[anigbrowl]

All very good points. I do feel that part of the problem is attitudinal - I am from Europe and have been to psychiatrists in 2 countries with public health systems as well as privately here (where I paid out of pocket without even asking for a discount).

Of course psychiatrists have a difficult job - there isn't a simple blood test for many mental conditions, for example, so starting out by compiling checklists is almost unavoidable. But none of the psychiatrists whose care I've ever been under (8 or 9 I think) has ever done so much as a blood draw or discussed even the possibility of doing a brain scan, or well, anything.

At best I've gotten confirmation for the research I did on the internet or in the library, and while I'm sure it's very annoying to have patients with no medical degree coming in and asking half-baked questions about this or that study, I don't feel very sympathetic considering that it's really the psychiatrist's job to apprise the patient of those options, or at least to take the patients' reports and suggestions seriously and work wit the information available.

While I'm (obviously) pissed off about all this, at the same time I consider myself very lucky - I live in the age of the internet and despite having a lot of mental problems I'm also smart and discriminating so at least I'm able to exert some influence over my own treatment. Most people with mental illness enjoy no such advantages. My best friend suffered a psychotic break about a year ago and was institutionalized for most of a month, right here in the Bay Area. Conditions were better than a jail, but not much. I was especially struck by the dire low quality of the food; how can you expect people to get better when their nutrition is such an obviously low priority?

I'm going to shut up now - as you can see I have a vested interest in this topic and the inequities anger me so much that it doesn't make for good conversation. Apologies to my fellow HNers who may have found this difficult to read.