Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a doctor who diagnoses and treats mental health problems.
The doctor consults patients with both healthy and impaired psyche. He prescribes them drugs that can get rid of their problems. In addition, the doctor performs a general examination of patients, determining his legal capacity and mental health.
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Do not confuse a psychiatrist with neurologists, psychotherapists and psychologists. The psychiatrist deals with the treatment of various mental disorders, regardless of their severity and form of manifestation. The psychiatrist is able to prescribe serious enough prescription drugs that have a pronounced effect.
As for psychologists, they provide psychological assistance, but they are not medical specialists and cannot recommend medications. Psychotherapists treat moderate psychiatric disorders, giving priority to methods such as talking. Of course, psychotherapists can prescribe medications, but they are not potent and are aimed at removing the patient from stressful conditions. Drug therapy is not a priority treatment method for psychotherapists.
Content:
- What diseases does a psychiatrist treat?
- Consultation with a psychiatrist
- When is it necessary to see a psychiatrist?
- When to take a child to a psychiatrist?
- Helping a loved one: when is it necessary?
- Psychiatric treatment: how does it go?
- Appointment to a psychiatrist
What diseases does a psychiatrist treat?
It is impossible to completely list all the diseases that a psychiatrist encounters within the framework of one article, so it is worth considering the main, most common pathologies:
- Paranoid ideas that haunt the patient;
- Delirium and hallucinations;
- Suicidal tendencies;
- Pathological phobias;
- Epileptic conditions;
- Chronic insomnia;
- Schizophrenia; (Read also: Causes, Signs, and Symptoms of Schizophrenia)
- Delirium tremens;
- Addictions that a person is not able to overcome on their own, such as: gambling, alcoholic, narcotic, etc.;
- Bulimia and anorexia;
- Mental disorders due to trauma;
- Alzheimer's disease;
- Recurrent hysteria and other illnesses.
Consultation with a psychiatrist
Diagnostics of the patient's condition begins at the first appointment with a psychiatrist, for which:
- The doctor interviews the patient or the person who brought the patient to the appointment. The help of a relative is needed in the case when the patient is not able to truthfully answer about his own health, or cannot come to an appointment without assistance.
- The doctor makes a primary diagnosis based on the information received.
- The location of the therapy is determined. It is not always possible to leave patients on an outpatient basis, in some cases hospitalization is required.
- A final patient management strategy is being developed.
Do not be afraid to go to see a psychiatrist. This doctor, like any other, follows the laws of medical ethics and the appointment takes place anonymously. Registration is carried out quite rarely when there is a real need for it. The patient is interviewed only with his consent, in writing. If the person himself cannot sign such consent, then his relatives or guardians do it for him. A person is hospitalized only when he poses a real threat to society. But before hospitalization is performed, the patient must undergo not only a psychiatrist, but a whole examination, as a result of which a decision is made on the need for treatment in out-of-hospital conditions.
When is it necessary to see a psychiatrist?
There are certain signs indicating that a person needs to seek the advice of a specialist:
- The appearance of a feeling of fear in front of those moments in life that previously seemed to be easily resolved. Often this symptom is accompanied by an increased aggressiveness of a person, or his apathy towards everything that happens around.
- Unrelenting anxiety that has no basis.
- Constant insomnia, against the background of a persistent feeling of drowsiness. (Read also: Causes and Symptoms of Insomnia)
- The emergence of a feeling of hunger, which cannot be satisfied, or, on the contrary, complete apathy towards the process of eating and lack of appetite.
- Mental problems, impaired memorization, inability to concentrate.
- An irresistible desire to take doping, that is, diversify your life with the use of drugs, alcohol or tobacco, or other addictions.
- The emergence of states that do not depend on the situation, are not adequate to it, which a person cannot control. For example, panic, aggression, tearfulness, resentment, fear of communication, etc.
When to take a child to a psychiatrist?
A specialist consultation is necessary when a child enters a preschool educational institution and a comprehensive school. These visits are considered planned, however, sometimes an unscheduled visit to the doctor is required.
The following symptoms deserve attention from parents:
- Aggression and cruelty shown by the child. This refers to the expressed forms of these emotional manifestations.
- Inappropriate child behavior. The complete absence of phobias, or, on the contrary, their severity, the child's unawareness of his own age, problems with memory and attention, isolation from reality.
- Signs of bulimia or anorexia. Suicidal tendencies, a tendency to take narcotic drugs.
Helping a loved one: when is it necessary?
Some mental disorders are capable of suppressing the patient's will, forcing him to break away from reality, to withdraw into himself. Many people in this condition completely reject the need for treatment and categorically refuse to go to see a doctor.
The relatives and friends of a sick person should help him overcome this condition, so you should not ignore when:
- A person's personality is distorted, transformed under the influence of the disease.
- A person concentrates on delusional ideas, nothing else interests him.
- The person shows unmotivated aggression.
- A person often talks about suicide, and even more so makes attempts to commit suicide.
Psychiatric treatment: how does it go?
Methods of getting rid of a patient from mental disorders are diverse. The basic treatment regimen is a combination of medication and corrective therapy. Medicines help to calm the agitated psyche, restore its lost functions, and normalize the patient's condition. Self-training, hypnosis, conversation, suggestion, group exercises are all effective auxiliary methods of the main treatment.
Such radical methods of therapy as treatment with electric shock, water, cold in psychiatry are prohibited.
