Adult Psychiatry Services
Psychiatric crises need practical interventions from clinicians in order to enhance the safety, well-being, and future health outcomes of the patient. Our highly competent staff of psychiatrists, assistants, and nurses have considerable expertise in dealing with a wide range of mental health problems.
Our model of care is based on the following services:
COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
At our practice, we begin the process of optimizing your mental health by taking a thorough history comprising a standard psychiatric interview and discussion of your previous medical history. This one-on-one interaction is followed by a general physical examination and mental status examination.
On the first visit, we also conduct a comprehensive risk and safety assessment for urgent care needs regarding aberrant or harmful behavior.
Based on the history and examination, our physicians establish a proper diagnosis and rate the disease stage/severity. This is in conjunction with the identification of social, economic, and cultural factors relevant to mental conditions as well as immediate treatment decisions, to enhance accessibility and affordability of care.
We value YOUR health above everything. To the end, identification of and collaboration with the patient’s family to achieve optimum health results is of immense value to us in the clinical setting.
The assessment process ends with a counseling session about the long-term implications of your diagnoses and the need for follow-up or ongoing consultation, if any.
TREATMENT AND THERAPEUTICS
Pharmacotherapy:
Pharmacotherapy represents the mainstay of treatment in psychiatry.
Often, mental disorders follow a relapsing and remitting course, and many pharmacological options have shown success in reducing symptoms and progression of disease in complex psychiatric disorders. Medication essentially acts to restore neurochemical imbalances in the body that are at the root of several mental disorders. The kind of drugs used in psychiatric settings include antipsychotics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, and more.
After complete evaluation of your symptoms and any other concomitant medical conditions, we prescribe pharmacotherapy options that are verified by evidence-based research in medicine and best-suited to show effective results.
Some of the many disorders that our services pertain to are:
Mood disorders: Major Depressive Disorder, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Dysthymia, Bipolar Disorders.
Anxiety disorders: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic disorders, Phobias, Social anxiety, and phobia.
Trauma-related disorders: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, Adjustment Disorders.
Addiction and Substance use disorders: Alcohol and drugs.
Eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
1) Physician Wellness Groups
Maintaining good mental health is equally tricky and essential for practicing physicians, interns, surgeons, and nurses who work demanding jobs in high stress conditions. As a result, they are likely to suffer from stress, burnout, depression, and mental fatigue.
Physician Wellness Groups are programs that promote physician wellness, provide an environment for team-based care, and cater to the mental and emotional needs of healthcare workers. Such programs help to increase efficiency in the workplace, which in turn translates to efficiency in caring for patients.
These groups further serve as educational opportunities where targeted solutions and guidelines for individual care are shared.
2) COVID-19 - Its Impact on Mental Health
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spike in anxiety disorders worldwide. Prevention and control policies necessitating lockdown and self-isolation have resulted in deteriorating mental health for many people. Moreover, many are cut off from their usual sources of therapy, as well as social support from friends and family.
To add to this, economic and health uncertainty has put a strain on people’s ability to deal with stress as they are more and more concerned about what the future holds for their personal and professional lives.
On the mental health front, there is a special need for targeted care for people most disproportionately affected by the pandemic, like essential workers, healthcare workers, homebound children and people with special needs, mentally ill patients, and those on the margins of society.
We understand this added stress and its outcomes. To deal with the situation, we offer specialized programs meant to alleviate the impending mental health crisis.
3) Obesity Management
Obesity has a significant impact on mental health as a stigma around it is widely prevalent. Many people with obesity self-report a lower quality of life. Higher rates of anxiety and mood disorders in obese people have been shown in studies.
Obesity represents an area of focus and special consideration from mental health experts. At our practice, we advocate weight reduction therapies targeting diets, behavior, lifestyles, and physical activity, as well as medication.
4) Bariatric surgery screening
Bariatric surgery is a kind of weight loss surgery done in people for whom diet and lifestyle therapies have failed to show improvement.
In this surgery, part of the gastrointestinal tract is bypassed to allow for restricted food intake and absorption, facilitating weight reduction.
Bariatric surgery happens to be associated with a high incidence of psychiatric disorders. We provide comprehensive and state-of-the-art screening for bariatric surgery candidates, and evaluation and risk assessment of people with suspected post-surgery mood disorders.