Article: ‘You smiled at me so you’re not depressed’: What’s the most patronising thing your doctor has ever said to you about your mental health?

Link : http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/02/you-s...said-to-you-about-your-mental-health-7418916/

A couple of anecdotes from the article :

There are lots more anecdotes in the article:

Link : http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/02/you-s...said-to-you-about-your-mental-health-7418916/

 

I suffered from severe depression (for very good reasons) in my teens. I was referred to someone - a psychiatrist who just saw me once - and I was later told by my GP that I had been diagnosed with "normal teenage angst".

 

I remember reading somewhere that in ESA assessments they asked if you about your dog if you had one. Apparently, if you smiled while talking about your dog it meant you weren't depressed.

Don't know if that is true but if so....

 

Who makes up these myths? Unbelievable!

 

I don't understand how someone can confidently make a judgement based on a single meeting.

Some people who are feeling depressed may well be the type to understate how they feel.

Others may well overstate -not to exaggerate but because that's how they express themselves.

Not everyone is comfortable or good at expressing feelings and emotions.

I know I would find it very difficult to be completely open amd honest about my thoughts and feelings with someone I had just met.

 

Ted Bundy serial killer. Yep, nothing wrong with him at all.

 

Shocking! It is as though some of these so called medical professions live in the Middle Ages. Actually if that were true they would have brought out the leeches. Personally I have found most medical advise given to me by close minded individuals to be completely useless. Commonsense doesn't always apply to PwME, because ME/CFS requires thinking outside of the box.

 

I had "good manners" drummed into me when I was a child, as well as the idea that I mustn't show I was in pain or in distress because I had to be "stoical". It is like a straitjacket on how I interact with people in all sorts of situations. Looking back I'm not surprised that I was diagnosed with "normal teenage angst". Trying to respond honestly was something I'd been trained not to do from childhood and if I really tried to overcome that early conditioning to show or explain how I felt it came across as bad acting. My parents' idea seemed to be that showing pain or distress was uncomfortable for other people, and that was bad manners. Absolutely bonkers!