u/fmrbethempl

I was unofficially dropped by my psychiatrist/therapist in a subtle way, im in the USA and this wasn't a private practice. I know there are probably horror stories of dealing with unhinged mentally ill patients. This was nothing like that I was always calm and polite during each appointment.

They did not officially refuse me as a patient, but I went in to see the therapist one day around the 4th appointment and she would continually ask me "what can we do?" "how can we help you?" without making eye contact she was looking at her computer and be typing something during the appointment showing no interest in me as the patient, then told me that the psychiatrist thought I had no mental health issues and instead had neurological problems and needed a brain scan and gave me a word salad medical terminology answer that did not seem accurate. Then they recommended me to a telehealth therapy service since the psychiatrist said I don't have any actual psychiatric problems apparently, something my current primary care doctor disagreed with, as well as my previous primary care doctors. It made me feel like I was being thrown away and that I can't be helped. This particular psychiatrist was in residency as well, and never really looked over my case.

I got the sense they did not want me there any longer. My primary care doctor was enraged and started dropping the f-bomb when I told him what happened, I have never seen a doctor act that way in a clinical setting. This incident occurred after I showed my private journal to the therapist. I feel that there was something in there I wrote they did not like or misinterpreted. Is this normal for therapists/psychiatrists to drop a patient if they see something they disagree with or do not like or maybe are just uncomfortable discussing? I told my doctor I did not want anyone to get in trouble, they just seemed to not know what to do with me or perhaps were overwhelmed with to many other patients and were having a bad day, im not sure.

I just wanted to ask if this is normal or common? how often do psychiatrists/therapists drop patients in an "unofficial" way, by just ignoring you until you leave? I remember towards the end of my last appointment I said that maybe I should find a different care team, and then her face lit up and said yes of course sometimes its just not the right fit, that was kinda how I knew that they didnt want me there. I feel a bit humiliated, I opened up and shared with them trauma I had written in my journal and never told anyone about then was discarded as a patient basically. My best guess is that since im a younger male, was a witness to a murder-suicide of a close family member, and suffered abuse as a kid from older women in my family that maybe they took it the wrong way thinking I might be a misogynist or hate women or something, in reality I absolutely do not, but my entire care team at the time were younger women and I think they took some things I said the wrong way. It may also be that they are simply used to patients coming in with more "normal" mental health problems where they know how to give common sense advice to them, and perhaps felt intimidated to deal with a patient where actual murders, suicides, childhood abuse, etc, were involved. Its all speculation on my part as to why, perhaps it was nothing to do with that and they just were having a bad day.

Are patients not supposed to share private/sensitive details about their life? My main takeaway is that I should be much more careful about opening up to a therapist or psychiatrist in the future because they will view it subjectively and perhaps misinterpret things I have written.

I know this maybe breaking the rules here as a "soapbox" and maybe will be banned for posting this, but where else can I discuss my experience with mental healthcare professionals?

I just wanna know what are my rights as a mental health patient, and what am I allowed to discuss with a psychiatrist, what am I not allowed to discuss? how can I be more careful in the future?