Would it be a mistake to take a short vacation?...

[Locut0s]

I'm left confused after talking with my psychiatrist. He's not the most affectionate of psychiatrists and in fact in somewhat downright condescending at times so I find it hard to talk to him sometimes. Anyway I recounted the details of my recent breakdown to which he has recommended some med changes.

Now my father has this rather grand notion, which I don't really agree with, that I should take a LONG "discover yourself" type holiday to break out of my shell, to find myself. He thinks I should go to Japan for 5 months to teach English and it would help to mature and change me. I'm not so keep on that idea and my psychiatrist just about got angry at me for bringing the idea up. He thinks it's a crazy idea, likened it to "tablets coming down from the sky at some point" (i.e. mosses receiving the tablets from god, that I'd get a message or conversion) and sort of dismissed it as a silly almost crazy idea. He did say a short vacation might be ok, but even that he didn't seem too warm about. I think the idea of a long journey would be just running from my problems.

What do you think of a short vacation? I feel VERY guilty of the idea. I feel I should be working or going to school not "playing hooky", but I'm not sure this guilt is well placed either or is the result of my self hatred and wanting to punish myself etc... I'm confused.

Edit: When I said that I felt guilty about going on a vacation he actually said "well then you have your answer", meaning I shouldn't go if I felt guilty. But he wouldn't say anything to alleviate said guilt, like saying you shouldn't feel guilt over taking the short vacation.