Psychiatric Services
Comprehensive, specialist-level care tailored to your unique needs, offering both medication management and psychotherapy.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY (MEDICATION MANAGEMENT)
Care begins with a thorough diagnostic assessment,
including a review of life events, behavioral patterns,
medical history, and family history to reach an accurate
diagnostic conceptualization. During medication follow-ups, Dr. Stern continuously identifies target symptoms and assess your
response to interventions. When appropriate, deprescribing
is considered if medications are no longer beneficial or
treatment goals change, utilizing a gradual taper to
minimize risks.
EVIDENCE-BASED PSYCHOTHERAPY
Therapy helps people to understand patterns, make sense of their stories, improve quality of life, explore the meaning and purpose of life. The type of therapy used will depend on patient preference and treatment goals.
Psychodynamic Therapy:
Psychodynamic therapy can promote deep understanding and insight into personal issues by exploring unconscious processes (hidden patterns, repressed emotions, and motivations that maintain current behaviors), early life experiences, and interpersonal patterns to resolve internal emotional conflicts. It utilizes the relationship between patient and therapy to understand interpersonal patterns and dynamics. It is an evidenced based treatment for depression, anxiety, and more.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) & ERP:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, goal-oriented therapy that helps you understand the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. CBT is based on the idea that how we think affects how we feel and what we do. By changing unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns, mood and functioning improve. CBT is widely used for depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, insomnia, and eating disorders.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and is considered a first-line treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). ERP helps you gradually face situations, thoughts, or images that trigger anxiety (exposure) while choosing not to perform compulsions or avoidance behaviors (response prevention). Over time, this helps retrain your brain to respond differently to fear and uncertainty.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT):
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a skills-based therapy that helps you change your relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to eliminate them. Instead of asking, “How do I get rid of this anxiety/body image thought/urge?” ACT asks,“How do I live a meaningful life even when these thoughts and feelings show up?” ACT is commonly used for anxiety, depression, trauma, and eating disorders.
COMBINED TREATMENT (PSYCHOTHERAPY + MEDICATION)
You can receive both medication management and
psychotherapy within the same appointment. This
comprehensive approach allows Dr. Stern to have the best
understanding of what you are experiencing and to make
the most informed treatment decisions.