DO YOU PROVIDE COUPLES THERAPY? "Absolutely. Spouses are often asked to come in for individuals as well."
DOES EVERYONE NEED MEDICATION? "Absolutely not. Sometimes therapy is more effective. Sometimes medications help people to get more out of their therapy and then can be discontinued. But if patients want to go off of meds they should do so with a physician not against one. There are ways to decrease or eliminate medications that are less risky."
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT "NATURAL" REMEDIES? "Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it's good for you. Snake venom, hemlock, and poison ivy are all natural remedies that wouldn't be a good idea for treating depression. Natural remedies need to be subject to the same tests for quality as standard treatments. Modern medicine is not the answer to all of our problems either and I would say that we have a lot more medication than knowledge of exactly how to use them. What we probably need more of is knowledge...about natural and synthetic treatments. I believe in considering the risk of illness vs. the risks of treatment, understanding that currently we may not know all of the risks of either."
WHERE CAN I GET FORMS THAT I NEED TO FILL OUT? "We'll mail them to you or you can click on 'New Patient Questionnaire' and print out a copy for yourself."
WHAT ARE THE COSTS? "The bad news about psychiatric treatment is that you get most of the bad news up front. Treatment is almost invariably more expensive in the beginning stages while we are finding techniques and medications that work for you. The harder you work, the quicker this process but since most medications require trials of 2-6 weeks there is a limit as to how fast some aspects of treatment can go. When stabilized it is rare for any condition to require more than monthly visits, and for many people less frequent visits are possible."
WHY DON'T YOU TAKE MY INSURANCE? "This is our biggest question. These days insurance companies often dictate treatment, saying how long its "supposed to take". They say they do this under the guise of quality but in our experience it is more about pushing patients into the cheapest...not necessarily the best treatments. We do file insurance information for our patients and most insurance companies do reimburse as an out of network provider. But we feel...the right treatment...almost invariably turns out to be the most affordable in the long run."
WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION? Here are some helpful sights. Let me know if you find more.
“Feeling Good Handbook” by David Burns “Bipolar Disorder for Dummies” By Candida Fink, M.D., Joe Kraynak “I Hate You- Don’t Leave Me. Understanding the Borderline Personality” by Jerold J. Kreisman M.D. "Learning to Love Yourself" by Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse (1987)
If you have other questions or concerns, please feel free to call our office at (352) 795-2246.
