BPD

Paradocs Psychological Services | Hayden Finch, PhD

Why Every Doctor Gives You A Different Mental Health Diagnosis

Blog, Severe Mental Illnesses / Hayden Finch, PhD

It’s so frustrating when one of your doctors says you have Schizoaffective Disorder (or Social Anxiety Disorder), while another says it’s Bipolar Disorder (or Generalized Anxiety Disorder). And then you switch providers and they think it’s Schizophrenia (or OCD). What’s the freakin’ deal? They have an incredible amount of education and experience. Why can’t they […]

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Hayden Finch, PhD, Therapy & Psychological Services in Des Moines, IA`

Medication Overview: Final Thoughts

Blog, Medication / Hayden Finch, PhD

Now that you’ve read the preceding posts about antidepressants, anxiolytics, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics, here are my final thoughts about medications. Sometimes people assume that the higher the dose of a medication, the more severe their illness is. This is false. Each medication has its own dosage scale, with some being up to 1200 mg

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Medication Overview: Antipsychotics

Blog, Medication, Severe Mental Illnesses / Hayden Finch, PhD

This is the fourth post in a series in which I’m aiming to demystify some of the very basics of psychotropic medications. Make sure you read the first post to get some of the background before reading this post about antipsychotic medications. And remember that I’m not a physician and in no way claim to

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Medication Overview: Mood Stabilizers

Blog, Medication, Severe Mental Illnesses / Hayden Finch, PhD

This is the third post in a series in which I’m aiming to demystify some of the very basics of psychotropic medications. Make sure you read the first post to get some of the background before reading this post about mood stabilizers. And remember that I’m not a physician and in no way claim to

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Medication Overview: Anxiety Medications

Anxiety, Blog, Medication / Hayden Finch, PhD

This is the second post in a series in which I’m aiming to demystify some of the very basics of psychotropic medications. Make sure you read the first post to get some of the background before reading this post about anxiety medications. And remember that I’m not a physician and in no way claim to

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Medication Overview: Antidepressants

Blog, Depression, Medication / Hayden Finch, PhD

Commonly when clients present to my office, they are already taking one or more medications for mental health. We call those medications “psychotropic medications.” One of the most common frustrations I hear is with the “trial and error” process of prescribing. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know ahead of time how well or even if any

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Alcoholism: Let’s Raise a Toast to Knowledge Part II

Alcoholism & Substance Use, Blog / Hayden Finch, PhD

By HAYDEN FINCH, PhD Recently, we started chatting about alcohol use and what puts people at increased risk of a problematic pattern of alcohol use. Today, let’s chat some about biology and mental health as it pertains to alcohol use, and then I’ll share with you some of my thoughts about recovery. Here are some

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Alcoholism: Let’s Raise a Toast to Knowledge Part I

Alcoholism & Substance Use, Blog / Hayden Finch, PhD

By HAYDEN FINCH, PhD The concept of what alcoholism “is” has changed over time, including in the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the controversial but widely used diagnostic manual for psychiatric conditions. The research has varied regarding how problematic alcohol use changes over time and whether it’s a

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Bipolar Disorder versus “Bipolar”? Part III: Four Important Questions

Blog, Severe Mental Illnesses / Hayden Finch, PhD

By HAYDEN FINCH, PhD In my first post in this series, I confessed something has really been bothering me – the misuse of the word “bipolar” over the last decade. In that post, we chatted about what a manic episode really is, by definition. And then in my second post, we talked about depressive episodes

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Bipolar Disorder versus “Bipolar”? Part II: Depressive Symptoms

Blog, Severe Mental Illnesses / Hayden Finch, PhD

By HAYDEN FINCH, PhD In my last post, we started chatting about the difference between Bipolar Disorder and being “bipolar.” And we reviewed some of the diagnostic criteria for being manic. Today, let’s continue our discussion by talking about the other “pole,” the depressive side of the illness. Diagnostic Criteria: Depressive Episode A major depressive

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Why Every Doctor Gives You A Different Mental Health Diagnosis

Medication Overview: Final Thoughts

Medication Overview: Antipsychotics

Medication Overview: Mood Stabilizers

Medication Overview: Anxiety Medications

Medication Overview: Antidepressants

Alcoholism: Let’s Raise a Toast to Knowledge Part II

Alcoholism: Let’s Raise a Toast to Knowledge Part I

Bipolar Disorder versus “Bipolar”? Part III: Four Important Questions

Bipolar Disorder versus “Bipolar”? Part II: Depressive Symptoms

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