Are You Afraid of Your Doctor or Therapist?

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Are You Afraid of Your Doctor or Therapist?
• Healing from Childhood Traumas in Midlife on HealthyPlace TV
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Mental Health Experiences
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Are You Afraid of Your Doctor or Therapist?

It seems many people are afraid of their doctors. Afterall, the doctor is an authoritarian figure. A recent study published in the May 2012 issue of Health Affairs reveals people don't want to appear as "difficult patients." Appearing stupid in front of the doctor is also another concern. Patients are also afraid that if they challenge the doctor, the doctor will enact some form of retribution. (See the discussion on being afraid of your doctor on our Google+ page.)

None of this is good because in dealing with a mental illness, you need to be educated and able to ask questions of your doctor or therapist. You also have the right to not only discuss the doctor's treatment recommendations, but you should feel free to say "this is not right for me. Here's what I'm thinking."

Talking to Your Doctor or Therapist

So how do you get to that point where you feel comfortable dealing with your doctor? Dr. Patricia Salber, author of "The Doctor Weighs In" blog, suggests

1. you research your illness prior to your doctor visit via the internet, talking to other patients, even getting second opinions.
2. then write down a list of questions or concerns, so you're prepared. Remember, the doctor's time is limited.
3. if you feel the meeting is important, bring a friend or loved one who can advocate for you and/or take notes as needed.

I'm going to pass on a fourth suggestion offered up by our social media manager, Amanda Collins:

"I think the important thing is to change the way you look at your doctor. If you see your doctor as a god, then where does that put you? On the other hand, if you view him/her as a respected member of your treatment team and a person you pay for advice, then you have all the rights that go along with that."

Related Stories

• How to Talk to a Doctor About Your Mental Illness
• How to Talk to Your Doctor About Your Medications
• Questions for Your Psychiatrist, Doctor or Therapist
• Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Bipolar Disorder
• Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Depression
• Talking to Doctors (this is a table of contents for many excellent articles on dealing with your doctor. Click "newer posts" on the top or bottom right to move forward.)

Share our Stories

At the top and bottom of all our stories, you'll find social share buttons for Facebook, Google+, Twitter and other social sites. If you find a particular story, video, psychological test or other HealthyPlace feature helpful, there's a good chance others in need will too. Please share.

We also get many inquiries about our linking policy. If you have a website or blog, you can link to any page on the HealthyPlace website without asking us beforehand.

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Things Verbal Abusers Say And Do | Verbal Abuse in Relationships
2. Worst Things to Say to a Person With Bipolar Disorder
3. Ways to Avoid Negative Coping Skills

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences with any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• How to Increase Your Self-Esteem with Self-Care (Building Self-Esteem Blog)
• Anxiety: How Do We Get It? How Do We Get Rid of It? (Anxiety-Schmanxiety Blog)
• Judging Mental Illness – You’re Not Bipolar (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• Damaging Myths in Mental Health (Surviving Mental Health Stigma Blog)
• Depression Poem for a Friend (Coping with Depression Blog)
• After the Diagnosis: Moving On With Life! (Recovering From Mental Illness Blog)
• Revisiting Grief: What Mental Illness Steals (Mental Illness in the Family Blog)
• Things Victims Say and Do To Cause Abuse (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• Vulnerability and Anorexia (Surviving ED Blog)
• The Stigma of Disability (More Than Borderline Blog)
• Car Choice Reliable Indicator Of Mental Illness Says Survey (Funny in the Head: A Mental Health Humor Blog)
• Finding God Through the 12-Steps (Debunking Addiction Blog)
• 5 Warning Signs That Could Be Your Tipping Point and ADHD and the Inability to Gauge Time (Living with Adult ADHD Blog)
• The “Insanity” of Anders Behring Breivik (Creative Schizophrenia Blog)

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

Healing from Childhood Traumas in Midlife on HealthyPlace TV

This is one of our most popular tv show interviews. Growing up with an alcoholic father wasn't easy for Dan Hayes. The repercussions left him struggling in adulthood. What Dan didn't realize is that, for many years, he had been suffering from PTSD.

On this edition of the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show, Dan discusses what caused his trauma and the tough battle he underwent to recover his life.

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

• circle HealthyPlace on Google+,
• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter
• or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index