MEDICAL SERVICES
INITIAL EVALUATION
DIAGNOSIS AND PLAN
Based on the information we collect, we will discuss the various diagnostic possibilities. Generally, the information we have gathered will be more than enough to come to sensible conclusions.
From there, we will create a plan for treatment with which you are comfortable and feel best able to pursue. This will include agreeing on the best next place to receive your care (the hospital, group outpatient programs, outpatient care with me or others), types of individual talk therapies available, procedural therapies, medication therapies, and alternative therapies.
FOLLOW UP
We will continue to follow up with one another, constantly evaluating your progress, and the treatment plan will be re-evaluated each visit. If we feel an addition or change of talk therapy, medical considerations and treatment, and/or a change in medications is warranted, we will make adjustments according to your needs.
We will meet for 1 to 2 hours to better understand your history -- that is, your life experiences, talents, personality traits, behaviors that help you get through good and bad times. We explore symptoms that might suggest an underlying psychiatric illness. It is very rare for a person to meet with me without having suffered already past flairs of their illness. Therefore, reviewing past episodes of psychiatric distress will very much help diagnose correctly what is causing the present problems.
PURSUIT OF OUTSIDE INFORMATION
These may include blood tests, procedures such as an EEG or Sleep Study, and pictures such as CT's, Ultrasounds, or MRI's. Often we will be able to get this information from your other doctors who may have obtained this information recently. This may include also discussions with other physicians and family or friends to the extent you feel comfortable with my doing so.