"No level of respect or empathy"

After suffering with mental health difficulties for years, I plucked up the courage to see my doctor. Rather than providing any level of empathy or support when I opened up, I was judged and ridiculed from my actions. I shared that I had been depressed, anxious and worried for a number of years and unfortunately turned to alcohol and marijuana to escape from this. I told that i wanted to get better and leave those escapisms behind. Rather than give me any advice or help me, I was ridiculed for my actions. He said to me 'I cannot believe it. You come from such a good family, I did not expect you to have been doing these things. You should be ashamed of yourself'.

Later, he said I should take medication for my depression. I told him I wanted to go for a more natural therapy oriented route as I didn't want to cause more chemical imbalances and risk side effects. Guess the response i was given....? 'well you didn't care about your brain when you decided to smoked all that marijuana so I dont see why you cant take these pills.'

What on earth?!?! I left that appointmenet feeling wholly broken, emotionally shattered and defeated. My last resort was seeing this doctor and all hope was lost. I am still left in a complete rut and do not know where to turn to so have decieded I need to post this review to highlight what idiocy this practice is bound by. There are no values, no empathy and no client relationship/care.

I also have experienced a forceful push of the doctors' values and beliefs when discussing mental health and ultimately speaking in judegement. Other experiences with this same doctor have been extremely poor - with my family as a whole. The doctor explicitly told me i was not allowed a referral because it was simply too expensive for the practise.

I hate the fact i have a doctor lacking in any empathy. Unfortuantely the two doctors on this practise are father and daughter so it is simply flawed in itself - if you are a patient here and have a bad experience, you know there is no other doctor to turn to. I am scared to even visit my doctor , I hope something changes in this practice soon.