Services

What is Psychopharmacology?

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychopharmacology involves the treatment of mental illness through the use of medication. Some conditions, like mild to moderate depression or anxiety, may benefit from various psychotherapies as well as from exercise and other adjunctive therapies such as yoga, meditation, acupuncture, (etc.). Some people may not require the treatment of their condition with medication. However, for people who suffer from severe anxiety, severe depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or schizophrenia, medication is typically indicated for the treatment of their condition. Usually the best outcomes are realized by the combination of medication treatment, psychotherapy, exercise, yoga, meditation, etc . While some adjunctive therapies are beneficial, they are often not enough to resolve problems related to major mental illness and related conditions.

Psychotherapy comes in many forms. Cognitive and Behavioral treatments can target maladaptive cognitive distortions and strategies as well as learned behavioral responses to stressful situations. Interpersonal therapy targets subjective and objective thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and strategies that evolved in the context of primary attachment relationships. These therapeutic interventions create the opportunity for identifying and freeing oneself from self-defeating patterns that hinder one in the quest for satisfying and fulfilling relationships and life endeavors. Dr. Clancy offers psychopharmacologic as well as psychotherapeutic treatments.

Why see Dr. Clancy?

Everyday I see people who are essentially stuck in some moment in history. I know that these moments cannot be erased and that all scars cannot be resected. But there can be healing through understanding, empathy, and ultimately acceptance. People need someone to help bear the pain that cannot otherwise be faced and they need someone to point out the dangers that are often missed due to selective inattention. There are tremendous benefits but also limits to any therapy. When function has gone awry a psychiatrist must be aware of biochemical, cellular, and organic processes as much as he/she is familiar with individual, interpersonal, familial, cultural, religious, an societal structures. We must integrate, rather than merely reduce, all the parts of human constitution as they relate to one another.

As a psychiatrist my training has been broad in scope so that I am able to move with my patient, see his/her character, prone to fits and to folly, and know where he/she is apt to fall. My resources need not be limited to pharmacotherapy or psycho-dynamic therapy, for each school of training has its application and limitation. One needs to be fluent with different modalities of intervention in order to reach the patient in whatever form he/she requires.

It is an exciting time to be in the field of mental health. As psychiatrists we are witness to high drama, and we play a significant role in the fates of our patients. We are in a vast and expanding field of neuro-biology, and I look forward to being involved with recent and future discoveries as they are applied to clinical therapeutics. I enjoy helping people to better understand themselves and I endeavor to enhance the lives of my clients in a deep and enriching process that is co-created within the context of a therapeutic and mutually respectful relationship.