3 Tips to Find the Best Psychiatrist

If you have decided to seek psychiatric help, you are not simply looking for the best psychiatrist in Manhattan. You are looking for the best psychiatrist for you. Therefore, it makes sense to get the name of a psychiatrist from someone who knows you and has some understanding of the issues you wish to address. Here are three tips to find the best psychiatrist for you.

Get a Referral or Recommendation

These days, many people are prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs by their primary care physicians. In doing so, your doctor has already made a diagnosis of your psychiatric issues, so would be in a good position to recommend a psychiatrist. If your doctor has already recommended talk therapy in addition to medication, he or she may already have someone is mind for you.

A doctor you already use because he or she is in your insurance network may be better able to recommend psychiatrists in the same network. Depending on your insurance plan, your doctor may be able to recommend someone as an in-network referral.

If you are in a self-help group to deal with a specific issue, you may be able to get the name of a psychiatrist currently treating someone in the group for that issue. You may also be able to find a list of psychiatrists on a website serving people with that issue.

Close friends and confidants may also be able to recommend psychiatrists who have helped them.

Research

Once you have the name of a best psychiatrist Manhattan, look for more information online. The psychiatrist may have a website or be listed on the site of a hospital or medical group. Find out where the psychiatrist was trained and what experience he or she has. You may be able to learn about the psychiatrist’s specialties and philosophy in treatment option such as medication.

Contact the psychiatrist or the psychiatrist’s office via email over the phone to try to get more specific information about topics such as expected frequency of visits and length of treatment.

Shop Around

Even if you think you have found the best psychiatrist Manhattan, do not feel obligated to commit to that person if you feel any uncertainty after the first session. You will be opening yourself up to this person, so you will want to feel comfortable with him or her. You want some that you can trust and who respects you and what you are going through.

Different psychiatrists have different approaches, so you want to find one with an approach that makes sense to you. But you also want to find someone willing to listen to you and work with you to develop a strategy based on your specific needs, as opposed to offering a one-size-fits-all approach that disregards the input you should have into your own issues.

Contacting more than one psychiatrist gives you the opportunity to compare and contrast. You want to find someone who makes you feel comfortable and is not judgmental. If you find someone that you really connect with, it could increase your chances of making real progress.

If you’re looking for a psychiatrist in the NYC or Connecticut area, take a look at Dr. Wendy Wolfson who uses a unique approach to treatment called Psych 360.

Jon Lewin writes on a variety of topics. He lives in New York City.