Psychiatry Notes

Things I Have Learned From Patients

2009-05-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

-The opposite of love is indifference.
-The best revenge is living well.
-The best way to raise a good child is for the parents to love each other.
-The difference between theory and practice is greater in practice than it is in theory.
-The essence of psychotherapy is to learn to understand, then forgive and forget.
-Everyone is entitled to make mistakes.
-If you get the first 25 years of your life right, the next 75 years take care of themselves
-The only self-help book you need is yourself.
-Medication helps about ten percent, therapy about ninety percent.
-Be an ant, not a grasshopper.
-Life is what happens after 5:00 p.m.
-Most people's idea of the ideal family comes from television.
-Even the Simpsons are happy.
-To be happy in a relationship requires you to first be happy with yourself.
-G-d provides opportunities.
-You can never have too much education.
-You can have too much therapy.
-Sometimes, it takes years of therapy to reach an answer so obvious that it was always there.
-In therapy, the patient has all of the answers. The physician only helps him find them.
-The most important part of anyone's life is the first six years. Treat them like gold.
-A little obsessiveness is not a bad thing.
-Mind the holes in anyone with a swiss cheese ego.
-If you sleep well at night, you can probably deal with most of your problems pretty well.
-Pick your fights.
-Depression is anger turned toward the self.
-Never be jealous of your children.
-The key to a good marriage is compromise.
-Most any psychiatric diagnosis given to a child is only a guess.
-Grudges only hurt the grudge-holder.
-The psychotherapist may not cure disease, but helps patients to learn how to love.
-There are two spheres of life - the home sphere and the work sphere. We need calm in one of them.
-In general, people are searching for peace and quiet.
-Almost everything truly is small stuff.
-The ego is soluable in alcohol.
-Television is not necessarily bad for children.
-To understand the concept of ambivalence, think of sitting in your car at a red light. You cannot decide to turn left or right. The light changes to green and the cars behind you start to honk. You still are just sitting there.
-Ruminating about the past is like watching the same movie over and over again and hoping that the ending changes.
-Look for answers where you'll find them, not simply where the light is better.
-Intimacy starts with holding hands and saying I love you.

Anxiety and Everyday Life

2009-05-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

Anxiety is a normal part of life. We all have anxiety daily. One can be anxious about an upcoming examination, a job interview, a date, or any one of a thousand different things. There are times, however, when anxiety gets out of control and requires us to do something about it. This is often called pathological anxiety.

Pathological anxiety can mean that the normal anxiety in one’s life has simply overwhelmed one’s ability to handle it. Either the level of anxiety has increased or one’s ability to deal with it has decreased. Either way, pathological anxiety can make one feel upset, uncomfortable, angry, or irritable. It can lead to depression, poor marital relationships, work problems, and scores of other intra- and inter-personal problems.

Anxiety symptoms come in many different forms. Whereas one person’s anxiety might manifest itself as obsessions or compulsions, another’s may be manifested as physical or somatic symptoms. Some people with anxiety have panic attacks. Some people actually live in a constant state of worry that they have a difficult time controlling. Symptoms of anxiety are as varied as the people who suffer from them.

People often want to know how to determine if the anxiety that they are feeling is normal or pathologic, and if it is pathologic, if it requires treatment. Basically, if the anxiety is making you feel uncomfortable and is interfering with your work or personal life, it is pathological anxiety and may require treatment.

Anxiety is treatable. The primary modality of the treatment of anxiety is psychotherapy. The specific type of psychotherapy depends upon the needs of the patient and the training of the physician. In general, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, cognitive or behavioral therapy, and supportive psychotherapy produce good results, but other modalities of treatment can also be effective. Oftentimes, medication treatment is an important adjunct to psychotherapy. The psychiatrist can provide medications, such as antidepressants, antianxiety medications, and other effective medications in conjunction with psychotherapy if needed.

To find out more about our treatment of anxiety disorders, please check out our website www.birminghamcounselingcenter.com. For appointments, please call the office at (248) 644-3605.

Welcome to Psychiatry Notes

2009-05-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION

Howard Belkin, M.D., D.D.S., J.D. is a practicing psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Birmingham, Michigan. The posts in this blog will talk about the kinds of conditions that he treats and the types of psychotherapy that he uses in his professional practice. The posts will also contain some insights into human nature and human psychology learned from his time in practice. He maintains a website at http://www.birminghamcounselingcenter.com/ .

BASIC FACTS ABOUT THE PRACTICE

Dr. Belkin is a psychiatrist and specializes in psychotherapy and medication treatment for adults, adolescents, and children. He accepts patients on a case-by-case basis. On the initial telephone call, Dr. Belkin will discuss your needs with you. If he feels that you can benefit from the type of treatment that he offers, he will schedule a visit for a new patient examination. At the end of that visit, he will discuss with you the type of treatment that he feels would be the best for your individual situation. In general, this treatment focuses on psychotherapy and medication may or may not be prescribed. The frequency and length of visits will be discussed at the initial visit.

Dr. Belkin strives to offer the highest quality of care possible. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine and did his training in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry there. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Belkin is also licensed by the State of Michigan as an attorney and a dentist, although his professional practice is limited exclusively to psychiatry.

TYPES OF PATIENTS TREATED

Dr. Belkin is often asked about the type of patients he treats. In general, he
sees patients with the following types of problems:

Anxiety or neurosis
Depression/ Dysthymia
Attention Deficit (ADHD/ADD)
Obsessive or compulsive behaviors
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Panic Attacks
Marital problems and marriage therapy
Relationship problems
Family issues and family therapy
Grief with the loss of a loved one
Life stresses
Issues resulting from childhood
Child and adolescent school issues
Child and adolescent psychiatry and therapy
Executive and business counseling
Womens' Issues

This is a general listing of conditions that the doctor treats. The suitability of any individual patient for treatment by Dr. Belkin is determined on a case-by-case basis

Please visit our website: http://www.birminghamcounselingcenter.com/ for more information about our practice of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology for adults, adolescents, and children.

Remember, nothing on this blog or on our website is meant in any way to be medical, psychiatric, psychological, or any other type of advice. You must consult your own physician or therapist for that.