A consultation involves a review of your mental health and medical history. At the Center for Anxiety and Depression we take sufficient time to review your history to get as complete a picture of you as possible in order to make an appropriate diagnosis. The medical history is important since many psychiatric symptoms may be due to medical causes. Also, in choosing an appropriate medication to treat you, it is important to have a detailed record of what medications you have tried before (and their effect and/or side effects) as well as the current medications you are taking. Many medications have complex interactions with other medications, and these interactions may result in side effects or diminished effectiveness.

There are several types of mood and anxiety disorders. For example, depressive symptoms may be part of a “unipolar” depressive complex, such as major depressive disorder or persistent depressive disorder. On the other hand, depressive symptoms may be part of a bipolar disorder, such as Bipolar I or Bipolar II disorder. Getting to the proper diagnosis is important since the treatments for these conditions differ. Sometimes people do not respond to treatment (also called “treatment resistant depression”) because the initial diagnosis is incorrect. Similarly, anxiety disorder diagnoses can be refined, such as panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, phobic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. A patient may have multiple disorders, such as having major depression with panic disorder and with alcohol and/or substance abuse. This is why taking a detailed history is crucial to making a correct diagnosis and outlining a treatment plan. The treatment plan itself is often a combination of psychotherapy or counselling (“talking therapy”), medication (pharmacotherapy), and in some cases involves neuromodulating techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

Be assured that your history of mental health issues and medical issues will be maintained in a confidential manner.