What Is Psychiatry?
Psychiatry is that branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of mental, emotional and behavioural nature. A psychiatrist is a doctor specializing in mental health issues that also includes substance-use disorders.
What’s the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist?
Although both are trained to diagnose and treat people with mental conditions, they differ in terms of educational and training background and the approach to treatment.
A psychiatrist has a medical degree and advanced qualifications from a residency and a specialty in psychiatry. Their treatment approach includes talk therapy, medications, and other treatments. Psychologists, on the other hand, hold an advanced degree (PhD or PsyD, for example). They mainly use talk therapy to treat people with mental health conditions. They may also play the role of consultants along with other healthcare providers or study therapy for entire treatment programs.
When should one seek best psychiatrist in Dubai help?
According to the best psychiatrist in Dubai, people should seek psychiatric help for a number of issues. These can range from long term problems build up over time such as feelings of anxiety, loneliness, or depression that don’t seem to ‘go way’ easily, difficulty in functioning normally that hampers everyday life or sudden and specific problems such as panic attacks, frightening hallucinations, suicidal tendencies, or hearing “voices.”
Diagnosing Patients
Since they are board-certified physicians, psychiatrists can carry out an entire range of medical laboratory and psychological tests. This, combined with therapy sessions with patients, helps in drawing a complete picture of the patients physical and mental state. Their academic and medical training equips them in understanding the complex relationship between emotional and other medical illnesses as well as the relationships with genetics and family history.
All this combined helps them to evaluate medical and psychological data, make a diagnosis, and eventually work with patients to develop holistic treatment plans.
What Treatments Do Psychiatrists Use?
A variety of treatments are used, and not just one. Depending on each patient, these include medications, psychotherapy, psychosocial interventions and various other treatment methods, such as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy as it is sometimes called, is a time-invested treatment where the psychiatrist and the patient indulge in conversations dealing with the patient’s issues. Aimed at treating a wide variety of mental disorders and behavioural and emotional difficulties, the goal of this technique is to either eliminate or at least control troubling symptoms so that patients get the chance to function better. Depending on the severity of the patient’s condition, the treatment plan might consist of a few sessions over a period of a week or two or a session every week for a few years. Psychotherapy is quite flexible and accommodating. Sessions can be conducted in various formats – individually, as a couple, with parents, or in a group.
Psychotherapy has a number of forms. Where one approach is to help patients change or alter their troubling behaviour patterns or emotions, another form helps in exploring past relationships and how they can affect the present behaviours. There are also psychotherapies that are tailored to address some other problems in specific and unique ways. One of the more common ways that guide in focussing on problem-solving is Cognitive Behaviour therapy.
As previously highlighted, psychiatrists also prescribe medications that help treat mental disorders. These are targeted medications addressing the patient’s specific problems and help in reducing the symptoms. Those who are on long-term medications will have to have regular sessions with their psychiatrist is to review and evaluate the effectiveness of the medications and alter the dosage if need be.
Class of Medications
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Antidepressants – help in treating depression, panic disorder, PTSD, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder and eating disorders
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Antipsychotic medications – help in treating psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
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Sedatives and anxiolytics – help in treating anxiety and insomnia
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Hypnotics – help in inducing and maintaining sleep
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Mood stabilizers – used to treat bipolar disorder
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Stimulants – used to treat ADHD
Benefits of psychiatric help and counselling
The potential benefits of mental health care at the best hospital in Dubai are (but are not limited to):
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Reduced anxiety
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Better and positive moods
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Clarity in thinking
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Successfully developing a sense of calmness or inner peace
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Positive self-esteem
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Decreased depression
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Improved and healthier relationships
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Developing practical coping skill
