Posted by Penny on January 20, 2004, at 8:25:58
In reply to Tests and scales, posted by Dinah on January 20, 2004, at 0:11:53
((((Dinah))))
I'm so sorry you had to experience that. I know what you mean about those tests - it's impossible to answer them the way that *they* want you to, as you and 'they' don't think alike. In cases like that I try to convince myself that whatever my answers are doesn't really matter anyway... I had lots of similar tests to do when I saw my pdoc the first time, but he didn't really pay much attention to them, making me wonder what the whole point was!
It does frustrate me, though, that you keep having to deal with these folks who clearly lack compassion or a talent for putting others at ease. Perhaps it's just me, but it seems that if someone is going to work in mental health, they should have endless patience and they should be able to put themselves in the shoes of the client, no matter how much they may disagree with their way of thinking. What purpose did it serve for her to not even try to really understand your point of view? I'm not a mental health professional (yet) but I find myself trying to see things through the eyes of others when dealing with people who may not think the same way I do.
I felt sort of like you did when I was hospitalized - for all of those nurses and doctors and behavioral health techs to have worked in mental health for as long as some of them had, it was amazing to me how completely IGNORANT they could be as to how their patients thought. They wouldn't take the fears of certain patients seriously. After talking to one nurse, I went back to my room in tears feeling quite suicidal because he had managed to convince me that I was a terrible person for not realizing how much my mother was probably hurting since I was in the hospital. One of the behavioral health techs informed me that I wasn't helping another patient by trying to help her, and he didn't do it in the most tactful way, and I ended up in my room again, in tears. Just wonderful - people who don't understand.
Wish I could say something that was actually helpful, Dinah, but not sure I can. Just know I'm thinking of you.
P
poster:Penny
thread:303027
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040116/msgs/303134.html