Psychiatric Services

Our doctors use a conservative, evidence-based approach to medication management to supply long-term relief for patients suffering from a variety of mental health concerns, such as: ADHD, depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety.

Our doctors believe that psychotropic medication can be profoundly beneficial, and that the best outcomes are usually achieved by using medication to reduce distressing symptoms while helping individuals adapt to the unique challenges in their daily lives. Our team has developed a balanced and practical approach to medication management aimed at minimizing the dosage and number of medications necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Decisions about medication should be made after a careful and collaborative discussion between you and your prescribing provider. Prescription medications can be helpful as a stand-alone treatment, or in combination with other clinical interventions. Our team believes that, in some cases, non-pharmacological interventions can work with medication to perfect outcome. Some of the approaches our team may recommend combining with medication are:

Everyone responds to treatment in their own unique way. In the case of psychiatric medication, recent scientific discoveries have led to a new understanding of how a person’s genes impact how their body and mind respond to medication. Pharmacogenetic analyses allow our psychiatrists to tailor treatment of the individual patient, an approach that has been shown to yield faster improvement with fewer side effects.

What to expect when meeting with your psychiatric med provider for a psychiatric evaluation

A request to fill out a medical history including past experiences with medications prior to your visit. This can be done in the comfort of your own home with your permission as a chance to ask family members for help. Your provider will investigate this prior to the visit. It is important to consider as much data as possible as your prescriber formulates the most proper diagnosis and best treatment options. During the appointment, a board-certified psychiatric medication provider like a physician or nurse practitioner will conduct a psychiatric evaluation, that includes an interview (lots of questions) that collects information about behavioral or emotional symptoms of the patient, along with their medical, emotional, and social history. With your permission as the patient, family members may also be interviewed to help understand the patient’s symptoms and history. A mental status examination is conducted that involves questions about current symptoms related to thoughts, cognition, and memory. The medication provider will discuss a diagnosis and seek the patient’s input to help create a treatment plan. Psychiatric medications may or may not be recommended to help reduce emotional or behavioral symptoms.