We Are Testing You

Advice to those dealing with patients.

I am usually writing these columns from my perch as a psychiatrist, and a distinguished-ish one at that. However, I have been one with an illness. I’m a…patient. Today’s article is very much from that vantage point, to explain to other health professionals how those of us who are patients think. This is not restricted to psychiatric illness, but is more pronounced the more stigmatized the condition.

I’m going to use we here, but it’s the royal we. We are always on the lookout for bigots. We know you judge us. We know you don't take us seriously. So, especially when we first meet, if we tell you about our lived experience? It is not casual. It is a test. We need to know if we can trust you. And the second you demonstrate we can’t? We're never gonna take you seriously as a health professional. We're never gonna tell you the truth about our suffering, not when it matters the most. The relationship we have with you will be circumscribed. We will treat you the a way lion t…