What can I expect from my first meeting with psychiatrist?

[luke_w24]

Hello. In 3 hours, I am going to see a psychiatrist, and I am extremely nervous and worried, about the psychiatrist and what they are like, and the waiting room. That's part of having SA isn't it though?

Anyway, what can I expect when I go there, will it just be a starting thing were we get to know each other and talk about SA next week or whatever, or do i just start talking about SA today?

What was your first session like and were you as nervous as I am?
Many thanks.

 

[nemasket]

In my experience, the first visit with psychiatrists/psychologists is generally more introductory, with the psychiatrist asking about your symptoms, things you're worried about, etc. to best figure out what course of treatment to go on. If you're looking for medication, it's likely that they will start you on something after the first session - if you're also doing a form of cognitive therapy, it likely won't start until the second session.

Just remember that a psychiatrist sees a lot of people with a wide variety of mental health problems, and no matter how weird you feel talking about your experiences, fears, etc. it's pretty much guaranteed you're not going to shock them or be judged in any way. In the past I've sometimes held information back because I was afraid of admitting it, but in the end it just gets frustrating because those issues never get addressed.

I was really nervous the first time I went to a psychiatrist (for major depression not SAD). When I met the guy, he was a spitting image of Freud, which was rather entertaining, and turned out to be pretty easy to talk to and talked a lot about other patients he had treated with similar issues and what seemed helpful for them, what courses of treatment were possibilities, and asked me a lot of questions. I was definitely a lot more comfortable about everything after the appointment than before

 

[Danfalc]

Nemasket pretty much covered it I just wanted to add a few things.Writing stuff down can really help... might feel a bit silly doing it but if you get nervous and cant think of what to say or clam up,you can read from the list or just give it him/her.

And yeah dont hold back,like Nemasket said if you dont tell them everything because your scared of admitting certain things... there not going to get the whole picture if ya hold back.So yeah its best to be straight up and dont sugar coat things either.Hopefully you well get a good one... and if you do you he/she will ask you lots of questions to get an idea of whats going on,specialy with it being your first visit.

Good luck!.