When Doctors get it wrong..

Over the past couple of months I've had two cases of clients being on the wrong medication. The first was a dear old lady who was clinically depressed and had been referred to a psychiatrist, who had prescribed "the latest drug we have for clinical depression - it's very good." After months of taking this drug there was no change in her condition, yet he was still insistant that it was "the best drug available". I suggested that she approach the esteemed Professor with a view to reviewing her medication, and that he might as well be a dustman if he can't help her to feel better. So, with all due deference, that's exactly what she told him, straight to his face. She got what she wanted and, last time I saw her, the "wonder drug" prescription was being phased out in favour of something that will (hopefully) give her some relief.

My other client also seemed clinically depressed, more so than the first one. She was robotic, completely detached; it took me a couple of sessions before I got anything more than monosyllabic answers from her, then she began to open up to me about her miserable childhood. I felt we were beginning to turn a corner. A couple of weeks later there was a dramatic change, she was lively, animated, chatty, we laughed! It was like talking to a different woman. Eureka! I thought. This therapy stuff REALLY works! Roll on another week though, and we were back to square one; the depths of depression, panic attacks, plans to visit relatives abroad cancelled. Damn. Ah well, this therapy business is often a rollercoaster ride, I should have seen it coming I suppose, but at least we've seen a light at the end if the tunnel.

A few weeks along, and the same thing happened again. A sudden dramatic improvement, this time accompanied by a reckless spending spree, followed by a slump back into depression. Alarm bells started to ring, and I queried her diagnosis. "Borderline personality disorder" she said. "You're kidding" I thought, "You're Bipolar Type II. I'm certain of it." I fired off a letter to her Psychiatrist and, in due course, received a stuffy reply thanking me for my input, but stating that she had been diagnosed by a Proper Psychiatrist using a well established structured interview process, and I was wrong. So my hours and weeks of therapy and observation are trumped by a "structured interview"? I think not.

Roll on another couple of weeks to my client's next appointment with her Psychiatrist, and there's a mysterious change in her medication - to Seroquel - prescribed specifically for the treatment of Bipolar Disorder. Within a week she's a different person; the visits to relatives are back on, she's chatty, lively, energetic, friendly, and everyone wants to be her friend. And this time it's sustained.

So the moral of the story is... whoever you are, it doesn't matter what your qualifications are, you're only as good as the service you provide. So if your Doctor, Psychiatrist, or Dustman is not giving you a good service, do something about it. Whether you're a patient or a therapist, don't be afraid to challenge the medical establishment. They're trained to give off an air of authority and inspire confidence, even when they don't have a clue what the problem is, or what they're doing. Sure, they know a lot and they're very clever, but they don't know everything. They're not superhuman. Sometimes they make mistakes, sometimes they're lazy, sometimes they're under too much pressure, and sometimes conventional medicine just doesn't have an answer. In which case I'd rather be told, than be given a prescription for something that won't do me any good whatsoever, just to get me out of the door.