Ask HN: What is the best way to find a good psychiatrist/therapist? • Hacker News Board

Post by psychthrowaway » Tue, Jun 16, 2020, 1:10 AM UTC

I'm in the US. Like many other HN readers, I struggle with depression daily, and have also struggled with finding good help.

Finding and differentiating between medical professionals is hard. There aren't too many reviews and those that do exist usually skew negative (this is starting to change though). There are sites like Zocdoc and search engines from insurance companies, but they usually don't provide a whole lot of information on the competence of the professionals listed. It's a roulette as to how skilled they are. I've heard other ideas like reaching out to a local university, although I'm not sure how that works.

Is there a better way to find good psychiatrists/therapists/etc. than search engines and luck?

If you like your mental healthcare provider(s) - how did you find them?

Seeking help for mental health issues carries a bit of a greater risk than most other types of injury: say the wrong thing to the wrong person and you'll end up involuntarily committed to a hospital. That's not to say anyone reading shouldn't try, just that additional scrutiny is warranted.

Sorry for the throwaway, but I don't want to take any chances of being discriminated against in hiring decisions or otherwise, despite the law against it. Anyone who is nice enough to respond is kindly reminded of this possibility.

Post by Good_Karma » Tue, Jun 16, 2020, 3:27 AM UTC

> I've heard other ideas like reaching out to a local university, although I'm not sure how that works.

1 ) I guess want you want to look for is research programs that take in volunteers. Those are usually at the cutting edge of what is being done to treat any given condition. Find the mental health institution that is affiliated with your local university, browse and see. I wouldn't let anyone test drugs on me though. Especially if you have an HN brain. But many of the new stuff ( for anxiety anyway ) revolves around psychotherapy variations. Like practicing mindfulness and just variants of CBT ( +/- medication that has been in use for a while and thought to be helpful ).

2 ) Attend a local suport group ( that in of itself can be good ) and you will hear plenty of good and bad stories about good and bad local practitioners. Online forums can't hurt but they may or may not help you find someone in your vicinity.

> say the wrong thing to the wrong person and you'll end up involuntarily committed to a hospital.

True. Those wrong things are limited to instances of imminent harm to self or others AFAIK / IANAL. I guess if you have those sorts of thoughts, you may still consider actually talking about it because, well, you apparently don't actually want to do any of that right ? And which is worse ?

I don't think that flirting with suicidal ideas in of itself would do you in if you spoke about it. I don't think they have the resources to take anyone in anyhow ... if you manage to show that you are ~ well organized ( work, education, activities, friends, a support network ) and downplay how bad of a shape you're in to just below the above threshold, the chances of involuntary commitment are like Additionally, were you to be involuntarily commited, electro-convulsive therapy doesn't follow. It must be a shity situation to be in, but they won't lock you up for 6 months cause you were on the edge. I would still probably try to avoid that though.

Lastly, make sure you try everything else also ; excercise, eating healthy, all that stuff. It turns out it can kick your brain back to ~ normal : )

Hope that helps.

I'll leave you in the intermediate care of Dr. Harvey ;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75RUVQdI780

and take this prescription will you ? ;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EWNV33Ws1g