Psychiatrist versus Psychologist

[CKS]

I have been seeing my psychiatrist for over 6 years. He is my rock. He knows how I feel, think and breathe. He is the third psychiatrist i have seen throughout my life. The first one was when I was 14 and the second when i was approximately 20. I am now 58. In between i have seen a myriad of psychologists and counselors and unfortunately they never recognised me as having CPTSD. So i spent 38 years searching for answers but I never gave up. During the 38 years i developed an addiction to alcohol which brought my life and the lives of my family nothing but mayhem and sadness. I have always been honest about my drinking and as such I would discuss this with the counselors and psychologists. Despite my disclosure of a myriad of other behaviors and things (including severe depression) occurring in my life, they always determined alcohol as the cause for all of my problems. If I were to give up alcohol then all would be good! I'm not suggesting that any substance abuse is good, what I am saying is that it is not the cause. Because of my personal experience I wonder if psychologists are able to identify the cause of substance abuse and or the symptoms of complex disorders such as CPTSD, which I have. Please, I'm not bagging psychologists I am simply putting this out there for discussion.

We must never give up!

[Croix]

Dear CKS~

This has been a much discussed topic and I'll list a few starting places below. There are some fundamental differences in cost, medicare rebates, depth of training and ability to prescribe medications. I have a psychiatrist as my mainstay, with brief forays to psychologists at his direction for particular matters.

I suggest you follow the links here:

1. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/treatments-health-professionals-and-therapies/psychologist-vs-psychiatrist
2. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/who-can-assist
3. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/psychologists-and-psychology

While I would certainly agree a psychiatrist, as a medical doctor with extensive further training should be better at diagnosis, sometimes it depends upon the person.

If the symptom is taken as the cause that would be most frustrating.

I hope this helps

Croix

[Soberlicious96]

Dear CKS,

I must say that on reading your post, I almost feel a little as though you are telling my story! I too was diagnosed with severe PTSD at 14, I too have seen a myriad of psychologists and counselors and the like throughout my life, and I too am now close to 50, AND I too had some problems associated with drinking!

However I have now been sober for some 22 years (coming up to 23 years in December) and I must say that getting sober is the best decision I ever made. Ever. Having said that, it has also been a very long and arduous journey. One that has involved as much 'unlearning' about myself, as it has involved learning.

What I mean by that is that, as a young child, from before I drank, I had a LOT of trauma (hence the PTSD stuff), and when I drank, although I was already 'messy in the head', it seemed to ease the pain of my mental unrest. ..... for want of a better description anyway. But then the drink seemed to turn on me and ruined my life; I lost friends, family, jobs, relationships and my dignity because of my continued bad behavior. So, with 'gritted teeth' I got sober ...... and then, of course, the PTSD resurfaced with a vengeance and I had to once again deal with the issues that had 'triggered' me to drink in the way I had.

What I'm saying now is that I have now learnt two things; one is that I can't drink because I can't handle the stuff ...... because it ends up handling me and I lose things like my dignity and what have you. And that I also have mental health issues that need tending to sometimes. But if I don't address both issues, in the best way possible, then one tends to feed off the other and I can once again spiral out of control.

So to put it another way; I thought I drank because of my problems, but then I discovered that some of my problems were because of my drinking. It's a bit of an oxymoron, but hopefully you get what I mean?

In a nutshell, what I need, in order to have the best life I can, is to treat both my drinking issues (now resolved through getting sober), AND my PTSD by getting help and support for my mental health, and attending regular frequent meetings of AA.

Thanks again for the post. Will keep an eye out for further discussion on the matter! Take care. xo