Hello everyone. Apologies for absence, and possibly some in the next few weeks as now I'm starting to worry slightly about the MTAS form which will have an impact on the next two years of my life.....
If I spend too much time on here, I may end up in Hull....*
Anyway I thought I should share some stuff about Psychiatry I have learnt since being here (God, this sounds like an MTAS question already...but anyway).
1. Personality disorders are much more subtle in real-life. They're not 'larger-than-life' like in the textbooks. Also: don't get misled by one trait. Not every self-harmer has Borderline Personality Dorder. Not everyone who believes their horoscope is Schizotypal.
2. Similarly, don't over-estimate psychopathology when it's not there. A 17 year who has 'alternaive theories about religion' is probably not in a prodrome for Schizophrenia. (As was pointed out to me, most 17 year olds have alternative theories about religion....)
3. The exception to 1&2: all medics have traits of Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder.
4. Anything that's not quite depression, but has traits of it can be classified as 'Adjustment disorder'.
5. ER is chaotic, but also quite exciting.
6. All drugs are called by trade names here. It's quite acceptable to ask what the generic name is.
7. If you still don't recognise the generic name, you can say "We don't use that in Britain". (Sometimes true. Sometimes not. But a friend on elective in America told me she also does the same!)
I'm actually loving what I'm doing at the moment. Wish I could stay longer, but the NHS needs me (!)
*In all fairness, I've never been to Hull. It may be lovely, but there's got to be a reason that it's the least popular place in the country...
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4 comments:
I'm wholly with you on medics being obsessional as a trend.
Not quite depression is often dementia, in elderly, or dysthmyia in younger folk, but you're on the money that adjustment disorder captures a whole heap more too.
Hull, to my mind, has little to commend it. A friend had a placement there ages ago, so I once went there on hioliday by mistake and we still couldn't find anything entertaining.
Over the last couple years I have ventured there, just to go to The Deep to watch the fish, sharks, crabs the size of deckchairs (erm, almost) and an octopus cleverer than me (I've checked my IQ on Facebook so it must be true). Too, they do decent dinners in subdued lighting in front of the huge tanks with shoals of fish, rays, swordfish, sharks etc bimbling past which my wife likes, so once a year or so we'll trawl to the back of beyond for a forray there. Likewise, but on the opposite end of excitingness scale, The Witchery in Edinburgh, an altogether captivating city.
Wow, you've made Hull actually sound quite appealing there! Although not as a first choice...
The 'Adjustment Disorder' thing is what they put in Axis I here pretty much all the time if someone meets some of the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive episode, but not enough for a diagnosis (and not if there's a dementia). But I appreciate your point (I was being slightly sarcastic).
And the Obsessive thing was actually told to me by a consultant here (who also reckons a lot have Dependent Personlity traits: "Because why would you chose to work with people's bodily fluids?!") but I'm glad you feel the sane way!
That should be 'same', not 'sane' obviously.
Arghhh Foundation Form ARGhhhh
Thats all i've got to say about that. I think i've been to Hull once but I can't really rememeber it. Don't really want to go back there either.
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