Psychiatric Assessments
Before being admitted, our licensed physicians at Create Recovery Center go to great lengths to make sure each patient is evaluated thoroughly. To do so, they will have to perform psychiatric assessments. These psychiatric assessments will allow them to understand the needs of each patient so that they can better develop a treatment plan.
What are Psychiatric Assessments?
The ultimate purpose of psychiatric assessments is to make a diagnosis. Physicians need psychiatric assessments to confirm if an addiction disorder has developed. To be accepted into a treatment facility, each patient will need to complete one psychiatric assessment.
Psychiatric assessments are used to evaluate certain behaviors, memories, and even responses to certain situations. The point of these evaluations is to understand why addiction has occurred. Psychiatric assessments also aim to identify long-lasting problems that may worsen as time goes on.
Why Are Psychiatric Evaluations Important?
Psychiatric evaluations are an important first step in the treatment process. They allow our licensed physicians at Create Recovery to develop the best plan of action for each patient’s addiction. Certain cases of addiction are more severe than others. If treatment plans are not customized to each patient’s needs, more or less time in rehab could be spent than needed.
Psychiatric evaluations also help address other underlying issues that a patient may not know were there. These can include things like past sexual and physical abuse as well as co-existing disorders like anxiety. Once these underlying issues are identified, our therapists can address them accordingly.
Types of Psychiatric Evaluations
There are a couple of different types of psychiatric evaluations. Each of these evaluations assesses the different needs of the patient. Some may focus on the initial reasons for why the patient wanted treatment, whereas others will focus on more in-depth reasons for treatment.
Contact Center Prescreen
A contact center prescreen is the first type of psychiatric evaluation. These calls are the first initial contacts that you will have with our center. Our representatives will take down your background information as well as any other pertinent information about yourself at this time. The information given during these phone calls will determine what branch of our center is the best fit for you.
Some of the questions that we’ll ask during the contact center prescreen will be about your drug use history. Others will have more to do with your current financial situation. All of this information will help us understand how to best help you. Some of the information that we’ll ask you to provide will include:
- Demographic info
- Your insurance information
- Why you are seeking treatment
- A brief history of your substance use
- Whether you have tried to harm yourself or others
- Any past medical history information pertaining to your substance use
Medical Evaluations
Our inpatient clients will receive one or more medical evaluations once admitted into our center. Our licensed physicians will examine each patient’s physical health during these medical evaluations. This will allow them to understand the severity of any co-existing illnesses or diseases a patient may have. It will also show if any of these are in direct correlation with past substance use.
Our physicians will evaluate many different parts of the body and its functions including:
- Blood pressure levels
- Cholesterol levels
- Average heart rate
- Body temperature
- Lung function
- Liver function
- Any present allergies
- Current medications being taken
- STI testing
Our physicians will then implement medical detoxification. This will slowly rid the patient’s body of all abused substances. Medical detox is used to ensure a patient’s body doesn’t shut down due to the lack of the substances that it is used to.
Clinical Evaluations
Our physicians continuously perform clinical evaluations throughout the treatment process. With every evaluation, our staff is able to understand what is and isn’t working for each patient. Through clinical evaluations, our staff is even able to figure out what a patient’s strengths and weaknesses are and how to address them.
One of the most important clinical evaluations performed is called a biopsychosocial. A biopsychosocial is an evaluation that showcases many different factors related to each patient’s addiction. The areas that it focuses on include:
- Employment and education history
- How addiction has affected a patient financially, behaviorally, and physically
- A history of legal trouble a patient has gotten into because of their addiction
- Family history of substance use or lack of
- Trauma history including sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse
- A physical assessment of how well a patient performs
- Spiritual healing and how open a patient is to using holistic therapies
Why is Every Case of Addiction Different?
Once our team completes all of the evaluations, we often find that the severity of addictions varies greatly from case to case. There are many factors that can play into the severity of an addiction. Each one is not more or less influential than the other as they may affect everyone differently.
Genetic Factors
Our genes have a lot to do with who we are and how we develop. This is especially true when it comes to addiction. Therefore, addiction can be passed on through generations. This means that ff an individual has a family history of addiction, he or she is more likely to fall victim to the disease.
Environmental Factors
Environmental factors, such as peer pressure, can also affect whether or not a person develops an addiction. For example, individuals who constantly surround themselves with friends and family who abuse substances can go down the path of drug abuse. This is because peer pressure is something that not a lot of people can resist falling victim to. This leads to these individuals becoming a victim of their environment.
Co-existing Disorders
Mental disorders and physical ailments are very difficult to overcome. Some co-existing mental disorders that can play into addiction include bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, etc.
Physical ailments include physiological issues such as chronic pain, heart disease, and lung disease. Such physical ailments play a huge part in the development of addiction because of the challenges and pain that they bring into an individual’s life.
Most of the time, doctors prescribe medications to treat physical diseases. Some of these medications are addictive and can send an individual down a dark path.
Some addicts will use substances like alcohol and illegal drugs to ignore symptoms of mental disorders. This can also lead to addiction.
Past Trauma
Past trauma, especially at a young age, has a detrimental effect on an individual’s brain. Some categories of past trauma can include mental, physical, emotional, and sexual.
When a brain experiences past trauma before it’s done developing, the chemistry of the brain can change. This can cause an individual’s reactions and behaviors to be different than what they would have been without the trauma. In turn, an addiction to a substance can develop in order to cope with the trauma.
Treatment Planning and What to Expect
Once all evaluations are complete, our doctors will have a good idea of how to effectively treat your addiction. This will allow them to develop a plan of action for treatment. Each treatment plan will be customized to fit your specific needs.
Will You Need a Detox?
Detoxification is necessary for most cases of addiction. The amount of time that you spent under the influence along with the type of substances that you abused will determine the length of your detox. You will also most likely experience some type of withdrawal from the detox. These withdrawal symptoms can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of years.
What Level of Treatment is Best?
Our treatment programs have different levels of care associated with each. The two main types consist of inpatient and outpatient programs. Our inpatient programs are more intense and are for those with severe cases of addiction. They allow our patients to receive 24 hours a day, 7 days a week care.
Our outpatient programs are for those who need to work around their schedule in order to receive treatment. Our outpatient clients are allowed to attend school and work while also attending therapy sessions and treatments. Although this treatment plan is more flexible, it still gives each patient the guidance that they need to move forward with their recovery.
Will You Most Likely Need Aftercare?
A lot of our patients have continuous success stories after graduating because of our aftercare program. It is believed that 40-60% of all patients relapse after completing treatment. Our aftercare program wants to decrease this number as much as possible.
Our aftercare plan assists patients in many different areas after rehab. We give them the resources to find support groups in their area as well as help them find jobs. Rejoining the world after completing treatment can be scary, but we want to make it as seamless as a transition as possible.
How Create Recovery Can Help
Our team at Create Recovery wants to customize a program specifically with you and your loved one’s needs in mind. To start the process of your psychiatric evaluations, feel free to contact us today. We can explain exactly what goes into our evaluations, as well as give you background information on each of our programs.
