My Psychiatrist Thinks I Am Bad And Have A Stupid Name
(All names and titles have been changed to protect individuals’ privacy)
My name is Edward, and I am tremendously unstable.
It’s not something I’m ashamed of, though. Instability brings a lot of creative joy into my life. Even though it brings a lot of troubles with it as well, I still view my mental… tendencies, I’ll call them, as a definite non-curse.
It’s important that non-neurotypics (neuroatypicals? You’ll have to forgive me; I only just recently found out about this term) look for the additive effects of their conditions in addition to their diminutive ones. After all, growing up constantly fearing the consequences of being *crazy*, it’s almost impossible to get by without being your own ally.
With that in mind, you can understand why I’m both baffled and slightly delighted that my new psychiatrist just read me like a damn toilet stall warranty tag.
Get to Know Dr. Muniz
Dr. Muniz is an older man from India with dark, thinning hair that he wears in a translucent comb-over. He is also one of the loudest humans I’ve ever met. Sitting on the other side of his desk, his speech is enough to blow your hair perpendicular to your face, and the actual tone of his voice resonates at such a deep pitch that my chest cavity vibrates when he talks.
This is not the voice you want asking you why you marked every ticker box underneath “panic and anxiety” on his office’s initial questionnaire.
“How is your mood? Wait–don’t tell me. Bad!”
This was the first question Dr. Muniz ever asked me. Once he did, I knew immediately that we were off to a great start.
It was our initial consultation, that pain in the ass first appointment where you have to summarize for a complete stranger your entire history of trauma and therapy. If you’re like me, and you’ve seen at least 30 different therapists since you were 4 years old, you’ve gotten this down to the most essential bullets. I’ve learned from decades of doing this that most doctors just want to know what medicines you take, when and why you started taking them, and how you’re feeling now. Dr. Muniz was no different and asked me the same question, so I gave him the same answers.
Except Dr. Muniz didn’t let me get very far.
“Well,” I said, “I’ve been taking a steady daily dose of 100mg sertr–”
“And how is your mood?” Pen in hand, he didn’t look up from his notebook.
“…100mg Sertraline, and since this past May, I’ve been–”
“Your mood? Wait, don’t tell me. It is bad!”
I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation, so I just said “Well, I have been experiencing difficulties lately with–”
“Ohohohoho! You are one, I see.”
…?
After several moments had passed in silence, I hadn’t unraveled the riddle yet, so I gave up and just told him, “I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear you say those words.”
“HEH?” he… I don’t know. Heaved.
“What?” I replied.
“Oh yes! Of course!” he continued, rejoicing for some reason. “Here is your prescription. I write this prescription; I do it. I do it for you. Ok? But only today! We need the records from your old office.”
“Do I just… I don’t… I don’t know how to do that.”
“Simple. You go to the desk, you say I need to request my records, Angela helps you. She does it all the time. That’s what she is for.”
“I do not think that is correct.”
By this point in the conversation, most of my brain had melted into a gray mush. That’s when Dr. Muniz, who had finally allowed me to tell him what medicines I take, asked me one last question. “And your name is Jack?”
“Edward.”
“Oh yes.” Having confirmed my name, Dr. Muniz proceeded to write a prescription, spelling it “Eduouarde.”
Now, it felt quite nice to see my name spelled in Chaucerian Middle English, but that’s actually not how most people spell it these days.
“I don’t mean to be rude, sir, but would you please change the spelling? Here’s my driver’s license, so you can see how it’s spelled on there.”
“Wow,” said Dr. Muniz, “That’s how you spell your name?”
“Yes.”
He snickered to himself. Then, writing it again, he said “I do not think that is correct, Edward.”
The next time I went, he said I looked like I’d gained weight.
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