Psychiatry in Canberra.

I am going to state up front that I am a GP (as a disclaimer):

I have no desire to start a turf war beween GPs and psychiatrists. However can I clear up a misconception? Psychiatrists are NOT trained as GPs. GP training is a separate pathway altogether. In Australia you need to finish your hospital internship and residency (all doctors must do this), and then specialise. General Practice is one of the specialties – and it takes a minimum of 2 further years of training after finishing the residency.
Most psychiatrists would not have a clue on general practice and would not know how to treat any disorder except for that of the mind (just as a cardiologist would not know how to deal with any skin disorders).

It is true that GPs (let’s not kid ourselves, there are good GPs and bad GPs just like in any other fields) are able to treat most cases of mental health problems effectively using medications, counselling and in conjunction with psychologists.

Where psychiatrists come in handy are cases requiring hospital admission (as GPs have no admitting rights); psychotic people (where they may require non-voluntary treatments); and people who are really really in trouble (yes you get those patients where NO ONE has any clue on what’s going on, and in that situation the best strategy is to send them up to the person who has the most credibility / experience in these things – not only to ensure they get best care, but for legal reasons too).

And in terms of whether or not medications can cause side effects, yes they can.
Can they cause bad side effects, yes they can.
But can they save lives? Yes they can.

I have had many patients who were so depressed that they would simply not be here today (because they would have killed themselves) was it not for some of our medications.

And you tell me that we don’t need these medications.

There are also many other tests and guidelines that need to be completed and followed by a psychiatrist before they can prescribe medication. It’s not a matter of just going and getting a script filled out.

wickerman said :

Psychiatry is a load of rubbish and dangerous. Most shootings, suicides and other acts of violence can be linked to the latest multi million dollar pharmaceutical called SSSRIs. Psychiatry is a licence to print money and something should be done about them. Thats right our GPs can write out mind scripts if you think you need them, why the need to send ‘the more difficult cases to a shrink’? What a joke, they are not interested in you but your money. Because the drugs are loaded with dangerous side effects you will find you will go back to the Psychiatrist for a number of times to change your meds. Once you realise they are all too hard to take, you will choose one and take that until out of the blue you have suicidal urges like never before experienced. You see the formula is perfect for making lots of money. Scary isnt it. Psychiatry have NO diagnostic tests. When your Shrink says you have a chemical imbalance in the brain, ask for a test. Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry. Oh print some more money. I beleive these so called Drs are criminal and society pays them big for it. They know it and are laughing all the way to the bank.

Not sure if someone has replied to this – I couldn’t be bothered reading all the posts…

Psychiatrists and psychologists do use tests – they use the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) which contains all known mental disorders and the criteria to classify them. It is a worldwide manual.

And if you think that medications make people with a mental disorder worse, you are seriously mistaken. What a deluded view of such a serious issue. Mental illness is very debilitating for someone and although some medications have horrible side effects, it is better for someone who needs the stability to be on medication rather than be going through the stress and trauma of having to deal with their illness.

I find it saddening and disgusting that people like you still hold views like this about mental illness. Although I guess if you suffered from one of the more serious ones your views on the matter would be altogether different.

Jethro said :

Exposure to that sort of advertising for psychotropic drugs can only make you wonder about their necessity (why weren’t 15% of kids in the 50s on Ritalin or ADHD meds – and why did they get by OK?)

And all those kids born in 1950 grew up to be deathly afraid of communists, had a pretty good chance of being crippled with polio, unexpectedly dying from basic infections because the only things people could use was penicillin, and went on to have a severe risk of heart disease due to nobody caring about dietary fat.
The same doctors and nurses treating kids didn’t wear gloves when treating people or taking blood, because who ever heard of auto-immune diseases being transmitted by bodily fluids?

But there would probably be five times as many humans by now if it wasn’t for contraceptive pill.
And since 1955 the infant mortality rate has dropped by two thirds.
And we’ve invented the polio vaccine. And the measles vaccine. And the rubella vaccine. And the chicken pox vaccine. And the cervical cancer vaccine….
We advertise for things like flu vaccines before masses of people are dying, because its better to deal with things in small and preventable cases, instead of having massive numbers of people end up in the ICU with a slim chance of survival.

Same deal with other preventative mediciness.
Society accepts them as potentially needed because, dealing with chronic problems is hell.

Sure, with all of these drugs being invented and the social changes caused by them since the 1950s, there are so many choices of things to blame for society’s ills.
But yeah, lets attack the psychiatrists.

PS: To alleviate all forms of boredom, why not read an un-put-downable adventure of pathos, politics, war, humor, diplomacy and intergalactic finance…
All for $2.95 from any secondhand bookshop, it’s over 1000 pages of thrills, spills, vicious aliens, and noble humans.
It will help answer burning questions like:
Why are the evil Psychiatrists Catrists oppressing people through a sub-profession slave race called the Psychologists Psychlos, who in turn keep all of mankind ignorant of their own amazing mental powers?
Is mankind an endangered species, and how can fighting the Psychologists Psychlos and Psychiatrists Catrists by joining Scientology any church that rebels against them prevent further danger?
Will handsome and heroic Jonny Goodboy Tyler win Earth back from the nine-foot-high aliens, and show the other aliens the path to righteousness by abandoning their wartime economies in favour of blissful consumerism and giving money to a church?
Will humanity ever get rid of Jews the Selachee, a race of bankers who try to repossess the planet?
What is the point of Asians the Chinkos, a race of effeminate, intelligent, subservient aliens?

Yes, Battlefield Earth. Its fascinating stuff.

p1 said :

Jethro said :

(why weren’t 15% of kids in the 50s on Ritalin or ADHD meds – and why did they get by OK?)

Same argument crops up when defending any of the many “medical” systems opposed to some or all of “modern” or “western” medicine. We didn’t have antibiotics a hundred years ago and everyone got by fine. Except when they were dying from an ingrown toenail.

+1

Jethro said :

(why weren’t 15% of kids in the 50s on Ritalin or ADHD meds – and why did they get by OK?)

Same argument crops up when defending any of the many “medical” systems opposed to some or all of “modern” or “western” medicine. We didn’t have antibiotics a hundred years ago and everyone got by fine. Except when they were dying from an ingrown toenail.

Jethro said :

It does seem that they invent drugs and then invent the disease to fit it.

Utter bunkum.

Jethro said :

(why weren’t 15% of kids in the 50s on Ritalin or ADHD meds – and why did they get by OK?)

Probably because Ritalin wasn’t licsensed for use in treating ADHD in children until teh 60’s? That may have something to do with it.

Sock-puppetry, wickerman and Jethro ?

or maybe they are the last two $cientologists in Canberra? Trying to grow the Org so that their superiors and AOSH ANZO will let them continue on the Bridge to Total Freedom(tm)

http://www.whatisscientology.org/html/Part02/Chp06/img/grdchart.gif

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Meyers: I did a little research and I discovered a startling thing…
There was violence in the past, long before psychiatry was invented.

Kent: I see. Fascinating.

Meyers: Yeah, and know something, Karl? The Crusades, for instance.
Tremendous violence, many people killed, the darned thing went
on for thirty years.

Kent: And this was before psychiatry was invented?

Meyers: That’s right, Kent.

With apologies to the Simpsons

While I wouldn’t go as far as wickerman in his condemnation of psychiatry, I feel (one Newbie looking out for another) that I’ve got to call Mr Racing Identity on this.

Meyers was a lobbyist for the violent cartoon (psychiatry) industry. Of course he would say that. Lobbyists for big pharma would say something similar, I’m sure.

There is most probably a place for psychiatry in our medical system. But I do have to agree with wickerman on the whole pharmaceutical industry thing. It does seem that they invent drugs and then invent the disease to fit it.

Anyone who has lived in or travelled through the States would be aware of the pharmaceutical advertising that goes on over there.Exposure to that sort of advertising for psychotropic drugs can only make you wonder about their necessity (why weren’t 15% of kids in the 50s on Ritalin or ADHD meds – and why did they get by OK?)

Likewise, anyone who has done any type of psych at uni would be aware that the whole thing relies heavily on statistics and norms, which is always a shaky type of thing on which to base the medication of a significant chunk of the population.

On a side note (if I may refer to a debate that has arisen every now and the on the-riotact): If Cannabis had the same mental side-effects as a lot of prescription psychotropic drugs there would not even be a debate about whether or not it should be legalised or regulated. It would be illegal. Forever. Fullstop.

Weed has side effects. For a small percentage of people they can be quite significant. But the percentage of cannabis users with negative mental side effects is significantly smaller than the percentage of users who get negative effects from some prescription anti-depressants and other psychotropic drugs. Of course, Cannabis isn’t supported by a multi-million dollar funded lobby group…

Common Tactics of Scientologists:

A) Trivialize critics.
B) Belittle, or start flame wars.
C) Re-Focus on triviality – make you focus on the twig so you do not see the woods.
D) Censor anything damaging rather than refute it. Or refute it with lies.
E) Put up a facade of confidence.
F) Use multiple accts to appear stronger.
G) Deny being a scientologist to falsely show neutral support.
H) Play the oppressed victim and demonize the critic.

Thanks Icepoet, there really are some strange things out there.

My apologies (I’m always sorry) for being out of touch 🙂

Wickerman: everything you have presented here is based on hearsay. Nothing relates to your own first hand experiences with psychiatry. You say you are not, but you sure sound like every other crackpot Scientologist I have met.

With love and sloppy kisses. Your local ‘suppressive person’.

Hells_Bells74 said :

“To make matters worse, because she politely questioned it the specialist made a point of remarking in the report that she is suffering a conversion and refused treatment.”

Is suffering a conversion like a hard maths problem or ? Would be interested to see the treatment at the docs for that
😉

I do hope you mean ‘convulsion’, wickerman.
Sounds like that friend needs a little rehab therapy not a shrink. But perhaps this Neuropsychiatrist may’ve determined that, I would’ve gone at least once to see how I felt and what they were offering me, before ruling them monsterous.

I think he means a Conversion Disorder. It’s where a person has a psychological issue that manifests itself as a physcial one. So Wickerman is saying that this person has been told that the only thing wrong with her is that she has some form of psychological illness (such as depression, anxiety, ptsd etc) that has manifested as paralysis and that there is in fact nothing phsyically wrong with her.

“To make matters worse, because she politely questioned it the specialist made a point of remarking in the report that she is suffering a conversion and refused treatment.”

Is suffering a conversion like a hard maths problem or ? Would be interested to see the treatment at the docs for that
😉

I do hope you mean ‘convulsion’, wickerman.
Sounds like that friend needs a little rehab therapy not a shrink. But perhaps this Neuropsychiatrist may’ve determined that, I would’ve gone at least once to see how I felt and what they were offering me, before ruling them monsterous.

Quokka said :

wickerman said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

While waiting for my CT scan, i spoke to a woman in a wheelchair who lost the use of her legs, obviously a neurological problem.

And you arrived at this conclusion based on… what exactly? The fact that you could see she was sitting in a wheelchair??

With such brilliant powers of observation it must be a bit frustrating to have to rely on doctors and medical imaging when you were unable to diagnose your own illness!

Wow your brilliant. I had been diagnosed prior and sent to xray to confirm. A second opinion if you will. You got no idea. Wouldnt matter what I said or how i said it you dont want to know about it. If you talked with this woman as i did you would know as she knows that her problem is a neurological problem and not some fantasy psychological theory.

For as long as the people want to put up with it, Psychiatry will remain the flagship of quackery. One of the reasons they still exist is that it is a convenient referral for patients who are not supported by the specialists. The too hard basket gets referred to the psychiatrist.

eg, A friend recently had a stroke, she has mild paralysis on one side and a number of remaining residual physical problems. MRI showed nothing.
What comes next….a referral to the hospital shrink with a new name – Neuropsychiatrist in gold letters. What a joke. Needless to say she politely told the specialist it wasnt necessary. To make matters worse, because she politely questioned it the specialist made a point of remarking in the report that she is suffering a conversion and refused treatment. A psychiatrists dream. Warm the money printer and open another bank account. I dont know how they sleep at night.

wickerman said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

While waiting for my CT scan, i spoke to a woman in a wheelchair who lost the use of her legs, obviously a neurological problem.

And you arrived at this conclusion based on… what exactly? The fact that you could see she was sitting in a wheelchair??

With such brilliant powers of observation it must be a bit frustrating to have to rely on doctors and medical imaging when you were unable to diagnose your own illness!

Thanks for those links Pommy Bastard. Yes, it was Cage. I was laughing so hard in places I perhaps shouldn’t have! Will get onto the original. Thanks! It reminded me of the wickerman on this site.

wickerman? For you. Do you know what a paragraph is?

colourful sydney racing identity said :

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; have a twinkie snapperhead.

Stop sending me insane with humorous repartee

wickerman said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Meyers: I did a little research and I discovered a startling thing…
There was violence in the past, long before psychiatry was invented.
Kent:

I see. Fascinating.
Meyers: Yeah, and know something, Karl? The Crusades, for instance.
Tremendous violence, many people killed, the darned thing went
on for thirty years.
Kent:

And this was before psychiatry was invented?
Meyers: That’s right, Kent.

With apologies to the Simpsons

Yes the crusades were a blood bath for the most part under the name of religion. Youve obviously chosen to take me completely out of context and want to take the piss, thats your choice. You obviously have great trust in the so called Drs and good luck to you. Or just enjoy taking the piss? It may not be as bad interstate but based on the stories ive heard Canberra has a delinquent set of psychiatrists.

While waiting for my CT scan, i spoke to a woman in a wheelchair who lost the use of her legs, obviously a neurological problem. She had no indication of mental illness but with great dissapointment she said she was referred to a psychiatrist as no pathology was found.

I was stunned at this, she said she has no choice on this and that they truly believe her inability to walk was somatoform. I asked a few questions – She was given a survey to fill in. She said the psychiatrist strongly believes that her problem is in the mind as no pathology can be found. yes she was prescribed drugs. Its just Bullshit. I call that inappropriate care. The psych is cashing in once again. Dont you reckon meyers or was that kent.

I notice no one here is outwardly pro-psychiatry. Because you all know its a shonky practice. Pommy B showed some support for them and i appreciate his input and yes there are certain ailments like psychosis related episodes that need drug attention. but your average depressed person is the bread and butter and icing on the cake for these crooks.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; have a twinkie snapperhead.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

Meyers: I did a little research and I discovered a startling thing…
There was violence in the past, long before psychiatry was invented.
Kent:

I see. Fascinating.
Meyers: Yeah, and know something, Karl? The Crusades, for instance.
Tremendous violence, many people killed, the darned thing went
on for thirty years.
Kent:

And this was before psychiatry was invented?
Meyers: That’s right, Kent.

With apologies to the Simpsons

Yes the crusades were a blood bath for the most part under the name of religion. Youve obviously chosen to take me completely out of context and want to take the piss, thats your choice. You obviously have great trust in the so called Drs and good luck to you. Or just enjoy taking the piss? It may not be as bad interstate but based on the stories ive heard Canberra has a delinquent set of psychiatrists.

While waiting for my CT scan, i spoke to a woman in a wheelchair who lost the use of her legs, obviously a neurological problem. She had no indication of mental illness but with great dissapointment she said she was referred to a psychiatrist as no pathology was found.

I was stunned at this, she said she has no choice on this and that they truly believe her inability to walk was somatoform. I asked a few questions – She was given a survey to fill in. She said the psychiatrist strongly believes that her problem is in the mind as no pathology can be found. yes she was prescribed drugs. Its just Bullshit. I call that inappropriate care. The psych is cashing in once again. Dont you reckon meyers or was that kent.

I notice no one here is outwardly pro-psychiatry. Because you all know its a shonky practice. Pommy B showed some support for them and i appreciate his input and yes there are certain ailments like psychosis related episodes that need drug attention. but your average depressed person is the bread and butter and icing on the cake for these crooks.

Meyers: I did a little research and I discovered a startling thing…
There was violence in the past, long before psychiatry was invented.
Kent: I see. Fascinating.
Meyers: Yeah, and know something, Karl? The Crusades, for instance.
Tremendous violence, many people killed, the darned thing went
on for thirty years.
Kent: And this was before psychiatry was invented?
Meyers: That’s right, Kent.

With apologies to the Simpsons

NeedHelp said :

Did anybody watch The Wicker Man – some stupid late night movie from last week? It was a waste of time.

Just thought I’d mention that.

You must have seen te American version with Nick Cage in the lead: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450345/

It sucked big donkey balls, and is possibly one of the worse movies of all time.

However the original Brit movie; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/

Is a classic of suspense, starring Edward Woodward in the lead, and featuring Christopher Lee and Brit Eckland it is a wonderful movie.

wickerman said :

I was watching the news every night as a kid, sitting round the table at dinner time. i had no choice of TV channel at that hour of the day. Violence and school shootouts were rare. Never heard of a school shooter in fact.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, “Money doesn’t buy you happiness, son”.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, ‘e was right.
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, ‘e was.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: I was happier then and I had nothin’. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.

etc etc ad nauseum…

wickerman said :

Jim Jones said :

wickerman said :

When I was a kid, i never heard of any school shootings and acts of violence to the scale thats going on these days.

Probably because you weren’t watching the news.

I was watching the news every night as a kid, sitting round the table at dinner time. i had no choice of TV channel at that hour of the day. Violence and school shootouts were rare. Never heard of a school shooter in fact.

Yep – violence in society has only really started to occur very recently. Before the late twentieth century, everyone lived in a peaceful utopia. Psychiatrists are obviously to blame.

wickerman said :

farnarkler said :

Wickerman you’ve said a GP can prescribe mind drugs and that they send the more difficult cases to a psychiatrist. Are you aware that psychiatrists were GPs before they go on to do further study? If psychiatry was dangerous it would have been banned many years ago.

Im aware that psychiatrists study to a GP level and go on to further study. My point is they stop practising being a medical practitioner at the point of becoming a psychiatrist and start pushing drugs and practising a whole lot of lucrative hogwash and banking big for it. They know it. it makes a lot of money. They have no diagnostic credibility as there is no tests for your so called depression or whatever. Wheres the test. People who are depressed deserve far better than SSRI drugs that are the 1st line treatment. Some people go well on SSRIs but the majority will experience dangerous side effects in the short and or long term. The drug companies and shrinks have made a business that makes a lot of money at the expense of peoples health and sanity. In my opinion they no longer can be considered a medical Dr. I dont know exactly how they managed to get the control they have now but its a huge concern how they charge large amounts of money and prescribe drugs that only work for a few. Its all big business. Dont forget people who see pychiatrists are diagnosed and documented as having a mental illness. So if you start having a bad drug reaction and want to start shooting or commit suicide or belt your brother up, or just feel a constant internal uneasiness (common SSRi side effect) they are going to say its your disease not the medication. To me its all so obvious and were powerless. if you want to argue with them understand they can have you sectioned. They have the power to do so. So dont argue with them. If the pharmaceutical companies have chemists who can make these formulations to suit the Industry business model, they probably could provide us with drugs with far better efficacy and less side effects. But that wont make them billions of bucks.

The good thing about psychiatrists is they know how to break up bodies of text.

farnarkler said :

Wickerman you’ve said a GP can prescribe mind drugs and that they send the more difficult cases to a psychiatrist. Are you aware that psychiatrists were GPs before they go on to do further study? If psychiatry was dangerous it would have been banned many years ago.

Im aware that psychiatrists study to a GP level and go on to further study. My point is they stop practising being a medical practitioner at the point of becoming a psychiatrist and start pushing drugs and practising a whole lot of lucrative hogwash and banking big for it. They know it. it makes a lot of money. They have no diagnostic credibility as there is no tests for your so called depression or whatever. Wheres the test. People who are depressed deserve far better than SSRI drugs that are the 1st line treatment. Some people go well on SSRIs but the majority will experience dangerous side effects in the short and or long term. The drug companies and shrinks have made a business that makes a lot of money at the expense of peoples health and sanity. In my opinion they no longer can be considered a medical Dr. I dont know exactly how they managed to get the control they have now but its a huge concern how they charge large amounts of money and prescribe drugs that only work for a few. Its all big business. Dont forget people who see pychiatrists are diagnosed and documented as having a mental illness. So if you start having a bad drug reaction and want to start shooting or commit suicide or belt your brother up, or just feel a constant internal uneasiness (common SSRi side effect) they are going to say its your disease not the medication. To me its all so obvious and were powerless. if you want to argue with them understand they can have you sectioned. They have the power to do so. So dont argue with them. If the pharmaceutical companies have chemists who can make these formulations to suit the Industry business model, they probably could provide us with drugs with far better efficacy and less side effects. But that wont make them billions of bucks.

Bosworth said :

Scientology has been surrounded by controversies since its inception. It has often been described as a cult that financially defrauds and abuses its members, charging exorbitant fees for its spiritual services.[6][15][16] The Church of Scientology has consistently used litigation against such critics, and its aggressiveness in pursuing its foes has been condemned as harassment.[17][18] Further controversy has focused on Scientology’s belief that souls (“thetans”) reincarnate and have lived on other planets before living on Earth.[19] Former members say that some of Hubbard’s writings on this remote extraterrestrial past, included in confidential Upper Levels, are not revealed to practitioners until they have paid thousands of dollars to the Church of Scientology.[20][21] Another controversial belief held by Scientologists is that the practice of psychiatry is destructive and abusive and must be abolished

Yes, Its probably better to look elsewhere than to practice scientology. there are some very controversial practices in that sect.

Jim Jones said :

wickerman said :

When I was a kid, i never heard of any school shootings and acts of violence to the scale thats going on these days.

Probably because you weren’t watching the news.

I was watching the news every night as a kid, sitting round the table at dinner time. i had no choice of TV channel at that hour of the day. Violence and school shootouts were rare. Never heard of a school shooter in fact.

If it was the Nicholas Cage remake then yes it was stupid. If it was the original, it’s a brilliant thriller.

Did anybody watch The Wicker Man – some stupid late night movie from last week? It was a waste of time.

Just thought I’d mention that.

[[[zips up straight jacket and parks bum in front of idiot box again]]]

Jim Jones said :

wickerman said :

When I was a kid, i never heard of any school shootings and acts of violence to the scale thats going on these days.

Probably because you weren’t watching the news.

The news also wasn’t as immediate and pervasive as it is now, nor as focussed on fear and disaster oriented reporting.

Bosworth, scientology is one big joke. Hubbard himself said (there’s enough evidence from witnesses) there’s no money writing science fiction, if you want to make money, start a religion.

wickerman said :

When I was a kid, i never heard of any school shootings and acts of violence to the scale thats going on these days.

Probably because you weren’t watching the news.

Wickerman you’ve said a GP can prescribe mind drugs and that they send the more difficult cases to a psychiatrist. Are you aware that psychiatrists were GPs before they go on to do further study? If psychiatry was dangerous it would have been banned many years ago.

Scientology has been surrounded by controversies since its inception. It has often been described as a cult that financially defrauds and abuses its members, charging exorbitant fees for its spiritual services.[6][15][16] The Church of Scientology has consistently used litigation against such critics, and its aggressiveness in pursuing its foes has been condemned as harassment.[17][18] Further controversy has focused on Scientology’s belief that souls (“thetans”) reincarnate and have lived on other planets before living on Earth.[19] Former members say that some of Hubbard’s writings on this remote extraterrestrial past, included in confidential Upper Levels, are not revealed to practitioners until they have paid thousands of dollars to the Church of Scientology.[20][21] Another controversial belief held by Scientologists is that the practice of psychiatry is destructive and abusive and must be abolished

wickerman said :

Im not a scientologist nor a basketcase. quote]

Your post suggest otherwise.

Clear up a few things. Im not a scientologist nor a basketcase. Pommy Yes i mispell a few things but so what, get over it. Looks like i upset a few. The truth is sometimes confronting. Im glad that a few people get some releif from their psychiatrist but the majority dont. Thats part of the reason its so lucrative. Your GP is a far better option for medications and some cognitive work. Pommy, Those tests you mention are surveys not tests. Theres no pathology in a survey which will change from minute to minute. Think about it, its disgusting that they even ask you to fill in a survey. why dont they give you a chance at talking about it. ooh no that would interfere with the money turnover. Surveys are not tests. A PET scan is not offered to the average punter because they havent figured out the marketing aspect. With regards to psychiatry its a useless tool as they have no idea how the mind operates. Why would a xray be of any benefit when they dont know what to look for. Wheres the mind in an xray? What receptors operate the mind? it is hocus pocus. Nice pictures though. If you do the image 10 minutes later, the image will be very different. A useless tool.

Have you seen anybody trying to get off SSRIs (is the anacronym spelling right Pommy?), its a nightmare that lasts for many months. Ive seen friends coming off them and its horrible. you think thats appropriate? Once you get on them the industry is banking youll be on them for life or youll be suicidal. Its designed that way. Your shrink will say its your disease but the fact is its the side effects. Its all ,to keep the money printing. Beware psyches are dangerous to health and wallet. Theres quite a few GPs out there who know the scam. Psychiatrists simply are not practicing drs. They practice money making.

When I was a kid, i never heard of any school shootings and acts of violence to the scale thats going on these days.

wickerman said :

Psychiatry is a load of rubbish and dangerous. Most shootings, suicides and other acts of violence can be linked to the latest multi million dollar pharmaceutical called SSSRIs. Psychiatry is a licence to print money and something should be done about them. Thats right our GPs can write out mind scripts if you think you need them, why the need to send ‘the more difficult cases to a shrink’? What a joke, they are not interested in you but your money. Because the drugs are loaded with dangerous side effects you will find you will go back to the Psychiatrist for a number of times to change your meds. Once you realise they are all too hard to take, you will choose one and take that until out of the blue you have suicidal urges like never before experienced. You see the formula is perfect for making lots of money. Scary isnt it. Psychiatry have NO diagnostic tests. When your Shrink says you have a chemical imbalance in the brain, ask for a test. Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry. Oh print some more money. I beleive these so called Drs are criminal and society pays them big for it. They know it and are laughing all the way to the bank.

…of the week?

wickerman said :

Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry.

And here I was thinking that Positron Emission Tomography scanning, with tracers that bind to either dopamine, serotonin or opiod receptors, for giving an image of a brain with an imbalance, was all just hocus-pocus voodoo magic.

wickerman said :

Psychiatry is a load of rubbish and dangerous. Most shootings, suicides and other acts of violence can be linked to the latest multi million dollar pharmaceutical called SSSRIs.

That’s interesting, did we not have any “shootings, suicides and other acts of violence”, before SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors, get it right) were on the market?

wickerman said :

What a joke, they are not interested in you but your money. Because the drugs are loaded with dangerous side effects you will find you will go back to the Psychiatrist for a number of times to change your meds.

Psychiatrists will often change meds until the right one for the client is found, we’re all individuals and all respond differently to medications.

wickerman said :

Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry.

BASIS 32
LSP 16
Zung depression index.
HONOS

Want more.

People like you are the scum of the earth, you are willing for others to risk pain, suffering and even death, just so you can push your beliefs.

Think why you hold these beliefs, there is an easy answer, you are totally screwed up..

wickerman comes across as a bit of a basketcase.

wickerman said :

Psychiatry is a load of rubbish and dangerous. Most shootings, suicides and other acts of violence can be linked to the latest multi million dollar pharmaceutical called SSSRIs. Psychiatry is a licence to print money and something should be done about them. Thats right our GPs can write out mind scripts if you think you need them, why the need to send ‘the more difficult cases to a shrink’? What a joke, they are not interested in you but your money. Because the drugs are loaded with dangerous side effects you will find you will go back to the Psychiatrist for a number of times to change your meds. Once you realise they are all too hard to take, you will choose one and take that until out of the blue you have suicidal urges like never before experienced. You see the formula is perfect for making lots of money. Scary isnt it. Psychiatry have NO diagnostic tests. When your Shrink says you have a chemical imbalance in the brain, ask for a test. Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry. Oh print some more money. I beleive these so called Drs are criminal and society pays them big for it. They know it and are laughing all the way to the bank.

Quick look over ther – it’s Xenu!

wickerman said :

Psychiatry is a load of rubbish and dangerous. Most shootings, suicides and other acts of violence can be linked to the latest multi million dollar pharmaceutical called SSSRIs. Psychiatry is a licence to print money and something should be done about them. Thats right our GPs can write out mind scripts if you think you need them, why the need to send ‘the more difficult cases to a shrink’? What a joke, they are not interested in you but your money. Because the drugs are loaded with dangerous side effects you will find you will go back to the Psychiatrist for a number of times to change your meds. Once you realise they are all too hard to take, you will choose one and take that until out of the blue you have suicidal urges like never before experienced. You see the formula is perfect for making lots of money. Scary isnt it. Psychiatry have NO diagnostic tests. When your Shrink says you have a chemical imbalance in the brain, ask for a test. Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry. Oh print some more money. I beleive these so called Drs are criminal and society pays them big for it. They know it and are laughing all the way to the bank.

It looks like we found ourselves a $cientologist!

Psychiatry is a load of rubbish and dangerous. Most shootings, suicides and other acts of violence can be linked to the latest multi million dollar pharmaceutical called SSSRIs. Psychiatry is a licence to print money and something should be done about them. Thats right our GPs can write out mind scripts if you think you need them, why the need to send ‘the more difficult cases to a shrink’? What a joke, they are not interested in you but your money. Because the drugs are loaded with dangerous side effects you will find you will go back to the Psychiatrist for a number of times to change your meds. Once you realise they are all too hard to take, you will choose one and take that until out of the blue you have suicidal urges like never before experienced. You see the formula is perfect for making lots of money. Scary isnt it. Psychiatry have NO diagnostic tests. When your Shrink says you have a chemical imbalance in the brain, ask for a test. Guess what….theres no tests for any psychiatry. Oh print some more money. I beleive these so called Drs are criminal and society pays them big for it. They know it and are laughing all the way to the bank.

I decided at the end of the day that I’m just better off paying. The reason are as follows.

a) My wife likes me on my meds. If I don’t take em, I’m in trouble.
b) The costs involved in moving to another shrink are prohibitive.
c) I just need to keep focus and not let stupidity and crap, throw me off track.

Cheers,
Myself.

In response to #9 – I would not recommend calling the Crisis Team. They were no help to me at all when I called them. In fact, the person demonstrated incredibly poor awareness of how to deal with a person in crisis. When patronising me didn’t help, they quickly moved to impatience. No thanks. There is a reason why psychiatrists charge so much – they save people’s lives.

$200 sounds like the fee for an initial, or “new referral” appointment. New referral appointments are ones where the patient has either not seen the specialist for over 12 months, or the GP has referred them for a new matter.

It is simply not good medical care to keep doling out a script year after year with no consultation. Patients often expect to be able to get scripts written out when they have not seen the doctor in over a year. This would be irresponsible in many cases (even if after the consultation, the medication regimen is not altered).

I believe that repeat consultation fees would be in the $70-90 range, with a $34 Medicare rebate.

The Medicare rebate is about $80 for initial specialist consultation appointments (104 item numbers). So for a $200 fee you’re out of pocket by $120, or much, much less if you have hit your Medicare safety net threshold.

All in all, if you are only having annual psychiatry consultations for maintenance of a stable medication program, it costs less than getting your car serviced.

bd84 said :

The little voices in my head tells me that price is expensive

you are just jealous cos the voices only talk to ME!

The little voices in my head tells me that price is expensive

The ones through ACT Health are all right. I’ve met quite a few over the years & they all are quite nice & helpful. My family members current ACT Mental Health person even has to power to admit this family member to a medical ward within The Canberra Hospital. But I suspect that this is only provided as this family member receives Centrelink payment

About 1 in 5 Australians suffer from a mental illness, and GP’s manage 75-90% of patients with mental illness in the community. So GP’s actually treat much more mental illness than you might realise. Psychiatrists often only treat the more complex or severe cases…

Quokka said :

Ask your GP for a referral to your local community mental health team, or alternatively your GP can actually treat most uncomplicated mental illness.

And what might they be.

Depression: “Have this prescription filled.”

Phobias: “Have this prescription filled.”

Bipolar disease: “Have this prescription and this prescription filled.”

Schizophrenia: “Better go and see Dr.V*#*&&”

Psycosis: “Better go and see Dr.V*#*&&”

Ask your GP for a referral to your local community mental health team, or alternatively your GP can actually treat most uncomplicated mental illness.

You can find contact details for the adult community mental health teams at:
http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=da&did=10051295&pid=1061351823

If you need urgent support then there is a 24 hour Crisis Team (1800 629 354 or 62051065)

There is no such thing as “just filling out a script” . The appointment is also to review your current health , determine if the medication is doing the job, if indeed you still need it, adn to determine if there are new treatments that may work better etc etc. Otherwise you’d just get a script for life at the first appointment. And there are still costs for that- costs of rooms, reception staff, admin, utilities etc. And most docots drive the same suburban vehicles the rest of us do…Theres a lot more doctors than porsches in Canberra…

Igglepiggle said :

Probably because the medicare rebate doesn’t even cover the actual cost of providing the service, let alone allow your psychiatrist to make a living.

Yeah because a script really uses $200 of pen ink to fill out. Get real, there is no cost intensive service that they are passing on.

Medicare rebate is plenty for psychiatry. My mother is a psychiatrist in Sydney and bulk bills all her patients. Full 1 hour consults too. There is no reason a Canberra psych can’t have a successful practice bulk-billing – it’d be hard to keep up the lease payments on the Porsche though…

Probably because the medicare rebate doesn’t even cover the actual cost of providing the service, let alone allow your psychiatrist to make a living.

$200 to see a psychiatrist? That’s (wait for it……………..) crazy!

You should still get a medicare rebate; I’m only out of pocket by $50 at the end.

My psychiatrist bulk bills me.

doesn’t the psychiatry department at TCH take on private clients? pehaps a chat with your gp might find you a new psychiatrist at bulk bill rates.