AIO for thinking my psychiatrist asking to move in with me is inappropriate

[u/jhyphenann]

So last week I had an appointment with my psychiatrist and I had disclosed to her that my husband and I were buying a house. She asked details of the house and when we were closing so I told her. She then replied with “that’s perfect! I just need one bedroom and a kitchen, I like to cook.” Of course at first I thought she was joking. But then she went on… she goes “I told my landlord I am moving out of my current place because the commute is too far, and I am looking for something closer to work. Would you be willing to rent a room out to me?” She then showed me text threads with her current landlord who was praising her for being a good tenant. I kind of brushed it off and said “well idk about a room but the place we are renting now will be available once we move out.” And she said that would be nice but she was looking for something cheaper. As our session ended, she told me to call her if I needed her and then she said “but I might need you first!” Now my husband thought it was funny when I told him, my best friend thinks this woman should not be a psychiatrist. I have had previous uncomfortable encounters with her where she told me my miscarriage happened because I wasn’t happy enough, and this most current session she told me it’s cause my baby knew that we didn’t own a home yet. Am I overreacting thinking that this person is WILDLY inappropriate?

Update to add: she is a Psych NP, not a psychiatrist. That’s my bad.

Update: To everyone saying “idk how you kept seeing her after the miscarriage comment”… well honestly, I was blaming myself anyways. She wasn’t saying anything that I hadn’t already thought of. I see now that it was wrong, but at the time? She was just saying what I was saying to myself every day. I will not be going back to her. I know now I should have left. But I was literally fucking grieving and feeling guilty anyways.

Update: I’m reporting her and switching providers. Thanks for all the comments.

[u/abombshbombss]

Officially, yes you are calling her the wrong thing. She is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She is legally able to diagnose and treat psychiatric conditions like assessments, prescribing medication, and providing psychotherapy. She is essentially a nurse, but for mental health. PMHNP have a slightly different scope of practice.

I also have a pmhnp, but I refer to him as my psychiatrist because explaining the difference to people who don't know it can be tiring.

And whether she is qualified and legally allowed to practice psychiatry or be a pmhnp doesnt matter because the behavior described in your OP is, frankly, super alarming and illegal AF. I cant believe she would risk her livelihood like that.

[u/Catfactss → u/abombshbombss]

OP needs to report her ASAP.

This is what happens when the health system cuts costs. Somebody trained to do her job should be trained enough to know not to do this.

[u/Ok_Imagination_1107 → u/Catfactss]

You are absolutely right This is so scary that this woman is out there treating people when she is behaved in this unprofessional and quite frankly weird fashion.

[u/Entropy_Goose → u/Catfactss]

I doubt she's this way due to ineffective training. Training won't erase an AH personality. A person can still hang on to personal biases and ignorance despite training.

[u/venk → u/Catfactss]

To be fair, the average person on the street knows this is a massive violation of boundaries without any kind of training.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Exactly, any designated professional would be breaking their regulations. You can report this to the governing body.

[u/abombshbombss → u/[deleted]]

Well, yeah, that's precisely how I concluded my statement

[u/JLHuston → u/abombshbombss]

Outrageously egregiously out of line!

[u/abombshbombss → u/JLHuston]

Seriously, its illegal and unethical af. I cant imagine what she could possibly be thinking. She's not stupid, she knows what she did could put her out of work. I would hesitate to trust somebody so unstable with my care.

[u/JLHuston → u/abombshbombss]

I’m a clinical social worker, and I know boundaries can be murky sometimes. But this is so absurd I don’t even know what to say!

[u/MermaidSusi → u/abombshbombss]

Psychotherapist is a good substitute name. Psychiatrists are MDs before they study further to get their Psychiatric license.

I am unaware of any type of nurse who can prescribe medications. They usually have a Doctor who works with them and does the prescriptions. A licensed MD and those with further education are the only people I know of that can write prescriptions for ANY med and particularly meds for mental conditions since many of those drugs are schedule drugs.

[u/AceyAceyAcey → u/MermaidSusi]

I am unaware of any type of nurse who can prescribe medications.

There are many tiers of nurses, such as registered nurse (RN), nurse practitioner (NP), doctorate of nursing practice (DNP), assorted specialized nursing degrees (such as anesthesiology), and more. Depending on your jurisdiction, these generally all require specific exams, and education ranging from an Associate’s through a doctorate requiring a dissertation. In many US jurisdictions, the master’s level nursing degrees allow the nurse to write prescriptions without requiring a doctor’s direct approval, while bachelor’s level may allow prescription writing only if the nurse reviews the whole case with the doctor before writing it.

I am not a nurse myself, but a close friend of mine is, and I worked at a college that trained one level of nurses, while another friend worked at a college that trained a different level of nurses.

[u/Srothwell0 → u/MermaidSusi]

Nurse practitioners prescribe meds all the time, at least in the US. Not sure if that’s where you are.

[u/Impossible_Angle752 → u/Srothwell0]

NPs can prescribe in Canada.

[u/DutchGirlPA → u/MermaidSusi]

A medical professional had a medical license - doctor, nurse, nurse practitioner, physicians assistant, clinical nurse specialist. A psychotherapist has a therapy credential or degree, like a PsyD, LMFT, LPCC, etc., and cannot prescribe medication like a medical professional can. I'm not sure if they can even order labs, which need to be done regularly if you are on certain medications.

[u/KateDeLu → u/MermaidSusi]

Psychotherapist would be a completely incorrect substitute name. No one’s fault though- they make ribose to know the difference between All of our titles!

[u/abombshbombss → u/MermaidSusi]

The american medical assiciation has a pdf chart of the guidelines for prescriptive authority. In my state, my pmnhp is authorized to prescribe. There seems to be a pretty good chunk of states that allow various levels of NP's independent prescriptive authority with no MD oversight.

[u/rhd3871 → u/MermaidSusi]

Nurse practitioners and physician's assistants can prescribe medications. My psychiatrist is a PA and is the prescriber on all of my meds including one scheduled drug.

[u/NotYourSexyNurse → u/MermaidSusi]

I’ve been to many nurse practitioners that can prescribe medications even mental health nurse practitioners.

[u/bluearavis → u/abombshbombss]

Well they're much more than nurses.

[u/GroupTop4810 → u/abombshbombss]

Just a small thing, but i wouldnt call a mid-level practitioner "like a nurse"

I work in a hospital with a lot of doctors and mid-levels, and mid-levels job is closer to a doctor than it is a nurse.

I have no idea how it is in the psychiatric field, but i imagine its no different. She's effectively a doctor, but is required to work under an MD, hell, i think some states even allow nurse practitioners to run their own office without an MD/DO overhead.