Everyone needs a Psychiatrist

Everyone needs one. And I'm not saying everyone's crazy, or that all of America needs Prozac (although one could argue that), but everyone needs that person that they can talk to about their lives. There are so many people that are shut in, without someone to talk to. In olden times, back in the days of my last blog, people talked to their barbers. Or in other places, it was a barkeeper (Quark). But nowadays, with the Internet and ipods and isolation and suburban flight, no one talks to anyone anymore. Face to Face. In a time when communication is supposed to be faster and more instant than ever before, people sure can't talk to each other. I feel like I'm talking to people in a McDonald's drive through.

So what do we do, in this modernist, J. Prufrockian world where you can talk and converse but never really say anything or convey anything? What you need is a person whose job it is to listen, to give limited advice, and to be able to use the advantages of the medical community to make things better. In short, people need Psychiatrists to just listen.

I went into the Psychiatrist's office, and sat down, and realized that the first treatment they give is the waiting room. Because in that room are fellow citizens with much worse problems that you have. It does make you feel better that 1), people have problems...they all do... and 2) that maybe, just maybe, your problems aren't as bad as you think.

On a side note, I am certain that the people in there today were depressed because they had all bought SUVs and were now paying their souls in gasoline. I could barely see my car for all the vans in the parking lot. :)

And I saw teenagers who were angry, and parents that were frustrated, and I realized that any issues I have aren't as bad as what I thought. Where does the anger come from, anyway? Why the music that is nothing but screaming and negative tones and timbre, why the blackness and the moroseness? And why is it so popular? I've always wanted to know. I'm sure there's some connection between the Goth, metal, teen-angst movement and the more Gothic movements of literature and art. I'll ask some people I know that know.

The one incredible irony about psychiatrists is that most people that want to go into counseling have issues of their own, have agendas and beliefs that are certainly not neutral. A good psychiatrist almost has to leave their whole personality behind in their office and remain as "Troiesque" as possible. Unfortunately, the people I've seen who are in counseling, not necessarily in Psychiatry, but other counseling jobs, simply cannot do that. This turns the counseling world into a place where the doctor might be worse off than the patient.

I have found a psychiatrist in Conyers that can remain neutral, and pleasant, and gives limited advice that doesn't come from any agenda, and above all, can listen. And that can really help, along with the waiting room and the expertly designed offices. Oh, and the medication, which is necessary in today's world of chemical imbalances and high stress living.