Anyone wandering into theAttentionDoctor.com of late may have noticed a hiatus in postings. This reflects the difficulty of coordinating editors, designers and printers towards the actual publication and sale on this site of my book Getting Unstuck. We have an official publication date of October 15th, and we hope to have books for sale here by the middle of September.
The State of Psychiatry In America Today
When I think about the state of psychiatry in America, I’m reminded of Charles Dickens’ novel,A Tale of Two Cities, which begins “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Never before have we had better, or more specific medicines, and never before have we had so many specific and proven psychotherapies. Yet never before has good psychiatric care been so difficult to obtain for the overwhelming majority of working Americans. There are nowhere near enough psychiatrists, and precious few of the ones we have are trained, or even interested, in providing care that is medical, psychotherapeutic and educational all at the same time. Unfortunately for the patient with complex psychiatric and psychological problems, this is exactly the kind of treatment that is required.
3 Reasons Why People Come
Typically, it is people with treatment-resistant depression who seek help from psychiatrists. They’ll go to their general practitioner first, but if that doesn’t work, finding a psychiatrist is their next step. In practice, the overwhelming majority of such patients have one or more of three problems: panic, ADD or bipolarism. In my view these are three conditions that scream out for an integrated approach that includes medical, psychotherapeutic and educational components, but few can find it.
This site and my book are part of my wish to address this mismatch between the mental health needs of Americans and the responses of the mental health establishment. As part of this effort, I’m offering a group therapy program that uses an integrated approach to help participants get back to fully enjoying life. We expect to begin this program in mid-January, 2009. If you think this program may be of interest to you, please sign up for our mailing list to keep apprised of details.
In the coming weeks I will write and post articles here, in which I share more details concerning my current thinking about the relationship between depression, ADD, and trauma, and how to approach each of these problems.
Thanks for stopping by.