Psychiatric Evaluations
Making sense of emotions and behaviors can be difficult and frustrating for both patients and family members. People often struggle with a troubling mix of symptoms – such as sadness, worry, irritability, insomnia or inattention – and behaviors – including drug use, social withdrawal, compulsions, or self-injury. Often we try to explain these problems in the context of our lives but fail to find relief.
As part of your psychiatric evaluation at Via Clinic, we will identify whether your symptoms can be identified as a syndrome. The recognition of one or more syndromes is the first step in making an accurate diagnosis.
Just like a cough is treated differently depending on whether it is caused by an infection or an allergy, mental health symptoms must also be addressed according to what drives them.
Diagnosis
An accurate diagnosis forms the foundation of treatment. Without a proper diagnosis, time and effort can be wasted treating the wrong condition. Healing occurs through treating the correctly identified problem. Of course, solving psychological issues is rarely as simple as checking boxes in diagnostic manuals, such as the DSM or ICD. For that reason, a deeper level of understanding is needed – a formulation.
Formulation
A formulation is when a clinician seeks to gain understanding of the personal characteristics and life circumstances framing the problem. It’s important to understand questions such as:
- How does this person’s personality and cognitive style affect their interaction with the world?
- What habitual responses or behaviors might be exacerbating the problem?
- What are this person’s greatest strengths, and how can these be used most effectively?
These are only a few important questions answered in a formulation. A detailed interview and careful examination are essential to make an accurate diagnosis and formulation. For this reason, all new patients at Via Clinic receive a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation. This is scheduled following a brief phone call and is 90 minutes in length. Loved ones involved in the patient’s care are encouraged to be part of this important process.