Evaluation

 

   A thorough evaluation is the key step in giving you the best possible help.  When I first meet with you, I will ask you for full details about your current concerns.  In addition I will ask about your background, your family, your medical history, what prior treatment you have had, etc.  The information you provide on the questionnaire I’ve sent you will be quite helpful and important.  I will likely ask for your permission to send for records of prior treatment or hospitalizations. If you are concurrently seeing another therapist, I will likely communicate with that person.  In some instances I may ask you to have some laboratory testing performed, or to have some psychological testing done.  It is by this process that I can most clearly determine what should ultimately be most helpful to recommend to you.  This will also help clarify those instances where some overlapping physical problem may need to be addressed.  It will determine which of a variety of psychiatric interventions, via myself or by referral to others, will likely be of most benefit.