The Talking Cure
Emotional problems are complex – there is seldom a simple solution to them. All of my patients are treated with compassion and dignity. I am LGBT affirming, and I don’t discriminate based on anything.
Some of the problems commonly addressed in treatment include depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, phobias, OCD, sexual problems, and relationship troubles.
I avoid the trap of the “mad surgeon”, who takes out every patient’s appendix, regardless of the illness, because that’s what he does best. I’ve studied various treatment approaches extensively and we will work together to find the most effective, evidence based treatment for your problems. The treatment approaches might include:
•Psychiatric Consultation Sometimes patients know exactly what kind of treatment they want, but often it’s hard to know what’s available and effective. Over the course of several sessions, we’ll review your history, try to understand where the problems began, and put together a preliminary treatment plan which may involve psychotherapy, medication, or other kinds of services.
•Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Patients are seen for 45-60 minute sessions, generally once or twice weekly. The focus is on helping the patient understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, thereby relieving emotional symptoms, improving relationships, and freeing the individual to pursue happiness.
•Prolonged Exposure Psychotherapy has been shown to be particularly effective for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
•Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is an intensive treatment, usually 3 to 5 times weekly. Seeing the therapist this frequently allows for increased access to disavowed or repressed aspects of the past and the self. It is the most effective treatment for achieving profound and lasting insight and change. Sometimes lying on the couch helps, but that’s always optional. Read more about psychoanalytic treatment.
•Partner Psychotherapy After a period of evaluation, during which each partner will be seen individually, the couple is seen once a week or once every other week. Homework and exercises are often recommended. To make fast progress, it sometimes helps for both partners to also be in individual psychotherapy.
•Family Psychotherapy Families are usually seen in 45 – 90 minute joint sessions, one or two times per month. The focus is on improving family communication and helping the family become a healthy, open and loving unit.
•Group Psychotherapy Patients generally spend 18 months – 3 years in group therapy, but there is no set time limit. Group psychotherapy can be an economical and effective treatment method.
•Medication Enhanced Psychotherapy Sometimes medication can help a lot, especially for things like sleep, anxiety and severe depression. I always try to minimize the dose and number of medications, but I don’t believe in needless suffering if effective medication is available. As your treatment progresses, we will usually try to slowly taper any medications that were prescribed in the course of your therapy.
•Inpatient or Partial Hospitalization I make every effort to avoid hospitalization, but if a crisis occurs, I will work with the patient and family and facilitate admission to the best available program. Psychiatric bed space is scarce in the Dallas area, so there is no guarantee that a particular hospital will be able to accept a patient.
•Buprenorphine Consultation Opiate addiction is a growing and dangerous problem. You will have access to a full range of substance abuse treatment options, and if long term suboxone (buprenorphine) is right for you, I’ll prescribe it and help you adjust.
Your treatment may involve any one or a combination of these approaches. After a careful and patient exploration of your problems, together we will discuss the options and agree upon a plan that is likely to be most helpful.
Sometimes it becomes necessary to switch to a different approach as the patient or situation changes. For instance, a patient in individual therapy may transition to group as he or she grows, or marital therapy may become important if relationship issues begin to dominate the patient’s difficulties.
Read more about making progress in psychotherapy.
Read more about psychotherapy.
Thomas A Grugle MD 