When I see patients sitting in my waiting room for the first time, they often look embarrassed and ashamed. Most are anxious. I thought that if I demystify the first psychiatric visit, it will help with these awkward feelings. A psychiatrist is just a medical doctor who specialised in illnesses of the brain. A visit to a psychiatrist is very similar to visiting any other specialist. I will never ask you to lie on the couch. (A psychoanalyst might. Psychoanalysis is a specific form of therapy, usually only offered to people who are in a therapeutic process.) I cannot read…
