Here is why I'm asking. I recently had to deal with a psychiatrist (MD) for an economic transaction that required interacting for about 15 to 30 minutes. They make me nervous and always have. Not so much about sexuality, but more so issues such OCD tendencies, phobias, social anxiety, personality disorders, and things like that, can they read those in people by being around a person for a short time? I have a friend who had a long term boyfriend with whom it never went anywhere and he and she parted as friends. She heard a friend of the family, a psychiatrist, indicate that this guy was obviously very depressed. Of course, this psychiatrist (MD) knew the family and hadn't been exposed to him for only 15 to 30 minutes. I don't know the circumstances but it doesn't sound like the coolest thing to have said. What's the situation with how quickly mental health professionals can read people from casual interaction? Not only have I wondered about this recently, but I've wondered about it in the past as well.
No they most definitely can't. They simply go by their books, and are easily confused and fooled by people being well.. individuals. I suffer from sever social phobia, but because I am naturally extraverted 90% of the shrinks I've seen didn't even consider it, until they worked with me for weeks. You might also be interested in this classic experiment: Rosenhan experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia They can come up with hypotheses quickly, but they're just people, and they surely can't see through you. They depend on people believing whatever hogwash they throw at them. I know people who've been successfully convinced by shrinks that they have multiple personalities when before that they didn't even consider that. I am highly skeptical of shrinks, because they can easily make impressionable people a lot more sick than they were before, but they surely dont have any special sense to figure people out, I'd even be tempted to say that most people who study psychology do so to understand themselves and others better, because it comes hard to them naturally.
I don't know what kind of psychiatrists GeekMonkey has seen, but my experience is the complete opposite. By nature, really good psychologists (and, to a lesser extent, psychiatrists) can in fact read people really accurately, really quickly. Talking not about sexual orientation specifically but more about psychological diagnosis, It depends a lot on the skill of the practitioner, the nature of the interactions, and the kinds of problems. The best of the bunch can often identify (or have a good guess) what's going on with someone within 5 or 10 minutes, and in most cases, even through whatever masquerade the client attempts to put on. It's not so much seeing through as picking up on patterns of speech, mannerism, body language, and the like, and applying them to clinical experience. It sounds like GeekMonkey's opinion is based on a personal bias rather than understanding the profession, so it might be sensible to consider that when evaluating that opinion.
Psychiatrists often work within appointments as sort as fifteen to thirteen minutes. People tend to forget that psychiatric licenses require over a decade higher level education. Discerning psychiatric disorders within a short period of time is crucial within their practice as patients suffering with disorders more harmful or potentially dangerous than those that are commonly seen in the general public need to receive care and treatment as swiftly as possible. Understanding the source of psychiatric disorders or traumas is where the bulk of an evaluation would be spent. Professionals that claim to understand the aspects of an individuals life that contribute to their mental state before physically sitting down with them and carrying out a discussion would definitely be questionable; however, simply identifying the presence of a disorder should almost come naturally for them.
So I'm guessing this could even be the case in an arms length business dealing. Maybe. ---------- Post added 29th Jul 2014 at 07:17 PM ---------- I guess I agree. This would include a social setting.
Yes and no. Anyone who has that training can, with a few questions, get a pretty good idea of what's going on. But with no questions at all, it's a little harder to discern. So it would depend on the nature of the interactions in the business dealings. I know that when I'm negotiating something with someone, I'm certainly analyzing what the underlying motivations they have, which helps me to better understand where they're coming from, and where their fears may be, so I think some aspects of what's going on for someone is always going to be part of the process.
imo yes they can. especially if they have experience in their field.. the same way people with body language experience can tell your emotions, tell if you're lying, if you're telling the truth, etc..there was a study that says 50-60% of what you say can be read from body language and 30-40% from the tone of your voice. so i very much believe so..
I have to say, it's frequently mental health patients who dispute the psychiatrists ability to accurately diagnose.
