"...if they were us they would be depressed"

I worked for several years in the mental health department of a managed care facility and a doctor friend told me that a doctor's least favorite patient is a middle-aged woman in pain. I swear they just prescribe anti-depressants rather than try to figure out what is really wrong because they think if they were us they would be depressed!

This is a quote from Rebecca that I couldn't resist blogging on. (Hope you don't mind?) She and I exchanged some comments about the medical profession's enthusiasm for medicating women of a certain age. But when she posted this it dove-tailed perfectly with my own thoughts.

See, I just finished reading A Long Way Down. I am was Maureen. While Maureen was not actually the recipient of any druggery (because of course she was invisible) if anyone had noticed her I am sure they would have fallen all over themselves stuffing her pockets with pills of every color.

Here are the next four reasons, after Rebecca's theory, for drugging middle-aged women.

1. No one wants to deal with erratic hormones.
2. So they'll shut up and be quiet.
3. Doctors actually have no people skills.
4. Men are intimidated by tears.

Several years ago I found myself in conversation with the husband of an acquaintance. He had a PhD in pharmacology, then decided he would be happier in direct patient care. So he invested the significant years required to become a psychiatrist. You realize, of course, that means obtaining an MD and completing a residency. This man was committed to his goal.

At the time of our conversation he had set up his private practice. And was promptly disillusioned. The medical insurance reimbursement system did not compensate him for doing what psychiatrists are trained to do: listening to patients. They reimburse a limited dollar amount for a limited number of visits. So there he sat in his new office, writing scrips all day.

He probably could have saved the years of school and done it just as well from the trunk of his car.
y'think?