Ryan Koryciak

Many of the common dilemmas people with mental health conditions face when seeking treatment for their depression diagnosis is combining treatments with social behaviors such as; drinking, illicit drugs, and other prescription drugs with a sedative effect that can further induce depression in and of themselves such as opioids. The best advice is to stay clear of any and all street drugs and alcohol, if you or a loved one has depression as a diagnosis please seek treatment for depression as soon as possible with an appropriately qualified mental health provider and assessment. As far as medications are concerned staying away from specific medications for alleviation of depression symptoms depends on the individual and their metabolism and diagnosis as to the proper course of action with psychopharmacological interventions. Definitely what works for one patient is not the same as what will work for all patients. Hope this helps. Thank you.

There are methods such as peppermint tea and other health psychology interventions that can help soothe anxiety somewhat such as some other over-the-counter remedies as well. I would also advise always being cautious of side effects or potential allergic reactions by looking at all ingredients and taking into account the patient's current and past medical health history and medications, however, if one does have anxiety this can often be the start of something benign or serious however, we don't know until proper screening is done with a doctor, psychotherapist, or another qualified mental health provider or a depression questionnaire is performed such as an MMSE (mini-mental health status exam test or another screening) exam which is a short bedside questionnaire often administered in an emergency setting however, there are many more psychological testing instruments (diagnosis-centric) provided by the APA (American Psychological Association) that fit the type of diagnosis or what is to be tested and any hypothesis on a potential diagnosis. Abstaining from caffeine can also help many people with anxiety to not feel the symptoms so badly. Hope this helps.

Yes, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is an evidence-based treatment and is a great psychological tool for addressing adverse cognitive thinking patterns that may or may not be productive and helps to address thinking patterns altogether in a limited number of sessions. This has been shown to be extremely helpful in the treatment of many but not all mental health conditions. Please always talk to your therapist or doctor first before starting or stopping any psychological intervention and please obtain the correct psycho-analysis as well leading up to therapy. Thank you.

Generally speaking, a benzodiazepine is prescribed often for anxiety, however, this is not the case in all mental health diagnosis situations as it may be a combination of other prescribed medications that may oftentimes help with the treatment of various mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression together for example. It does depend on the affective diagnosis of what is going on in regards to other co-morbidities and is certainly not a one-size fits all. Hope this helps thank you.

It does depend on what is causing it. There may be other underlying mental health concerns and situational, biological, or environmental factors at play that will determine how to proceed with treatment interventions for it.

Hope this Helps,

Dr. Ryan C Koryciak