What is your attitude about going to the doctor? How about the therapist?

I have no problems admitting that I need help, and finding the help that I need.

Why wouldn’t you want to take care of yourself?

I can’t fix my transmission, so I go to a mechanic.

I love going to the doctor, and I wish I had insurance to cover therapy, I would definitely go, just to let stuff out.

I have no problem going to the doctor, now if I could just get a damn appointment that wasn’t 6 months away!

Thankfully, I’ve never had to go to a therapist. Going to the doctor? There’s definately things I’d rather do. I go because I know it has to be done. Call me crazy, but I’m much more comfortable going to the dentist. That doesn’t bother me at all.

I hate it… They give you nothing but bad news, and they even charge you for that! I can call an ex-gf for less than a penny and she will tell me everything that is wrong with me…

I don’t like going either, but I try to think of it this way: if they find something wrong early, it can be fixed and I will be okay.

I am a stickler for going to the doctor for my annual check-ups, it is just too important not to. As for the therapist, oh yeah! I go weekly and I feel like I get a lot out of it. I don’t necessarily plan to go for the rest of my life, but I can see the benefits I am getting from it at this tumultuous time in my life and I plan to keep it up.

If you are really ill and you KNOW you are ill you should go to the doctor before its too late. Being hard headed wont do any good, really. Drag yourself to the clinic and get it done once for all. Then you do not have to think about this anymore.

My dad says he wouldn’t have made it this far (89) if he hadn’t been going to the doctor every time he thought there might be a problem. He’s gone though a lot but is still out shoveling the snow and working on the yard from time to time.

As for why you may be okay with other doctors and not the head one, that might be a different issue. Maybe you don’t like to admit that problem sometimes and feel the need to resist. I say keep it up and embrace who you are, even if who you are requires a little more maintenance than you would prefer.

I never go to the doctor. I’m very bad.

Imagine a beloved child.

Wouldn’t you take that child to the doctor and the therapist, so he gets the best care possible and is as healthy as possible? That’s not failure, that’s love.

psst. BTW, the “child” is you!

A doctor: No big woop!
A Therapist: I don’t need therapy! Take a look @ yourself before you start pointing fingers Buddy!

Not a problem for me. If you have to you have to.

@shilolo: I’m surprised, really. You strike me as very practical, level-headed, reason-oriented. Why don’t you go?

Well, first of all, I’m otherwise healthy and (fairly) young. Second of all, most of my visits have been sports related injuries, BUT, I do go when there is something I think might be concerning (or my wife makes me think that). A few years ago, I had a short bout of chest pain (and a family history), so I went in and had an EKG and eventually a stress test. But, since then, I haven’t really gone. I went to a doctor 3 years ago, he said “why are you here?”. I said “For an annual check-up?” And he kind of chuckled. There isn’t much to be gained from annual checkups in otherwise healthy young men, though there is some benefit to having your blood pressure checked and occasional blood test for cholesterol, etc. The older I get, the more I will have to go…

Why not try it? You might like it?
I should be seeing one but I just can’t afford it. Even the totally discounted rates. I really wish I could though. It’s nice to have a regular outlet and reality check. I’m bipolar too and a lot of the time my brain isn’t very nice to me.

I have no problems with regular Doctors I see them when I need to,
I HATE going to my psychiatrist(s), ($$$) every time I go I feel like I’m being attacked, the endless questions (yes I see the irony), the “well how does that make you feel?” answers, if I’m having a bad day they(the doctors) repeat everything I say (so your saying “blah blah blah(what I just said) blah blah?”, and if I have to do one more ink blot test I’m going to snap, and to top it off, feeling drained at the end.
but I force myself to go, going somehow makes us me better, gotta keep with it (or it could get worse) I feel your pain daloon

Yes I will go to an MD for an illness but I think I will pass on the over priced therapist.

I resist going to the MD for all but the most serious things. I even (stupidly) put off regular testing I’m supposed to have done twice a year (it’s been over a year). Eventually my doc will stop filling my prescriptions until I go in for a check-up/tests. I don’t know why I do this. I love my doctor! Makes no sense at all. I resisted therapy and medication for my mental health issues for years before I finally gave in and went to get help. Best decision I’ve ever made. I’m no longer in regular therapy but would return in a heartbeat if I needed to.

I am more terrified of doctors than of the diseases they cure. I don’t even take aspirin. And I know this is a cliche, but I am especially terrified of dentists.

Therapists and other people who do not use sharp objects are fine. I also don’t mind X-rays and so on. And I always have fun at my physio’s, because I know all the people that work there and we crack jokes.

We went to pre-marriage counseling and it was really great for us. I mean, not great, like woo hoo this is fun, but helped us work some things out that had been hiding beneath the surface. We both entered into our marriage with our eyes wide open to one another’s “issues,” and developed a deeper understanding of one another. The phrase “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” I don’t think applies to physicians OR therapists

i despise going to the doctor because lately they have diagnosed me with things that don’t quite make sense. therapists are another story. i’ve never been to one but i’m sure some of them are retarded as well. although i’d pick a therapist before a regular doctor.

i hate going to doctors. even simple things, like the dermatologist, make my stomach flip. i just hate it. i hate the waiting rooms, i hate the little window you go to, i hate the lights, i hate the magazines. it all just makes me so anxious and sick haha.
i think therapy works for some people, but not for others. i’ve never been to one, but that’s the idea i get.

It’s a big money pit. You really think a pill is gonna fix all of your problems? That is ultimately what they will do with you. Subject you to all sorts of tests and various counseling sessions, but ultimately they tell you that a pill will take care of it all.

I don’t trust them. I read somewhere that one of the biggest causes of death in the USA is wrong diagnosis and incorrect medical procedures and help. I do not “do” sickness very well. I think I am a man that way!!

When I told my boy friend (for want of a better word) I was going off meds (for bipolar) he said fantastic. My ex who is a doctor said the same thing. When I asked my “ex” the doctor why he thought that, he said “You don’t need to be shoving all those chemicals into your brain”.

He told me to read Eckhart Tolle instead. I did read a fair bit, I am not sure if it will help. I think I read too fast I should perhaps start again and read it slowly. If were suffering with hallucinations and delusions I would not hesitate to seek meds.

It seems like everyone and their brother is recommending Eckhart Tolle. What is his thing? Why are people so high on him?

@wundayatta I tried really hard to read Eckhart Tolle and couldn’t get beyond the first chapter.

I love talking to my therapist. I just jive with her. I hate going to the doctor. I avoid it at all costs.