Posted On
HealthMental

7 Things to Know Before your First Psychiatry Appointment

Posted By Juliet Craig

Going to a psychiatrist for the very first time can be a tedious and stressful experience, especially if you don’t know what to expect or if you know someone who’s had bad experiences with psychiatrists. It’s very common for patients to feel nervous seeing a doctor for the first time, so one can imagine how […]

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Posted On
Mental
Posted By Juliet Craig

Mental illness has gained significant awareness in the last decade given the rising depression and other related cases on the rise among all age groups. As much as we are accustomed to seeing patients of physical illnesses rush to the doctor and get advice, we are just as much reluctant to go to a psychiatrist […]

read more
Posted On
BlogHealthMental

How is mental health perceived by society?

Posted By Juliet Craig

Mental health is very important, and there are just too many factors at play when someone who is internally suffering does not reach out in time. It is very sad indeed when someone is hurting so badly inside, that they are considering ending their life entirely. It is even more heartbreaking for all the lives […]

read more

7 Things to Know Before your First Psychiatry Appointment

Going to a psychiatrist for the very first time can be a tedious and stressful experience, especially if you don’t know what to expect or if you know someone who’s had bad experiences with psychiatrists. It’s very common for patients to feel nervous seeing a doctor for the first time, so one can imagine how much anxiety-inducing would it be seeing a bulk billing psychologist parramatta. Especially when you have to deal with many personal questions about your history, people tend to shy away from opening up.

Your mental health is a very crucial part of you, so you shouldn’t let anything get in the way of you getting the help you need and deserve. Knowing what to expect can greatly help alleviate the situation and take some stress off. The following tips will help you with it, let’s explore.

Don’t always look for referrals

You should look around for the best professional who can help you with your problem. You will be recommended a lot of different doctors and professional by friends and family, but since it is about you and your life you should invest some time in finding the best psychiatrist for yourself.

Free consultation

If you are worried that this might not work and your money going to waste, reach out to the psychiatrist before getting any appointment and ask for a free consultation. It will allow you to gauge the effectiveness of their skills.

Have your medical history at hand

There are a lot of medicines on the market that deal a severe blow to the personality of a person. If you are facing any issues, make sure to have your history or the names of your medicines at hand to help them diagnose you better.

Be prepared for questions

This one is pretty much a no-brainer, but you should be ready for all sorts of questions. Consider it this way, you are a computer program that is facing issues and the psychiatrist is the IT guy asking you questions to help you fix the problem.

Understand the time investment

Some people expect a lot to happen, starting right from the first appointment. You should understand that it’s a time-consuming process and you will see results as you go along.

It’s OK to feel emotions

You don’t have to compose yourself and answer everything without showing any emotions. You can let it go and unleash your true self to help the psychiatrist diagnose you better and help you.

You don’t have to agree with everything

If you have done enough self-reflection to know yourself better you should always speak up if you feel like the conversation is going in the wrong direction or if the psychiatrist misunderstood something.

Mental illness has gained significant awareness in the last decade given the rising depression and other related cases on the rise among all age groups. As much as we are accustomed to seeing patients of physical illnesses rush to the doctor and get advice, we are just as much reluctant to go to a psychiatrist or bendigo psychologists to seek medical attention that we need for our mental illness. It can be daunting first of all, accepting what is wrong with you, but to better help yourself cope with it, you should definitely get an appointment with a psychologist. The reason for this is that avoiding one doesn’t help you in anyway. It further aggravates the problem, making it chronic instead. Here are some reasons why we think avoiding a psychiatrist will not at all help you recover.

A Psychiatrist is Trained Professional

A psychiatrist is a professional who is trained to assess, diagnose and offer remedial insights for your illness. Self-diagnosis or thinking you can handle your way, say through depression, is usually a bad idea, especially if you feel isolated and alone. Getting in touch with a psychiatrist will help you better understand your problem, figure out the root causes, and learn how to channel it to better your mental health.

You Won’t Snap Out of It

Some people don’t pay much heed to their mental illnesses. They avoid going to a psychiatrist considering it would make it a big deal, when in actuality, it already is. Thinking you will snap out of your depressive trance or that you only feel sad often and not all the time is a bad self-diagnosis. Your mental illness, be it turbulence in emotions and moods or depressive episodes over the span of time, require professional attention to be resolved. It does not get better over time, rather, it worsens not just the illness itself, but adversely impacts your life choices, those around you and becomes a bigger inconvenience that simple mood swings. So, stop thinking you will snap out of it because you won’t unless you visit a psychiatrist and take professional help.

You Don’t Have to Embarrassed

Most people feel embarrassed having to share their causes of mental discomfort with the psychiatrist. It can be a daunting challenge to recall all the traumatic memories, but at the same time, that is the right way to address the trauma in the first place. The psychiatrist is trained to handle traumatic memories and will not push to beyond your capacity to recall and understand. However, what is for sure is that they do not make the process embarrassing or cumbersome in any way. There is nothing to be embarrassed about while discussing your problems with a psychiatrist since they are bound by their profession to retain your personal information to themselves. So, stop putting off meeting a psychiatrist because you are embarrassed, they will keep your secrets and help you towards recovery.

How is mental health perceived by society?

Mental health is very important, and there are just too many factors at play when someone who is internally suffering does not reach out in time. It is very sad indeed when someone is hurting so badly inside, that they are considering ending their life entirely. It is even more heartbreaking for all the lives that have been lost due to suicide alone. And what makes people who are suffering from mental illness, just want to give up and not live to see another day?

Nowadays we hear more about mental health and psychiatric cases of people who have severe depression or other serious mental illnesses, that seem to plague them out of nowhere and keep them struggling each day. What causes all these mental health breakdowns that we hear of, and how do people become so numb that they would rather end their lives, than live? Yes, mental health can be a very sensitive topic, but the point is, if someone doesn’t break the silence to mental health, then who will?

The truth is that we can’t afford to have any more families suffer due to loss. It is even more tragic to know, that people who have committed suicide, if only they had the courage to reach out and get the help they needed in time, that their suicides could have been prevented. Yes, everyone’s mental health is important, and it’s not something to just keep hushed, or be swept-under-the-rug. People who suffer need to know that it is okay to speak up. In fact, if we can encourage more people to please speak up and not be ashamed, then we can begin to save more lives.

A lot of the reasons why people who suffer don’t like to speak up is because of how mental health is perceived by society. Society seems to basically shun people for being different, even if what someone is going through internally, is not completely their fault alone. Most anyone’s mental health can be destroyed by traumas. But everyone is different and so the saying “Sticks and stones, may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” does not apply to everyone.

Here in Dunedin, New Zealand, we genuinely care, and we created whysuicidebook.com with everyone in mind. Whether you are suffering from mental illness or not, we want to reach out to you. We want to educate you, we want to let you know that you have a safe place to come and speak up and not be judged, we want to help you to break the silence, once and for all. Because we believe It’s time that people stop listening to the negative notions that society has about mental health and that it’s time, people start getting the help they need and deserve.