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Psychiatry is the medical specialty concerned with the origin, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of mental disorders. Physicians specializing in this field - psychiatrists - hold a medical degree and spend four years or more in approved residency training. They must be licensed by their state in order to practice. As physicians, psychiatrists are the only mental health professionals licensed to prescribe medication.
Psychiatry deals with the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of the mind and mental illness. Its primary goal is the relief of mental suffering associated with symptoms of disorder and improvement of mental well-being. This may be based in hospitals or in the community and patients may be voluntary or involuntary. Psychiatry adopts a medical approach but may take into account biological, psychological, and social/cultural perspectives. Treatment by medication in conjunction with various forms of psychotherapy may be undertaken and has proved most effective in successful treatment.
Most psychiatric illnesses cannot currently be cured, although recovery may occur. While some have short time courses and only minor symptoms, many are chronic conditions which can have a significant impact on a patients' quality of life and even life expectancy, and as such may be thought to require long-term or life-long treatment. Effectiveness of treatment for any given condition is also variable from individual to individual. While any physician may prescribe the medications used to treat various forms of mental illness, psychiatrists are more extensively trained in differential diagnosis of mental illness and keep up to date on the newest treatment modalities for mental illness.
Biological psychiatry entered the modern era with the discovery of the first of the antipsychotic drugs in 1952. For the first time, psychiatrists had a means to treat the debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia—hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorders. Pharmacological treatments for mania and depression soon followed, and psychiatrists heralded the dawn of a new "psychopharmalogical era" that continues to this day. The introduction, in the 1990s, of depression meds, used to treat depression as well as personality disorders, brought renewed attention to biological psychiatry. The once dominant psychodynamic model, based on the efficacy of talk, fell into disrepute, even though studies showed that the best outcomes were obtained through a combination of drug and talk therapies.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has five axes:
- Axis I: Psychiatric disorders
- Axis II: Personality disorders / mental retardation
- Axis III: General medical conditions
- Axis IV: Social functioning and impact of symptoms
- Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning
Common axis I disorders include substance dependence and abuse (e.g. alcohol dependence); mood disorders (e.g. depression, bipolar disorder); psychotic disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder); and anxiety disorders (e.g. post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder). Axis II disorders include borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder and anti-social personality disorder.
Medical Opinions Associates has many highly-qualified psychiatric experts on its panel of reviewing medical experts. One such expert is Director of a New Jersey Center for Emotional Illness, having graduated from Harvard University and the SUNY – Upstate Medical School in Syracuse. His private practice encompasses geriatric, adult, adolescent, and child psychiatry and includes individual, marital, family, and group therapy. Another of our psychiatric expert focuses his practice on neuropsychiatric assessments and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, also treating those with developmental and psychiatric disabilities. Another is further certified as a physician-specialist in the treatment of alcoholism and chemical dependence. He is a Fellow of the American College of Forensic Psychiatry and Medical Director of a Resource Counseling and Psychotherapy Center.
Whatever the psychiatric issue, Medical Opinions Associates can provide the psychiatric expertise needed to evaluate your case, render expert opinion, and provide continuing support.
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