Pharmacotherapy is the practice of using medication to treat illness. Knowing when to treat a child or adolescent with medications is a crucial decision. Some mental health conditions respond best to thoughtfully prescribed medications in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy or some other form of therapy. Patients and parents must understand all of the implications of supplementary drug treatment in order to make the right decision, in partnership with their family physician. Depending on the findings of a comprehensive diagnostic assessment performed by Healing Pathways, treatment with potent medications that can have serious side-effects may be inadvisable, and non-medication approaches such as those available here in our clinic may be most suitable.
Children or adolescents who do undergo treatment that includes medication receive particularly close follow-up under our care at Healing Pathways. Dr. Paul C. Copeland, founder of Healing Pathways Medical Clinic Inc., is a board-certified psychiatrist with more than 25 years of experience practicing clinical psychiatry for children, adolescents and adults. He is intimately familiar with all classes of psychotropic medications and the proper indications for their use. Our therapists track the rapidly occurring, continual advances in pharmacotherapy, and we monitor the newer medications that produce better results with fewer side effects.
About 30 percent of our new patients who are taking prescription medications also consume some form of nontraditional remedy, including herbs and nutritional supplements. Combining traditional medication with nontraditional remedies must be done carefully in order to avoid drug interactions and other unintended results. Our clinic subscribes to Natural Standard, a respected international research collaboration that aggregates and synthesizes data on complementary and alternative therapies. Many major hospitals and universities rely on this authoritative resource to determine which nontraditional remedies can be taken along with traditional medications. We use that resource to verify the potential for any drug interactions before prescribing medications or recommending herbs. We also routinely consult with behavior analysts Joseph E. Morrow and Brenda J. Terzich-Garland, two of our affiliated clinicians who have expertise in monitoring the effects of pharmacotherapy.
Once a psychotropic medication is prescribed, we carefully monitor the client and communicate with the patient and parents throughout the three crucial phases of medication management: starting the medication regimen; carefully calibrating the minimum dosage that will yield desired results with minimum side effects; and reducing and discontinuing a medicine when it is no longer necessary. Since medications for psychiatric conditions rarely are taken for the remainder of the patient’s life, ongoing evaluation is critically important. Upon the initiation of medication management, our patients have around-the clock, seven-day-a week access to the doctor if any immediate need arises.
Dr. Copeland advocates and practices integrative medicine, which uses conventional treatments with Yoga and other safe, effective, evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches. For many patients, that combination offers a compelling, beneficial alternative to treatment to medical treatments that a conventionally practicing psychiatrist might offer.
Healing Pathways also has expertise in cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), hypnotherapy, family therapy, applied behavior analysis and art therapy.
Healing Pathways: Your road to contentment begins here.