What Should I Do to Prepare for My Psychiatrist Appointment?

Whether you are seeing a psychiatrist or a psychiatric nurse practitioner, you will be meeting a specialist in mental health diagnosis, treatment, and management. Where many family doctors have a basic understanding of more common mental health conditions and are prepared to prescribe some of the commonly used medications, a psychiatrist specializes in assessing, diagnosing, and has great experience and comfortability to a broad range of medications used to treat mental health problems.

What Does a Psychiatry Appointment Consist Of?

The initial appointment with your psychiatrist is referred to as a diagnostic intake appointment. Your psychiatrist will be conducting a thorough history of medical, mental health, family history, and assessing numerous life areas to look at contributing factors which all come together to culminate in a diagnosis and development of the most appropriate treatment plan for you.

What Should I Do to Prepare for My Psychiatrist Appointment?

The most complete and accurate history and information you can provide to your psychiatrist increases the likelihood of an accurate diagnosis and the best selection of medications used to treat what is going on with you. The more concise and detailed information you can provide, the more time will be available to allow your psychiatrist to explore all needed areas to arrive at the best possible conclusions and decisions for how to treat you.

• Medical History: Psychiatrists typically treat mental health issues with various psychotropic medications. To ensure the best possible medication is selected, your knowledge of, and accurate description of, current medical issues is crucial to the process. It is worth looking up in your My Chart any current and previous medical diagnoses, especially those actively going on such as hypertension, thyroid disorder, immune disorders, or the like.
• Medications Past and Present: If you are on any current medication, your psychiatrist will need to know the name, dose, and directions for those medications. Again, consult your My Chart or grab the actually bottles of medications and have this information ready to go for your appointment. Selecting the right medication depends on ensuring there are no contraindications or risks of medication interactions that could be harmful to you. If you have been on psychotropic medications in the past, your psychiatrist will be particularly interested in knowing what medications you have been on in the past and what you recall about how effective they were and what kind of side effects you may have had to them.
• Family History: Because many mental health issues run in families, and because family members share a lot of the same genetics, your psychiatrist will want to know as much as possible about your family history. Take the time to consult nuclear family members to find out if they have ever had depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar, substance abuse or any other such mental health issues. Also knowing what medications they have used in the past and how they worked for your family members will also be incredibly useful information. Having this information prior to your appointment will make things much easier for your psychiatrist and ensure you are getting the best treatment.
• Life Stressors: Psychiatrists are certainly interested in what sort of life events and stressors may be going on in your life that are affecting current mental health issues. These could include: financial, legal, occupational, academic, familial, social, marital/relational, and any situational factors. Take time to reflect and inventory those life events you think may be playing a role in your current mental health issues.  

If you are interested in meeting with one of our psychiatrists to help figure out what is affecting your mental health, feel free to contact IPC so you can schedule an appointment.  Please call us now at 763-416-4167, or request an appointment on our website: WWW.IPC-MN.COM so we can sit down with you and complete a thorough assessment and help you develop a plan of action that will work for you. Life is too short to be unhappy. Find the peace of mind you deserve.

To get more great resources, sign up for our newsletter, like us on Face Book, or follow us on Twitter.

Innovative Psychological Consultants

Peace of Mind You Deserve