Consultant
Specialized expertise in
dementias, autism, anxiety, trauma, depression, and eating disorders
Some people come to see me strictly for a diagnosis and treatment plan, whereas others come for insight-oriented psychotherapy.
A consultation includes a comprehensive interview to understand each individual on multiple levels.
One’s medical and psychiatric history, personal story, social upbringing, stress factors, and symptoms are all taken into account. Common symptoms such as depression and anxiety can have multiple causes, and the purpose of a skilled interview is to build hypotheses as to which are the most likely.
By knowing the psychological and medical components, the correct intervention can be made. For example, clinicians who are not psychotherapists often make the mistake of increasing a medication, or even switching it, when their patient’s change in mood is related to something else entirely. Instead of helping, the medication change actually sets them back.
Medical causes of psychiatric conditions can be detected with greater ease, and the cost of testing has gone down.
We don’t need to operate blindly when recommending nutritional supplements and/or changes to diet. We can use saliva for genetic testing , assess nutritional and toxicity status by urine and hair, and test for “beneficial” and “harmful” bacteria in our gut.