How a doctor of color impacted one patient and helped him feel heard
“It’s important to have someone that can understand you on multiple levels – not just your mental health level, but also your community level.” -Trae, bipolar disorder patient
Transcript
TRAE: I just felt like I was unheard. Being unheard in multiple visits, I felt hopeless. I felt lost.
I felt like it was a never-ending cycle. [MUSIC PLAYING]
I currently live in Charleston, South Carolina. I don't think that we have a lot of doctors of color, so I never had that experience.
If I had the option of having a psychiatrist of color, I definitely would take the opportunity to.
It's important to have someone that can understand you on multiple levels-- not just your mental health level, but also like
your community level. It's very important for me to make a connection
with my doctor because I want to be a part of my treatment with my doctor,
and I need my doctor to know who I am as a person. I remember there was a moment when I was in a hospital room.
The night before, I took a lot of sleeping pills, and I drunk alcohol, and I just wanted the pain to end.
So I wake up in ICU. The psychiatrist that I had for years-- I was talking to him, and as I was talking to him,
he just walks out of the room. I don't know exactly how to describe that feeling.
It's almost a feeling of devastation. I am still fighting to have access to certain things.
bipolar disorder
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