The Philosophy of the Psychiatric Medication Visit

1) One complaint, one change. If you make 2 changes and something good or bad results, you cannot tell which change was the cause;

2) med checks cannot bring happiness. They can bring about the internal conditions and brain functions that can lead to happiness. Drug induced happiness is called, getting high. Wrong office. Drug induced better functioning may lead to educational, hobby. and occupational success. Removal of mental symptoms may result in more social friendships and more fun, because the person is less of  a bummer to be around. With more energy, more time, one is able to get gratification from helping others, and to feel good about oneself. These are traditional acts that make people happy. Such happiness is better than that produced 5 minutes at a time by crack cocaine. It does not come with deep rebound depression and dementia; 

3) do not complain about long waits if you take up psychiatric time meant for medication follow up with social, family, legal, and financial problems. I understand these can be a 1000 times more powerful and important than medication management. No one committed suicide by missing a few doses of medication. Many committed suicide when the boyfriend said, I cannot see you anymore. Yet, despite their great importance, the 10 minute med check is the wrong place to bring those up. No one is listening to this restriction, so we get an hour or 2 hours behind. The way you hated waiting for those ahead of you to finish, those behind you feel the same way. People are not educating patients. Please, ask the therapist to try to do so. Also, David Behar knows more technical psychiatry than you do. His life is not better than yours, and his life advice may not be any good;

4) some med checks require literally 2 minutes every six months. For others 45 minutes more than once a week is not enough. That is the unpredictable nature of clinical care. Cookbook medicine with rigid times are below the professional due standard of care;

5) please, do not start a Broadway production of  a Shakespearean tragedy when addictive substances, that quickly stop working,  that may stop your breathing center are reduced or denied entirely. If these are truly, truly the only ones that have ever worked in your entire life. come with someone who is not an addict to hold the bottle, and dispense a few days' doses at a time.