You have no idea. I’m terrified of psychiatrists similarly to how I’m terrified of cops. I am disabled due to various mental conditions, and all it takes for my life to end is a psychiatrist deciding I’m not disabled anymore. Oh, and I’m autistic, which means people think I’m constantly lying because of my shit social skills.

And I narrowly risked that recently - in an LGBT clinic, with an LGBT psychiatrist, I expressed concerns with how my mental conditions affect my perception of my own gender. This started an avalanche of being accused of emotionally manipulating the psychiatrist and having my medical record state that I’m likely lying about being autistic and trying to defraud social security.

If I didn’t have a therapist that would lay their career down for me, I’d be screwed. In my situation, the only difference between a psychiatrist and a cop with a gun is the immediacy of the judgement.

Oh, and don’t talk to self-professed doctors that work in psych wards, like the person you responded to. Almost all of them are run like prisons, but without any form of legal procedure before someone gets thrown in one. You have no idea how horrific they can be. No one with a conscience works in those places - they would quit, just like the supposed “good cops”.