"My relationship with my consultant"

I have been working with Dr Pugh, my consultant psychiatrist with the West ATS team at Sussex partnership, for about a year. At first I had a CPN as well and I found working with my CPN extremely difficult. My CPN was nice, but I feel they felt wary of me due to the way they looked at me. They were not my intellectual equal and they treated me like a tick box exercise. They would go through a list of patronising, demeaning questions every time I saw them. I found their approach extremely frustrating. 

Dr Pugh works very differently. I expressed a desire to change my medication early this year. Dr Pugh and my CPN supported me well with the change. I ended up on a much better medication that was much more effective and had a lot less side effects. To be fair to my CPN, they really did give me a lot of support and were there for me when I needed them. They were kind. But because I found certain aspects of working with them difficult, I expressed a desire to just work with Dr Pugh. 

Dr Pugh supported me in my wish.

I have seen Dr Pugh on her own a few times. One thing which really struck me about her is that she really listens. As you would expect, she is highly intelligent, as am I. She has really made the most of a rigorous grounding in science. She is a true scientist in that she is very careful about expressing any opinion unless she is sure about it. She keeps an open mind and considers all options and possibilities. One thing which really impressed me is that she seemed open to there being a spiritual dimension to my condition. When we were discussing transcendent experience as a possible cause for psychosis, she asked questions to try to establish why an early experience of transcendence I had had been so traumatic for me at the time. I mentioned that I had been having a difficult time at home, and Dr Pugh simply stated that - Psychosis is very complex. I was very impressed by her on that occasion. 

Also, Dr Pugh really treats me as equal. She is not interested if I have been a good boy or not. She doesn't need to probe or neurotically establish if I am sane or not. She has always taken me just as she finds me. She is really quite solid and grounded, it seems to me. 

She also has been very supportive and open, interested in my life and well-being. She sees my good qualities. When I let go of my over identification with being a sick person, she celebrated that with me. 

I feel that Dr Pugh is an excellent doctor who I trust. In fact, all of the doctors I have had with the trust have been of a very high calibre. I have worked with some really excellent professionals across many disciplines with the trust. But some have not been so good, and a few have been shocking. But that's another story.