Mind and body are one.
Why have a separate therapist and psychiatrist?
Medication and psychotherapy in CA and MN
The therapy informs the meds. The meds support the therapy. One person provides both.
Your therapist listens to your dreams about drowning. Your psychiatrist increases your trazodone. Neither one knows about the other, and you’re too exhausted to be the go-between.
Your last psychiatrist labeled you “treatment resistant.” Part of you was like, dude, treatment resists me. Another part is ashamed for being a difficult patient.
You’re asked to fill out a depression screening form. But you don’t want to check a box and reduce your life to the number 14. You want the person prescribing your sertraline to know that your dad took it and you’re afraid you’re just like him. To know your anxiety increases in October because that’s when your dog died.
“Are you experiencing side effects?” They want a yes or no. Your honest answer includes distrust of Big Pharma, the nature of subjectivity, and Mercury retrograde, but there are four minutes left in the appointment.
brain & being ~ synapse & story ~ molecules & meaning ~ science & psyche ~ neurons & narrative ~ chemistry & consciousness ~ serotonin & soul ~ data & dreams ~
brain & being ~ synapse & story ~ molecules & meaning ~ science & psyche ~ neurons & narrative ~ chemistry & consciousness ~ serotonin & soul ~ data & dreams ~
We call it Cell & Self.
We can start the stimulant & grieve the career you might have had if you’d been diagnosed earlier. Then we plot which adult ed classes you want to take.
We can taper the fluoxetine & feel the fear that you’ll fall apart without it. I’ll be there when you rediscover how good it can feel to cry after being numbed out.
We can think about lamotrigine & notice that you’re scared to tell me that you don’t want to take it. Who else are you nervous to say no to?
We can increase the estrogen and progesterone & process the rage against the patriarchy. You decide you’re never sharing your dessert again.
brain & being ~ synapse & story ~ molecules & meaning ~ science & psyche ~ neurons & narrative ~ chemistry & consciousness ~ serotonin & soul ~ data & dreams ~
brain & being ~ synapse & story ~ molecules & meaning ~ science & psyche ~ neurons & narrative ~ chemistry & consciousness ~ serotonin & soul ~ data & dreams ~
Cell & Self: Areas of specialization
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Meds have helped with your panic attacks. Now what to do with the debilitating existential dread?
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Starting hormones is the easy part. Navigating a radical midlife rebirth is where it gets interesting.
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Molecules can buffer your nervous system. Then we unpack how sensitivity shaped your story.
You’re not a machine to be fixed. You’re a human to be understood.
If you’re looking for a holistic psychiatrist in MN or CA, drop me a line to connect for a complimentary introductory call. I recognize the courage it takes to start treatment—you rule.