Can Psychiatry help you with your Mental Health?

Psychiatry is a branch of the medical field that specializes in the treatment of mental health. Psychiatrists are qualified to assess both the mental and physical aspects of psychological challenges.

Psychiatry might benefit you for many reasons and for many symptoms, including panic attacks, hallucinations, suicidal ideations, and depressive disorders.

As physicians, psychiatrists can request both medical and psychological tests, which help provide a picture of your overall physical and mental state. Specific diagnoses are based on criteria established in the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which contains descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders.

Psychiatrists may use a range of treatments, such as:

1. Psychotherapy, otherwise known as talk therapy, is a treatment involving talk therapy between a therapist and a patient. The goal of psychotherapy is to eliminate disabling or troubling symptoms so the patient can function better.
2. Medications are prescribed once evaluations are complete and can be successful in treating a variety of mental health disorders. Psychiatrists use medications to change the chemical signaling in the brain, reducing the symptoms of psychiatric disorders.
   1. Antidepressants are used to treat depression, panic disorder, PTSD, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, and eating disorders.
   2. Antipsychotic medications are used to treat psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
   3. Sedatives and anxiolytics are used to treat anxiety and insomnia.
   4. Hypnotics are used to induce and maintain sleep.
   5. Mood stabilizers are used to treat bipolar disorder.
   6. Stimulants are used to treat ADHD.

Psychosocial interventions are procedures used when medications and psychotherapy are ineffective. Interventions might include:

1. 1. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a medical treatment that involves applying electrical currents to the brain, is most often used to treat severe depression that has not responded to other treatments.
   2. Ketamine treatment consists of sub-anesthetic doses that have had rapid and sustained antidepressant effects and have been successful in treating a range of psychiatric conditions.
   3. Psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin are being studied for their future treatment potential.

If you or a loved one struggles with mental health, Compassionate Psychiatry Services may be right for you. Give our office a call today at 469-200-4093 and speak with a specialist. For more information, visit our website at www.compassionatepsychiatry.org.