trained me in residency literally told me that being a medical doctor was akin to being in a club of privilege where the medical doctor earned the right to have an easy life and do minimal work while still earning a high salary. Well let's just say his work reflected his philosophy. He didn't know WTF he was doing and when you brought up a patient to him, he didn't know what was going on. The resident was pretty much doing everything and all this guy did was sign the notes. Unfortunately, this type of doctor is not a rare thing from what I've seen.

The only time I've seen consistent good treatment from a body of doctors was at one institution. I won't name it though based on where I am, you might be able to figure out by detective work which one it is. The guy heading it as the CEO is literally one of the world's top psychiatrists, and he has some of the world's top mental health people working for him, and they are committed to doing excellent care. It's definitely the first place I'd want to send a loved one if the were mentally ill.

Aside from that, going to most hospitals and offices IMHO is a hit or miss where the odds of getting a bad doctor are in the double digits and I'm not talking 10%. I'm talking 5x that number.

All the more reason why being good at this makes it easy to stand out.