Depression
Advanced Therapeutic Solutions for Anxiety provides therapy for the treatment of Depression.
About 7% (1 of 14) of people experience major depressive disorder, most of whom are in the 18-29 year-old age group. Females also are at higher risk for depression, showing 1.5 - 3 times higher risk than males beginning in early adolescence. While depression can begin at any age, the likelihood increases with puberty. Symptoms can include:
- Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day
- In children/adolescents, depressed mood may be expressed as increased irritability
- Lost interest in the things that used to be pleasurable
- Loss of appetite, or increased appetite
- Significant change in weight (weight loss or gain)
- Disturbed sleep; insomnia or hypersomnia
- Restlessness
- Physically moving slower than usual
- Feelings of worthlessness, guilt
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty making decisions
- Thoughts of death
Depression can interfere with daily activities, ranging from self care (e.g., showering) to educational or occupational functioning (e.g., meeting expectations in school or at work). Depression can also impact family and social relationships. The presentation of depression can take many forms. Symptoms may range from mild to severe, can include anxiety, and can have a seasonal pattern. While a significant loss (e.g., bereavement, financial loss, loss from a natural disaster) can include depressive symptoms, the presentation may not meet criteria for a major depressive disorder, but may meet criteria for another condition (e.g., adjustment disorder). Regardless, improving the mood symptoms and reducing the interference in daily functioning is the goal for treatment.
Evidence-based treatment for depressive symptoms includes cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to identify automatic negative thought errors, increase insight on how thought errors can derail you and your relationships, and learn ways to recognize and correct thought errors so that you feel more in control. Having an understanding of how thoughts (e.g. negative thoughts about yourself) relate to how you experience the world (e.g., everyone is against me), and how that relates to your behavior (e.g., shutting others out) is the cognitive triad that is focused on in treatment. (Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is also helpful to identify values, increase mindfulness, decrease distress, and focus on living a life true to your values. For children and adolescents, these treatment models are delivered through age-appropriate methods and will also include parent education so that parents can continue to help their child between sessions and throughout their child development.
Clinical Procedures for Depression Evaluation and Outpatient Treatment
Free Phone Intake Consultation
Up to 30-min phone consultation so we can hear about your presenting issue, the symptoms you are experiencing, when they started, the severity of symptoms, and if we are the appropriate place for your treatment. The diagnostic intake process is discussed, and your insurance/billing questions are answered. If the treatment you need is within our scope of services, we begin the scheduling process. If it is deemed that we are not the appropriate place, we will provide you with referrals and resources to help you. We want to make sure to connect you with services, and that includes helping you find treatment elsewhere if that's what you need.
Free
CPT CODE: 0
Diagnostic Evaluation
A 90-min diagnostic intake interview with the child’s parents to assess symptoms, collect history, review systems (school, home, community), differential diagnosis, review of prior records, review parents’ families psychiatric histories, and follow up/clarify any questions that arose from reviewing the questionnaires parents/child/teen filled out before the intake session.
Starting at 295
CPT CODE: 90791
Adolescent Intake Interview
A 60-min interview with the adolescent allows us to hear their perspective. Symptoms are assessed, and may include additional questionnaires for diagnostic clarification, allowing us to define a baseline. Interventions are tested out and discussed, using an age-appropriate model, to assess the adolescent's motivation and response to intervention for treatment planning purposes.
Starting at 195
CPT CODE: 90837
Parent Feedback Session, Guidance, and Treatment Planning
A 1-hour feedback session with parents is held which includes presenting diagnoses, symptom severity, diagnostic rule outs, and discussing the recommended treatment plan. Parents are asked for their specific goals for their teen and what they hope to gain from treatment at ATSA. Decisions are made as to whether the teen will start with therapy sessions only, allowing for the future addition of psychopharmacological treatment as an adjunct, or whether to start with combined treatment (or in rare cases to start with psychopharmacological treatment before CBT). Parents will be provided guidance on the behavioral techniques to implement at home and in the community with their child, to help maintain and generalize treatment gains. Parents are provided feedback about their child’s behavioral challenges and gains from the initial assessment sessions, and the specific techniques that will be used to successfully help their child overcome his/her specific barriers in the exposure process. Throughout treatment, parents are provided with additional feedback sessions to discuss next steps, including help with transfer of skills outside of the clinic setting.
Starting at 195
CPT CODE: 90846