Derogatory Psychiatric Interviews

299 Words2 Pages
Growing up, my parents introduced me to a variety of cultures and my fascinations with the human experience lead me to work in the mental health field. In my current role, I perform structured psychiatric interviews in which I learn about a person's darkest moments to formulate an objective, clinically accurate diagnosis. Throughout one particularly memorable interview, my patient berated me with derogatory insults and assumed I grew up very differently than I actually had, simply because we looked different from one another. I let her unload her frustrations about her own hardships, the systemic racism she faced, and who she thought I was as a person. I chose not to respond to her misguided insults in hopes of maintaining open rapport. This