I have an appt this week to see a psychiatrist. Can anyone tell me what this may be like? The doctor gave me directions to the office and said I should plan to arrive about 15 minutes early to fill out some questionairre.

I don't know what else happens during the appt. Will the doctor mainly just review my questionairre answers with me? Also, Is it typical that I would have many follow up visits? I am worried about how I would be able to continue getting out of work for these visits.

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

I'm sorry that I don't have anything helpful to tell you, I just had one visit to a therapist and I didn't care for him, so that was the end of that..but I want to congratulate you on taking the step, and I hope it is helpful to you!!

In my experience you meet with the psychiatrist and they simply talk to you. The questionairre may be questions that the psychiatrist wants to further discuss when you meet with them such as your background, and history both medical and personal. They will ask you to describe how you have been feeling, how you've felt in the past, etc. and help determine what medication may be right for you. The psychiatrist I went to also suggested I meet with a therapist. Follow up visits can be once every week, every two weeks, every month, it depends on the individual and treatment/medication.

I hope this is helpful, and like I said this has just been my experience. Good luck, I hope the experience is beneficial!

Usually they spend a good bit of time getting your history and currents issues at the first visit. Try to relax, they aren't there to judge you. What they do can vary greatly between therapists

It really depends on the psychiatrist. Mostly they bring you in, spend about 20 -30 minutes with you on your first evaluation. Some of them ask very pointed questions, others just talk about random stuff for your reactions. But they are assessing whether or not you should be on medication. Usually you don't meet with a psychiatrist until your therapist or psychologist or counsler has decided and discussed with you that medication may be needed.
If you are at that level, make sure you keep up with your appointments with your psychologist or therapist.
The psychiatrist will normally give you a prescription, anything from prozac to cymbalta, depending on the level and how he thinks you will react. You'll have follow up visits with him / her every 6-8 weeks to re-evaluate if the medication is working, or if it needs to be adjusted, or if you need something else.
some medication may cause insomnia, if that happens, ask for a sleep aid. otherwise it will be a very very long night.
Hope it helps and good luck!

just wondering, if on the first visit if the doctor is going to prescribe you something anyway would it be bad to suggest a medication you want to try? like if I'm reading good things about Wellbutrin and feel it might be a good one for me to try, can I suggest it or would it look bad?

What happened was that the dr asked a few questions and asked me to write about people /events that have made an impact on my life. He asked me to return the following week. Each week (he kept having me return) he read what I wrote, ask some questions, and scribbled some notes. I couldn't keep taking time off work so I asked if he could give me an estimate of how many visits I'd have to return for the evaluation. Basically it was a waste of time, made me feel MUCH WORSE, and he didn't listen because he just asked me the exact same questions he already asked (what is your salary, are you the only person in your family that has been to college, how many yrs have you been at your company, etc). I truly think he was going to have me come to twenty sessions (he knows my insurance caps visits for the yr). So this (4th session) week I told him I'm never coming back.

There is a great book to read if you are considering therapy entitled "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him".
There are great doctors and therapists, many aren't though, and some are bigger messes than I ever thought of being :O. I have been to quite a few, one woman off and on for years, she was great for some things, but it came to a point she was telling me what to do (what not to do, like take any job that came along), and I learned that even though she was close to 50 at that time, she still could run to daddy for major cash infusions, so her advice was not grounded in any kind of reality that I was familiar with. Ironic end to my experiences with her, due to her ongoing advice to only take a job that was meaningful, I ended filing bankruptcy (chapter 13). I owed her money, but in order for her to get paid out of the monthly payments I made, she had to fill out paperwork, which she never bothered to do, so at least I didn't pay in full for all her attempts to over control my decisions.

Sorry to go on, but sometimes they help, sometimes the ones that help get to a point where they aren't a help anymore, and others are never any help, are all about themselves/billing/career building. And god help anyone that has to go to a sliding scale place that is all about raking in federal dollars to "help" those without insurance.
My best experience was with a counselor that focused on cognitive therapy, helped me get in control of panic attacks, depression and more.
Good luck!

Thank you, gonnadoitthistime

Also based on your recommendation I've ordered a copy of that book

I was nervous and scared for my first visit as well. It really wasn't needed though! He was someone who deals with what i was going through on a daily basis. He did ask a lot of questions but some of them really made me think. I decided that anything I was telling him he had probably heard worse! I needed to feel like he wasn't judging me

Good luck!