How Can Psychiatry Help Me?

By Jennifer Collins, APRN

The term “psychiatry” sometimes is a hinderance to seek out care when having mental health needs.

Life is tough! From conception to the grave, life poses challenges. Not everyone has the ways and means to deal with some situations. It is sometimes considered stigma to us to seek out help for depression, anxiety, mood issues, etc., but the brain is an organ, we must first recognize this. If you had a fever and cough would you not seek out treatment? If your skin were covered in a rash, would you not try to find a treatment and hopefully a cure? We have a lot of organs that make up our human form. Most of them have an illness at some point in our life. The three pounds inside your skull make up the most important organ in your body- it controls every other organ. Do you not owe it to the rest of your body to take care of that organ?

Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist for more than 40 years, has written many books about keeping the brain, an organ, healthy. Prevention of poor brain health is key to having a good mental health. Avoiding toxins (nicotine, alcohol, excessive caffeine, drugs, inhalants, environmental toxins); remaining active, avoiding excessive video gaming, screen time; healthy eating habits; avoiding excessive sugar intake; and practicing sleep hygiene/having a regular sleep schedule with at least 7 hours uninterrupted sleep. If we can prevent an illness or poor mental health, it is so much a better and less expensive option.1

But what if we cannot prevent it? What if the brain is already “sick”? Hopefully, that is where APC can offer some great help and insight! Working with a therapist and a nurse practitioner to get that brain on the road to recovery is an option available to you right now! Just reach out and contact us!

1. Reference: Amen, D.G. (2020). The end of mental illness. Tyndale House Publishers.