One Stop Therapy: The Treatment Solution
Unfortunately, most brain illnesses in the United States are treated
incorrectly. Most are difficult to detect. There are three steps to
treating brain illnesses: Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment.
Evaluation
A
doctorate level psychologist is used to evaluate our clients. In
addition to a Mental Status Examination, there are a variety of
psychometric tests which are used, including the MMPI-II, Millon, and
the Weschler IQ test. Other tests may also be used. Psychometric tests
are used to accurately detect brain illnesses and to rule out faking.
These tests provide the treatment team with the most accurate diagnosis
possible.
A
psychologist cannot prescribe medication, but may refer a client to a
psychiatrist if medication may be needed.
UPDATE: We are now augmenting
the above diagnostic methods with SPECT Brain Imaging by Amen Clinics,
Inc.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of brain illnesses is often done ‘on the fly’ in the United
States without psychometric testing. We believe that this is a
fundamental error: Would you let a doctor operate on your heart without
running any tests? Of course not.
A
complete client evaluation is necessary for a valid diagnosis,
and that an accurate diagnosis is needed to ensure that the treatment
meets the client’s needs. No one should be prescribed brain
medicine they do not need, go to ineffective counseling, nor go without
medication they need.
An accurate diagnosis is the best way to make sure someone gets the
right type of treatment which has the greatest likelihood of success.
Treatment
There are two basic types of treatment for brain illnesses: Talk
therapy (psychology) and medical treatments (psychiatry). As mentioned
earlier, a psychologist cannot prescribe medication. A psychiatrist is
a medical doctor who can prescribe medication.
In many cases, we have found that treatment has been attempted without
proper evaluation and diagnosis. This can cause clients and their
families a lot of pain because it frequently results in a misdiagnosis
and a treatment routine that doesn’t work. One of two things has
happened: A person will a) ‘go to a counselor’ or talk with a religious
leader (talk therapy) without a proper evaluation and diagnosis, or b)
they will go to a family doctor, describe their symptoms and get a
prescription for medication - again without a proper evaluation and
diagnosis.
If someone has a brain illness, talk therapy may be helpful but usually
will not be sufficient by itself. Most brain illnesses are treatable
with medication, but Americans are often resistant to medication for
these types of illnesses for social reasons – especially men. Think of
it as trying to treat diabetes with wishful thinking. However, wishful
thinking alone will not work: This is why your loved one can’t just
‘buckle down’ or ‘become more disciplined’ and solve their problems.
Likewise, medication should only be used when it is truly needed, and
determining the correct medication is critically important. Yet many
Americans go to a family doctor, describe some symptoms, and walk out
with a prescription in less than five minutes. In effect, our medical
system encourages people to have chemical operations performed on their
brains without a single test.
In our One Stop Therapy program, we believe that our clients deserve
the best legal and medical care available. We use specialists is law,
psychology and psychiatry rather than general practitioners. We believe
that a customized treatment program is the best way to ensure success
with the legal proceedings against our clients and the best way to
ensure success in treating the problem behavior that led them to our
office in the first place. Most cases can be successfully handled by
using a combination of medication, talk therapy and legal assistance.
To use our previous example, a specialist can determine the correct
medical treatment for the diabetic patient, and a diabetes support group
can encourage the patient to learn the emotional skills needed to
successfully treat the illness. Since brain illnesses have a symptom of
behavior, we add the component of legal treatment to the equation.
Our goal is to create an effective solution where our client never
needs to use a Florida criminal defense lawyer to defend a new criminal charge.
