Posted by Wendy B. on June 24, 2001, at 10:48:03
In reply to When do you consult your pdoc?, posted by mair on June 23, 2001, at 22:08:03
> I had an appointment with my pdoc the other day - I see her only about once every 6-8 weeks. In the course of talking about my meds, I told her that I had, on my own, decreased the dosage of one of my meds. While I had a fleeting thought when I was doing this that maybe i should let her know, that thought passed I guess because it was sort of my own experiment. This is a drug I've taken for quite awhile and have made previous decisions to go up or down on it.
>
> This pdoc is about as soft spoken and mild mannered as they come, but she definitely let me know that this was not a cool move. If I understood her correctly (and my therapist too) it's not so much of a matter of playing around with these drugs as it is passing up opportunities to collaborate with my pdoc in making joint decisions. This supposedly has alot to do with my tendency to isolate myself when depressed. I respect boundaries to an unhealthy degree and I guess I'm the antithesis of the Bill Murray character in What About Bob? Thus my therapist and pdoc have talked to me alot about the advisability of calling them at home if they're otherwise not reachable. Basically I guess I was given an opportunity to demonstrate that I had gotten better about working collaboratively and was found sorely wanting. I didn't seize the opportunity because I didn't even recognize it as one. Having all this explained to me made me feel pretty discouraged. I've tried to imagine circumstances where it might be appropriate to call my therapist or pdoc other than at their office, and unless I'm fearful that a suicide attempt is very much in the immediate offing, I just can
> 't see the point. Am I missing something here?
>
> Mair
In my opinion, if you come out of therapy feeling worse about yourself than when you went in ("was found sorely wanting"), then the therapy isn't very good. Like Lissa & Judy said, sounds like an ego problem for the therapist, not a problem with your "not being able" to consult. Sheesh! Especially since you've adjusted the dose on other occasions. You weren't questioning her authority, but that seems how she has taken it. A little infantile, IMHO.I also know that I wouldn't call my shrinks at home unless it was a total emergency, like I did once when I thought I was cracking up. Otherwise, I really want to respect their privacy... how can that be turned around and made into a negative quality? Sorry you had to go through this, and hope if it doesn't get asnwered satisfactorily in the next session (don't wait 6-8 wks), then you should consider moving on, if you have some other options.
Best wishes,
Wendy
poster:Wendy B.
thread:6723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010622/msgs/6744.html