Psychiatric Care: 5 Most Common Questions
1
What's the difference between a Psychiatrist, a Nurse Practitioner, and a Psychologist?
Psychiatrists are medical doctors (MD/DO) who complete a minimum of 8 years of post-graduate medical training, including a minimum of 16,000-20,000 hours of physician supervised post-graduate training.
Nurse practitioners are advanced degree nurses (MSN/DNP) who complete a minimum of 2-3 years of post-graduate nursing training, including a minimum of 500-700 hours of supervised training by a mix of physicians and nurse practitioners.
Psychiatrists are Physicians fully licensed to practice medicine and independently prescribe medications. Nurse practitioners are licensed advance practice nurses who may prescribe medication under the supervision of a collaborating physician.
Psychologists typically hold a PhD/PsyD degree and focus on therapy.
3
Do I really need medication?
Many conditions can be treated with therapy alone, medication alone, or a combination — the right approach depends on diagnosis, severity, and personal preference. Your diet, level of physical activity, and environment can also impact your mental health in either a positive or negative way.
Similar to many other medical conditions, however, changes in behavior are sometimes not enough to fully manage mental health symptoms. In these cases, treatment with medications may be necessary.
The duration of treatment with medication varies widely — some people take medication short-term, others long-term. This should be re-evaluated over time.
5
Are psychiatric medications addictive?
Most psychiatric medications are not addictive (such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, or mood stabilizers). Some (like benzodiazepines, hypnotics, or stimulants) carry dependency risk and should be monitored carefully.
In general, benzodiazepines are for short term use at the lowest effective dose for severe anxiety. Although anxiety can often be managed without need for benzodiazepines. You can read more about this here.
Research shows that when stimulants (a common treatment for ADHD) are taken orally and exactly as prescribed, the risk of addiction is actually quite low. For more information on this topic, see here and here.
2
Is what I tell my Psychiatrist confidential?
Yes, with legal exceptions.
Medical professionals are required to report public health concerns, imminent danger to self or others, as well as child and elder abuse. All other information is considered protected health information (PHI) and is protected by the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
It is important to note, that PHI can be shared for core healthcare or legal purposes without express consent, including with your health insurer or billing services, clinic administrative staff or other health care professionals (such as nurses or your other physicians) involved in your care, labs and pharmacies providing services to you, or in response to certain legal requests or proceedings (such as a court order, subpoena, etc).
4
Will psychiatric medications change my personality?
This is a common misconception.
Psychiatric medications treat symptoms without altering core personality. Patients may actually notice that they feel more like themselves when symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, or PTSD are better managed.
