"His illness is Machiavellian in its complexity"

[firemonkey]

"His illness is Machiavellian in its complexity"What psychiatrist who doesn’t deserve a good kicking puts that in your notes when all you have done is sought more help,support and understanding?

That’s the kind of pig ignorant crap I’ve had to put up with from the psychiatric profession over the years.

Taken from a google search for Machiavellian:

Machiavellian
***716;mak***618;***601;***712;v***603;l***618;***601;n/
adjective
adjective: Machiavellian

1.
cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.
"a whole range of outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvres"
synonyms: devious, cunning, crafty, artful, wily, sly, scheming, designing, conniving, opportunistic, insidious, treacherous, perfidious, two-faced, Janus-faced, tricky, double-dealing, unscrupulous, deceitful, dishonest; informalfoxy
"there were press accusations of Machiavellian deception"

antonyms: straightforward, ingenuous

noun
noun: Machiavellian; plural noun: Machiavellians

1.
a person who schemes in a Machiavellian way.

A rather negative thing to say about a person . Psychiatrist as abuser.

Comments such as “awkward,demanding and troublesome” were being made around the same time.

[Dougella]

What a horrible description. It suggests that particular psychiatrist viewed his patients as deliberately troublesome rather than people with mental health problems who needed help and treatment.

[firemonkey]

I requested my notes. I of course knew that relations with the mental health professionals had been really bad ,but not actual comments that had been written until I got the notes.

[firemonkey]

https://www.rethink.org/living-with-...health-records

The article mentions being able to access records online via Patient online. This seems to be easier said than done. My surgery's website has no such link to those records.

What it does say is :

Patford House Partnership now offer to our patients all of the requirements under the GP contract relating to IT developments and are working closely with our Clinical System Suppliers to allow patients to access the detailed information from their medical record. It is our intention to have this development available to our patients by 31st March 2016.

It's way past March 2016 so obviously there has been some kind of cock up/glitch.

[umm]

But was he referring to the illness, or specifically to you?

[Dougella]

^^ It's an odd description really because the word Machiavellian has nothing to do with complexity, unless he's trying to say that the illness itself is sly and scheming which doesn't make sense.

[firemonkey]

Originally Posted by umm

But was he referring to the illness, or specifically to you?

Given the background,around the same time being described as "awkward,demanding and troublesome", and the breakdown in relations at the time most definitely me.

[firemonkey]

Of course admitting it was 'complex' as opposed to 'Machiavellian in complexity' might have meant actually bothering to find out what affects me , my problems and how best to provide help and support . It would have a been a catalyst for people to put their thinking caps on how to help with the complexity. Certainly it might have meant people looking deeper and stepping out of the tunnel vision of " Everything relates to the psychiatric diagnosis".

[neilm]

Originally Posted by Dougella

^^ It's an odd description really because the word Machiavellian has nothing to do with complexity, unless he's trying to say that the illness itself is sly and scheming which doesn't make sense.

I wonder if he got Machiavellian mixed up with the term Byzantine?

Ive noticed this mistake made a few times, and it could be the Therapist has got his adjectives confused.

Just a thought.....

[Dougella]

^ Maybe, but he's supposed to be a highly educated professional person so he should know the difference, even I do and I'm neither of those things lol.

[firemonkey]

I'm planning to go to my secret laboratory to plot world domination and other dastardly deeds, all under the guise of a mild mannered neurodivergent with some mental health problems.

[jd90]

I don't think he was referring to you but the illness.. sounds like he just used the wrong word. Machiavelli wasn't that complex and it's all connotations, over here we have our connotations of him/the word but in Italy he's viewed totally differently as I imagine the word is. I feel the word is wrongly used tbh

So try not to take it to heart, I could use a number of bad words to describe my anxiety! He just sounds like he's tried to use a word that he's not fully understood but yeah I don't think he was referring to you or your character. Though I get that's not really what you want to see from him!

[Dougella]

^^ We knew it, he was right all along!

I think neurodivergent is quite a positive term, neurotypical sounds a bit boring in comparison.

[firemonkey]

Originally Posted by Change87

This sounds less of a personal insult and more of a description of the complexity of the illness. That the complexity of the illness is made more complex by the roads he is being lead down to understand and treat the illness, for which he feels he has failed in making progress.

If the period had not been marked by a marked breakdown in relations between the mental health team and myself then I might have agreed with you. However when around the same time you are being described as "awkward,demanding and troublesome" then it's obvious it's not just a description of the illness.

[Dougella]

^^ Even if someone with a mental illness is behaving in a difficult way (which we often can be perceived as doing for a variety of reasons) mental health staff should still have the professionalism to realise that it's just part of the illness and not merely the person trying to cause trouble.

I don't think you were being difficult anyway firemonkey, asking for help or trying to discuss things with a psychiatrist is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.