Anxiety & Depression in Austin, TX
Are your ruminating thoughts and extreme nervousness impacting your everyday? Do you feel so down and hopeless that you don’t feel like your old self? If you think you could be dealing with anxiety and depression, it’s important to know where to go. While you may be able to take self-assessments online, it’s important that you turn to a mental health professional like Dr. Flume and the team at Flume Psychiatry who can diagnose and treat your anxiety or depression.
Turning to a Psychiatrist
There are different mental health professionals that you can turn to treat your anxiety and depression. Two of the most well-known are psychologists and psychiatrists. Both offer talk therapy, a way for patients to discuss the issues they are experiencing, but our psychiatrist takes a biological approach to mental illness. This means that when you come in for an evaluation, Dr. Flume and his team will go through your medical history and make sure that physical health problems are ruled out before making a diagnosis of anxiety or depression. A psychiatrist is also the only mental health professional that can prescribe medications to ease depression and anxiety symptoms.
Why Psychiatrists are Different from Psychologists
A psychiatrist’s biological approach to diagnosis and treatment is different from a psychologist who focuses on the thoughts and behaviors of a patient and how they contribute to their anxiety and depression. Since many physical conditions can manifest as anxiety or depression (e.g. thyroid disorders), it’s important that you rule out these conditions first. This is something Dr. Flume and his team can do.
What to Expect at Flume Psychiatry
Many individuals dealing with anxiety and depression can benefit from seeing both a psychiatrist and a psychologist to evaluate not only the biological components but also to understand how your thoughts and behaviors impact your mental health (as well as ways to reframe and change these thoughts and behaviors to improve your symptoms). While therapy can be incredibly helpful for managing symptoms, we also understand that many individuals can benefit from medication, as well. Regardless of what mental health professional you turn to, nothing is more important than feeling like you connect with them and trust the care they are providing.