Dr. Frankfurt provides psychiatric, psychological, and pharmacological services to a variety of clients. You can find more information about these services and how to get in touch with Dr. Frankfurt by contacting him through the website or giving him a call.
General Information
Many of us would like to think that we don’t need psychiatric counseling, mostly because of the stigma that people who need counseling for mental health issues might be seen as “crazy” or “not all there.” However, the question begs to be asked: What is crazier, knowing that you may have mental health issues that can be solved by proper psychiatric counseling, or refusing to get any help because of how people will think of you?
Psychiatric counseling can do wonders for your self-esteem, your peace of mind, and your overall ability to function normally within your family and within society. In fact, it may even be a good idea to encourage family counseling for you and your loved ones, so that all of you can be better prepared to deal with the therapy and medication that a person may need to undergo for mental health treatment, aside from preparing themselves for how society will react.
If you are in Minnesota, you should have no problem finding psychiatry services in St. Paul, or psychiatry services in Minneapolis. On the state level, federal and state services can help you find psychiatric and other mental health services that you need. On the local and independent level, many Psychiatrists have active practices in these areas, though you will have to do a preliminary interview first with them to see if you can build a proper doctor-patient relationship with them.
History, Meaning, and Benefit
Before we can talk more about the psychiatry, it helps to know how it came about. Historically, mental health issues were seen as having supernatural origins in the ancient times. In the 4th century BC, the Greeks started to see if there were medical and scientific explanations for mental disorders, with Hippocrates theorizing that physiological issues may affect mental health.
Unfortunately, from that time until the mid-1700s, mental health treatment and services where dependent on how society interpreted mental illnesses, which could range from being a medical condition, to being works of supernatural agents. By the mid-1800s, many countries had already started building what would become mental health treatment and service networks, which were primarily focused on asylums. It was along this time, too, in 1808, that Johann Christian Reil would coin the term psychiatry (from “medical treatment of the soul”).
After that, it would take breakthroughs in various areas of science, notably in the works of Emil Kraepelin and Sigmund Freud, for the modern science of psychiatry to develop to what it is today.
What Is Psychiatry
Psychiatry is a medical specialty that is devoted to the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. This means that people who have issues such as affective, behavioral, cognitive, and perceptual abnormalities can be treated in a manner similar to how doctors would treat patients with physical diseases. In time, it would be possible to cure people of their mental disorders or minimize the effects, depending on the severity of the mental health issue.
Psychopharmacology
Once you’ve been diagnosed, it’s possible that your psychiatrist will recommend some medications that will help you with your mental health issues. This is known as psychopharmacology, where science studies and applies what it knows about the effects that drugs have on inducing changes in the way that the nervous system functions.
The following are the known main groups of psychopharmacological medication:
- Antidepressants – These medications are usually used to treat depression (hence the name), but are also used to treat anxiety and other similar disorders.
- Antipsychotics – These drugs are used to help people stabilize if they have extreme mental disorders, or conditions such as schizophrenia. Some antipsychotic medications are also used in the treatment of bipolar disorders (functioning as a mood stabilizer), and some are used in conjunction with antidepressants for people with more serious depressive disorders. Many antipsychotic medications are labeled as tranquilizers.
- Mood stabilizers – This classification of drugs help reduce the frequency and severity of manic episodes. Some anticonvulsants and antipsychotic medications also fall under this classification. Since many mood-stabilizing drugs have mechanisms that aren’t fully understood, it’s important that people tell their psychiatrists the effects of the medication, if they are using mood stabilizers.
- Stimulants – This type of medicine is one of the most popular today. These drugs usually stimulate the nervous system, making them effective for treatment of conditions such as ADHD. However, this type of medication is also closely monitored, as some of the drugs that fall under this category are highly addictive. Use of stimulants will probably mean that the patient will be closely monitored.
- Anxiolytics and hypnotics – This drug classification is the opposite of stimulants, and some of the medicines in this category are also known to have withdrawal symptoms. Most of these drugs are also used as hypnotics, anticonvulsants, myorelaxants, and amnesics.
It should be noted, though, that psychopharmacology has, unfortunately, been used as a crutch, with patients sometimes becoming psychologically dependent on their use. While it is true that these medications will help a person function normally, it also means that these kinds of drugs should be carefully monitored in prescription and use.
General Counseling
Until now, seeking counseling for mental health issues is still seen with some discrimination. However, you have to ask yourself: if you think you have mental health issues, then you should treat it as you would any serious illness: you should find some medical help.
In some cases, you might even need family counseling, since the mental health issue may involve not only you, but your family as well. Family counseling may even help you and your loved ones understand your condition more within the context of social interaction, so they can help minimize triggers and situations that can lead to an episode or event.
Psychiatry in Minnesota
If you’re living in Minnesota, you don’t have to worry about mental health services. The state has federal services that can help you find mental health professionals such as psychiatrists, and many of the universities and medical institutions have counseling services that extend from adult and group counseling (usually family counseling), to psychiatric counseling specifically for children.
The state of psychiatry in St. Paul and psychiatry in Minneapolis are similar to the state situation – meaning that you shouldn’t have any trouble finding the right services that you need for your mental health needs.
Do remember, it’s important that you do seek psychiatric help if you think you need it, as the unhappiness and instability that some of these mental conditions can cause will surely be weighing you down and causing you stress that can easily be addressed, with the right amount of counseling and psychopharmacology help.