Even before I became a psychiatrist, people did this. I think it's because without realizing it, I was picking up on small things wrong and asking people if they were ok.
It's gotten much worse now. Because if it comes out what my job is, people feel compulsed to relate in some way as we typically do when someone tells us their job. Except more often than not, it turns into them telling me about all the shit wrong with their lives, and their family, etc. And it immediately ruins my ability to be friends with them because I have a completely different mode of being when I'm at work vs when I'm with friends. (I'm in relaxed mode online by the way). Those two states of mind don't coexist for me. Yet there is huge social pressure to "do something about it".
It's exceptionally rough when your dental hygienist has you cornered with a bunch of questions on antipsychotics while your mouth is full of poky sharp things. Yes. That happened. I hadn't even started my residency yet!!
I don't know, it used to feel good that I could connect with people very easily, and I was a bit of a junkie for intimacy when I was younger so I know I sought it out. But now it's become something that is exhausting, and feels like a trap where I'm one step away from being in an ethical situation where someone gets the impression I'm giving them medical advice in a situation that I can absolutely NOT even examine the person, or relative who isn't even there, and thus can't give medical advice! And since an off the cuff opinion becomes so easily construed as a "medical" opinion, then you have to stick to the vague, "You should make an appointment with a doctor."
Which is never what anyone wants to hear. They want you to tell them what is wrong, what meds they should be taking, what the side effects are, what types of therapy would work, what's the prognosis, how much all of that will cost with their random brand of insurance, etc. AKA, they want you to have an impromptu visit right here, right now, in the grocery check out line.
Sigh. I just get tired. I love my job, but I like doing normal people things too. My job is exhausting, I don't even have much left for my family. So once again, they do all the same crap and you have to tell them, "Go to the doctor." Except they say "Oh I don't need a doctor, I've got you." And even when it's said as a joke, it makes me nauseous feeling that pull between doctor mode and family mode. Because it's completely unethical to provide psychiatric treatment for someone you're already emotionally invested in (so congrats you failed at that expectation) and you been emotionally yanked out of your mentality of the family role, (so congrats, you feel like you've collected personal guilt over something as vague and intangible as not being able to reciprocate the right level of emotion for a family member).
Meh, I'm in a somewhat dark spot right now, but it makes sense given my stage of training. I anticipate this should get better when my hours do. Because it's gone too far. Everyone easily connects to me, and I am disconnected from everyone.