Are you more comfortable talking to your therapist or psychiatrist?

I have a therapist I like and a psychiatrist who's been through hell with me for 25 years. Sometimes I actually prefer to bring things to him rather than my therapist. I was wondering if anyone else is the same. My psychiatrist is very practical. He's a "let's solve the problem" type. My therapist likes to talk about EMDR, parts and trauma. My psychiatrist is well aware of my trauma history, we just don't make it a focus unless I'm having trauma related symptoms like OCD or PTSD. He also manages my bipolar 1 disorder with psychosis. My therapist is about encouraging EMDR all the time. I'm not sold on it. She knows it. It's a problem sometimes.

I've been working with my therapist and psychiatrist the exact same amount of time - 10 years. They both of their strengths and deficits but I feel 100% comfortable bringing any issue to either of them. If one of them has concerns they talk with the other (I've given permission). They are both wonderful - I'm very lucky!

Doesn't sound like you have a great relationship with your T.

I'm much more comfortable talking to T and L about things. My Pdoc is happy go lucky and just doesn't seem to take things seriously. I'll tell her about my sui thoughts and she'll shake her head and tell me no. Like that's going to make them stop. I had a much better relationship with ex-Pdoc. She was much more serious, but still could laugh if it was appropriate. I miss her very much. But even with her, it was easier to talk to T than her.

When my therapist isn't coaxing me to do EMDR, we actually have a good relationship. I do tend to roll my eyes at the "commercials" though.

My therapist for sure. My psychiatrist just feels utterly clueless? I don’t feel comfortable around him either, so can’t be fully honest which I’m sure doesn’t help the situation.

Although my T is always pushing EMDR and "feelings" crap and he can annoy the hell out of me most of the time, I HATE my Pdoc. Zhe is not from the US and seems to think that meds are going to make my parts go away. She also thinks my DID is a result of psychosis. I try not to talk to her about anything. I am in the process of finding a new one.

I have known my Pdoc for almost 10 years and absolutely love her!! I have been with T exactly a year this week and he has been amazing with me and I adore him. I feel so lucky to have both of them and even though they don’t talk they work really well together. I have signed releases for them to talk to eachother if they ever felt the need (I have been accused in the past of sabotaging by triangulating or going to the one that would agree with me). Yes, there are absolutely things I bring to Pdoc 1. Because she has known me longer and through a lot more life events and 2. She provides a strong female perspective. I always let T know the basic subject of anything I talked to Pdoc about but we don’t go into detail.

Depends on what we're talking about. I didn't use them in the same way so it's really difficult and probably unfair to draw a comparison.

My pdoc was my medical doctor dealing with the medication management I needed. The one place I felt more comfortable talking to him was at any point where my symptoms were so severe that hospitalization became a consideration. In truth, my pdoc definitely saw me at worse points than my therapist ever did because my pdoc saw me while hospitalized. So, when I was that bad off, I preferred sharing those symptoms with my pdoc because he was very matter-of-fact about them and was my go-to guy to getting past those most difficult of times. He was sort of my short-term crisis management person.

My therapist was, however, the person I spent hours and hours talking to about my history and my present and how they interacted. He and I had constant dialogue and I worked to figure out all those connections and learn how to cope with life now. It was a completely different kind of talking than with my pdoc and was the most important aspect in my long-term improvement.

Definitely my therapist, but I suspect it's partly because I see him twice a week for 50 minutes each, while I see my p-doc every few months for 25 minutes. So it makes sense to me that I'm more comfortable with him, simply because we know each other better.

Both. I've been with Pdoc for a long time, and he is really helpful and gives me two hugs. One at the beginning of the appointment and one at the end. With Regular T I am pretty comfortable too. Sometimes I don't know what she is talking about, probably the same the opposite way around but I generally find her easy to talk to.

My psychiatrist, but I have seen him for over a decade and can talk about anything. I have seen my therapist only once.

I think that seeing a psychiatrist must be a very different experience in the UK because I don't really recognise the experiences which people describe here. Firstly, only very mentally unwell people see an NHS psychiatrist - those with severe and enduring mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, psychosis, bi-polar, etc. I don't see a psychiatrist any more, but when I did, I saw a different psychiatrist at each of my appointments which were every three or four months. There was no continuity of care. Also, the appointments had no therapeutic value at all. They would ask about my symptoms and prescribe or change my medication, but there was no emotional or psychological support involved. It was a thoroughly de-humanising experience.

T, but i see her once a week and only see Pdoc once every 4-6 weeks or so, for about 20ish minutes. And it is a residency program, so i get a new one each year.

That's a tough one. My gut tells me my psychiatrist, but I think it's a lot more nuanced than that.

I see my psychiatrist much less often than my therapist — generally once a month for 30-45 minutes vs. once a week for 50 minutes — and it's a combined appointment (psychopharm & supportive therapy/motivational interviewing), so I don't have to be accountable to him in the same way I do my therapist, if that makes sense.

So, I guess I would realistically say I'm comfortable with both equally; I just have different relationships with each.

Therapist. The psychiatrist doesn't know me at all.

I am comfortable talking with both. I have a good relationship with both and they both listen to me and accepts me where I am.

That being said there are times I am not comfortable talking with my psychiatric nurse practitioner. We have been working together for about 10 or so years. She has been there from the start of my psych jourbey. she was there when things happened that is now the past. It is nice that she remembers these things and understands the struggles.

Working with Emdr T for only 2 years, she doesnt always completely understand

A good question.

I’m comfortable with both for different reasons. I’m closer emotionally with my therapist but I’m less worried my Pdoc will freak out about suicidal thoughts than my T.

I've never seen a psychiatrist as a patient but know many via work. Ideally, I would prefer someone who does therapy but has scientific/medical training, so probably a psychiatrist who is also trained in and does therapy. I like those that are aware and reasonably knowledgeable about how psychological features have physical origins, that the way an early life experience leads to long-term issues is not something mysterious but works via physical mechanisms. My last T was a social worker who had quite a lot of training and work experience in neuroscience, and that made him initially highly appealing. I found his science knowledge rather outdated though in reality.

T for sure. Especially since I pissed off my psych doctor yesterday asking him too many med related questions. And it was the nurse asking him the questions then talking to my mom about it. Yet he’s annoyed at me. It’s not my fault most meds make me really tired and I work the first shift so I have to get up really early.

My T for sure but I've been working with him for a year and half and see him 4 times a week compared to the once every 2-3 weeks for 15 minutes that I see pdoc. Seeing my pdoc makes me anxious since I haven't been doing well since I've been seeing him so every visit he talks about sending me to the hospital.