The Importance of Honesty About Your Symptoms and Side Effects

You’re sitting in your psychiatrist’s office for a follow-up appointment. They ask you how you’ve been feeling. You might be tempted to say “fine,” even if that’s not the whole truth. Maybe you don’t want to disappoint your doctor, or you feel embarrassed to admit that you’re still struggling. Or perhaps you’re experiencing a side effect from your medication, but you don’t want to complain. While this impulse is understandable, it can be one of the biggest roadblocks to getting effective care.

At Televero Health, we cannot overstate this: your honesty is the single most important tool we have in helping you get better. Your psychiatrist is your partner, but they are not a mind reader. They rely completely on the information you provide to make safe, informed, and effective decisions about your treatment.

Why It Can Be Hard to Be Honest

It’s worth acknowledging why this can be so difficult. Many people feel a sense of shame or guilt about their mental health struggles. You might feel like you “should” be better by now and that admitting to ongoing symptoms is a sign of failure. You might also worry that if you report a side effect, your doctor will take you off a medication that is otherwise helping.

Sometimes, the symptoms themselves can get in the way. Depression can bring with it feelings of hopelessness, making you feel like nothing will work, so there’s no point in talking about it. Anxiety can make you worry about being judged or being seen as a “difficult” patient. These are real barriers, but overcoming them is essential for your health.

Inaccurate Information Leads to Ineffective Treatment

Your psychiatrist uses your feedback to make crucial decisions. They need to know what’s working and what’s not. Let’s consider a few scenarios:

Minimizing Your Symptoms: If you say you’re feeling “fine” when you are actually still having significant depressive symptoms, your doctor might assume the current medication and dose are working well. They will likely continue the same treatment, and you will continue to suffer unnecessarily. If you had been honest, they might have considered increasing the dose or trying a different medication that could have given you more relief.
Hiding Side Effects: Let’s say your medication is helping your anxiety, but it’s also making you feel exhausted all the time. If you don’t mention the fatigue, your doctor will not know there’s a problem. There may be a simple solution, like taking the medication at night instead of in the morning, or there may be another medication that would be just as effective for your anxiety without causing the same level of fatigue. You don’t have to choose between feeling anxious and feeling exhausted.
Not Disclosing Substance Use: It is critically important to be honest with your doctor about your use of alcohol, cannabis, or any other substances. These can have major interactions with psychiatric medications, making them less effective or even causing dangerous side effects. Your doctor is not there to judge you; they are there to keep you safe. They need this information to make sure your treatment plan is safe and appropriate.

Your Doctor Is on Your Team

Remember, your psychiatrist’s goal is the same as yours: to help you feel better. They expect the treatment process to involve adjustments. They expect you to have side effects sometimes. This is all a normal part of psychiatric care. Reporting a problem is not a complaint; it is providing essential data that helps your doctor do their job.

Think of it like this: if you hired a contractor to fix a leaky roof and they asked you if it was still leaking, you wouldn’t say “it’s fine” if there was still a puddle on your floor. You would show them the puddle so they could figure out how to fix the problem. Your relationship with your psychiatrist is a partnership. Your honest feedback is what allows that partnership to succeed.

Key Takeaways

Honesty about your symptoms and side effects is essential for your psychiatrist to make safe and effective treatment decisions.
Inaccurate or incomplete information can lead to ineffective treatment, causing you to suffer with symptoms or side effects unnecessarily.
It is crucial to be honest about your use of alcohol or other substances, as they can have dangerous interactions with psychiatric medications.
Reporting a problem is not a complaint; it is providing your doctor with the vital data they need to help you. Your doctor is on your team.

Ready to take the first step? We can help. Get started with Televero Health today.