Telemedicine and telepsychiatry are fast becoming norms in our society. In the past, we almost always met our patients face to face, but the global pandemic has forced us to pivot and provide many online services. What we’ve found is that telemedicine often can be just as effective as in-person treatment, and this is especially true with psychiatric treatments.

Patients who suffer from clinical depression have a lot more options to treat their disorder than what was available 30 years ago.  These modalities include biological, psychological and social treatment interventions.  There are different professionals that can administer these treatment options and can range from psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, therapists, life coaches just to name a few.

When brain cells (called neurons) send signals to one another, they release a little bit of a neurotransmitter so that the message can be delivered. They then have to take back the neurotransmitter they released so they can send the next message. This process of replacing the neurotransmitter is called “reuptake.”
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SSRI's or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, are a class of antidepressant medications that are used to treat major depressive disorders.  They block the reuptake of serotonin in the synaptic cleft thus increasing the concentration of serotonin.

This case is a composite of several different patients and is for illustrative purposes only.  The patient's name has been changed to protect anonymity.
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Keyna is a 40 year old female who served overseas in the military with 2 tours in Afghanistan.  She suffered PTSD, "traumatic brain injury"  (TBI), depression, and anxiety after her tour and was first seen in the VA system 14 years ago.  Since then she has struggled with her symptoms despite being tried on numerous antidepressants and other medications prescribed by the VA.  She also suffered chronic pain from injuries sustained during her deployment.

This case is a composite of several different patients and is for illustrative purposes only.  The patient's name has been changed to protect anonymity.
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Blair is a 17 year old  that was seen in my office  Mar 2017  after a psychiatric hospitalization due to a failed suicide attempt.  He had 2 previous psychiatric hospitalizations in Dec 2016 after similar failed suicide attempts.  He was also in an Intensive Out-Patient program 1 1/2 years ago for management of his persistent depression.  He was referred to me after not responding to treatment by his previous psychiatrist.