Child, Adolescent & Adult Psychiatry
Welcome to the The Resilient Helix! My name is Dr. Maria Carolina Court and I am a Board Certified Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist who provides psychiatric evaluations for folks across the lifespan - from Tots to Tall people.
What is a Psychiatric Evaluation?
In a Psychiatric evaluation, I am attempting to comprehensively understand an individual's emotional and behavioral difficulties from both a biological as well as a psychosocial standpoint. Biological factors include early developmental environment, genetic and family history, substance use, lifestyle, medical illness and their treatments. Medical issues such as Lupus, Stroke, Diabetes as well as their treatments can create and exacerbate emotional health difficulties. Diagnosing and treating the underlying medical illness often times alleviates psychiatric symptoms. A competent psychiatrist needs to have a firm understanding of the biological factors influencing mental health. Psychological and social factors are equally important influences on our nervous system and emotional health. Understanding someone's life story is very important. I want to know how you grew up, family relationships, major childhood events, academic and social successes and challenges, relationship, career and legal history, religious and cultural beliefs. Collateral information from schools, partners, parents, prior treatment providers, psychological and academic testing can be invaluable. Most importantly, I want to know what you think might be going on and what might be helpful. My hope is to arrive at a working diagnosis about the cause of your difficulties and create a treatment plan.
Emotional symptoms are true biological phenomena (objective) but they have personal meaning and value. This is what I call the absolutism/relativism spectrum and an effective psychiatrist needs to be able to navigate along the spectrum and intervene appropriately. To this aim, I try to get to know my patients very well - you are not just a compilation of symptoms and diagnoses. Psychiatric ailments are often similar to normal reactions and knowing you as a whole person helps me contextualize a "symptom" as something other than an indication that a medication is warranted or needs adjustment. Similarly, knowing you well ensures that your symptoms are not ignored and therefore treated appropriately.
What is psychiatric treatment?
Most of us think that psychiatric treatment involves taking a medication to treat an emotional problem. Indeed psychiatric medications can effectively treat many emotional and cognitive difficulties and dramatically improve quality of life. However sometimes medications are insufficient or simply not indicated. Psychotherapy (individual, family, couple's, group) can be the most effective way to work through emotional challenges. Most individuals see me for both psychotherapy and medication management and others see me for one or the other. In addition to therapy and medication management, other psychiatric interventions include:
helping you incorporate lifestyle changes in terms of daily habits like nutrition, exercise and meditation.
helping parents and schools develop an appropriate academic plan for your child
referring you for psychological and cognitive testing.
helping you obtain an emotional support pet
How do I know if I or a loved one needs a psychiatric evaluation?
symptoms are severe and interfering with daily life
suicidal thoughts, homicidal thoughts
substance use, alcohol use
family history of psychiatric illness (i.e. anxiety, ADHD, Bipolar), perhaps family members have responded well to medications in the past (i.e. Dad did well on antidepressants)
understanding the cause of your emotional difficulties, diagnosis, treatment options
other interventions like therapy, exercise, self help strategies - have not helped as much as you had hoped.