This is something that I find very interesting for several reasons. In the US there are almost no official regulations outlining what a doctor has to do if his/her personal opinions conflict with their training. Many people, for various reasons, including religious, do not believe that mental illness exist. So if you are a general practice doctor, how to you provide your patients the best care when you don't even believe that a whole category of medicine is legitimate?
It's also interesting from the opposite stand point, where people assume that doctors and other health care workers don't have personal opinions about some things. So when they encounter these opinions they are totally flabbergasted and take it personally. It might not be that a doctor doesn't believe that you personally have a mental illness, the doctor might just not believe they exist at all.
In short, I'm sorry that this happened to your mother, and I hope that she, and anyone else who has had a bad experience can someday gain the confidence to try again becuase not everyone treats things the same.
AD
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