Frustrated Psychiatrist Abandons Practice of Evaluating & Medicating

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" Frustrated Psychiatrist Abandons Practice

of Evaluating & Medicating "

http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20020604hpsychiatrist4.asp

 

Health Forum: Out of the game

 

A frustrated psychiatrist abandons her practice

to get out from under 'evaluating and medicating'

 

Tuesday, June 04, 2002

By Karen B. Stevenson

 

They changed the game on me and I am quite angry

about it. People often ask me why a board-certified

psychiatrist with specialty training in child and

adolescent psychiatry has chosen not to practice.

 

I have decided to shed light on this subject because

I have finally found the reason.

 

I have just finished reading another recruiting l

etter, looking for a psychiatrist to provide medication

management and evaluations for a mental health

group in Anywhere, USA. In this day of managed

mental healthcare, the role of the psychiatrist is

to diagnose mental disorders and to prescribe

medications. When the patient is " stable,'' the

psychiatrist will then see him at approximately

three-month intervals for 15-minute medication

checks. My job is to pronounce the name of the

disorder and to write the prescription to fill it.

I receive financial incentives to " evaluate and to

medicate " as many patients as possible.

 

If psychotherapy is called for, then I must refer

my patient to a psychotherapist. Never mind that

I have received excellent training in psychotherapy.

Never mind that my particular gift is in bringing a

person to wholeness through the realm of the spoken

word. I have even been able to point some of them

toward a loving Creator who can bring meaning to

their lives of suffering.

 

Yes, I am angry because I am being used just for

my knowledge of drug metabolism, and the interactions

of drugs on enzyme systems, yet no one asks me to

expound on my understanding of how childhood pain

can result in untold suffering in the world of adulthood.

 

When did the science of medicine supersede the art?

When did therapy in a bottle replace the healing balm

of one-to-one interaction? I believe in the team approach

to healing, yet I have discovered that my role on the

treatment team is, " Just diagnose the patient, doctor,

and recommend treatment. We'll take it from there.''

 

My heart still grieves for those whom society struggles

to understand. I still look with compassion on those who

suffer from the ravages of mental illness, yet I find

that I must strive to ease their suffering in another

way. I have not abandoned the principles of good

psychiatric practice, but I've chosen to pursue my

passion for helping hurting people via other avenues.

 

When productivity is measured in terms of the people's

lives that are changed, and not just by the numbers of

patients that are seen, I may return to the practice of

psychiatry.

 

Karen B. Stevenson, M.D., of Brookville, Jefferson

County, spends a lot of her time educating and

speaking publicly about problems involving mental

health issues and managed care.

 

 

1997-2004 PG Publishing Co., Inc.

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