Therapy and medications make a “dream team.”

Psychiatric medications are beneficial in many situations, like when you only have a partial response to psychotherapy, if you experience acute issues that require a faster response, or when underlying medical factors create/exacerbate negative mental states.

Despite the effectiveness of the combination of psychotherapy and medications, some people may hesitate to meet with a psychiatric provider.

Sometimes these doubts are related to the unfair stigma surrounding mental health. Other times, people are afraid or concerned about how medications may affect them. In some cases, people went through unsuccessful experiences with psychiatric providers that did not spend enough time or energy trying to understand what their clients were experiencing.

I call this the "car shop” model of psychiatry.

Clients walk in, are seen for a short appointment, get an oil change via a quick prescription, and are sent home.

I don't believe this is the way to provide mental health care. Instead, we can do better by merging the best parts of psychology and psychiatry, where all parties can connect and collaborate in the decision-making process. At Cognia, this is what I strive to achieve and provide for our clients by combining my training as a Clinical Psychologist and my degree as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner.