Dear Dools,
I hope your toe is not broken. You could get it checked out if concerned. I felt like I might have broken mine when I tripped and fell a few months ago, but it was just badly strained from the impact.
I know it can be so hard to find the right GP and psychologist. I’ve kind of accepted I may not find the GP I was hoping for. I did find a wonderful GP in the city but she had to go on extended leave for family reasons. Now I’m in a regional area there are fewer options as you probably experience too.
But what I have gradually learned is to develop skills in communicating with the GP to address the needs I have. This hasn’t been easy as I’ve often struggled to assert my needs. But it is something that can definitely be done in a respectful and constructive way. The main GP I see in my local practice now is the one I feel the most ok with, which is probably the best way I can put it. There are a couple of others I don’t feel comfortable with, so I know not to go to them now.
If your previous GP is leaving it may be a good opportunity to work with a new one. Sometimes that can turn out to be a good thing. As for the psychologist, having seen a few myself I know they can have quite different ways of communicating. I had one in the past too who didn’t directly answer questions and I would feel confused. In the end I did find a really good one who does respond directly and is very present and attuned with me. It is just such a challenging process finding the right person to work with at times.
One thing you could try is even contacting particular psychologists for a chat to see how they work and if they feel like potentially a good fit for you. I think many psychologists would be open to a brief chat, given that the therapeutic relationship is very important including establishing a sense of whether the psychologist’s approach and the client will likely work well together. For me in the end it was just perseverance and working with my intuition about what felt right. Ideally you want someone who is understanding and experienced in relation to the particular needs you have.
If you choose to see a new psychologist, you can be proactive and don’t necessarily have to wait a long time to get a doctor to find one. This was the only way I ended up finding the right one for me. I researched a lot around the issues I wanted to address and then searched for psychologists who work with those issues and with an approach that sounded like the right fit for me. I then asked the GP for a referral to the psychologist I felt a connection with. So sometimes you kind of have to take control of the situation and manage it in a way that meets your needs.
It sounds like you managed really well a couple of days ago with getting those small jobs done. I struggle with all those small jobs too and can easily feel overwhelmed. I might get one thing done and then kind of collapse and struggle to do anything else. So well done on getting through those things and the things you did to cope - the reading and the gratitude journal. It’s great to have those strategies. You’ve inspired me to tackle some things today I’ve been procrastinating about and feeling a bit overwhelmed with. I hope you have a great day Dools and that your toe is ok too.
