Treatment Specialties
We specialize in treating complex mental health illnesses and co-occurring disorders. Our areas of expertise include:
Depression
What is depression?
Depression is a common mental health condition that significantly affects how you feel, think, behave, and handle daily activities. This condition can cause feelings of hopelessness and sadness and can affect your motivation, outlook, and close relationships.
Depression is a complex disorder and may be the result of many factors, including diet, lifestyle choices, life circumstances, or trauma. It can often present along with other health concerns, such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, heart disease, and stroke.
Depression can affect people of all ages, including children, but most often arises during adulthood. Even the most severe cases of depression are treatable.
What are symptoms of depression?
Symptoms of depression may vary over time, and affect different people different ways. Depression is often diagnosed after the consistent presence of symptoms for two or more weeks.
Symptoms may include:
- Persistent feelings of hopelessness, sadness, or emptiness
- Loss of interest in normal activities or pleasures
- Chronic fatigue or low energy
- Difficulty concentrating or focusing
- Difficulty making decisions
- Poor memory
- Difficulty sleeping
- Change in appetite
- Suicidal thoughts or behaviors
Depression may cause physical symptoms like generalized pain or problems with digestion.
What are the different types of depression?
Depressive disorders come in many forms. Some depressive disorders include:
- Major depressive disorder: Five or more symptoms are present.
- Postpartum depression: Major depression that occurs during pregnancy or soon after delivery.
- Persistent depressive disorder: Symptoms of depressed mood that lasts at least two years.
- Seasonal affective disorder: Feelings of depression during a particular season, most commonly the winter months.
- Bipolar disorder: This form is a mood disorder that includes extremes of both major depression and mania.
What treatments are available for depression?
The team at New Journeys Behavioral Health creates a customized plan of care that may include medications, lifestyle changes, and nutritional counseling.
Treatment may also involve and cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy. These therapies treat the underlying emotional causes of your depression symptoms and help create effective coping methods for improving your depression.
Anxiety
What is anxiety?
Anxiety, or persistent worry or apprehension, is a normal part of a healthy life. When these feelings become a large part of your everyday life, you may have a chronic anxiety disorder, which can significantly impact your overall sense of well-being and affect your daily responsibilities.
The underlying causes of anxiety disorders are varied, but genetics, traumatic life events, medical conditions, childhood trauma, and substance abuse can all contribute to increased risk for these conditions.
Anxiety disorders and clinical depression are often seen together, as uncontrolled anxiety can lead to feelings of depression and hopelessness. They are not the same, however, and need to be treated as separate conditions.
What are some types of anxiety disorders?
Symptoms of anxiety may present in a variety of ways, and under a wide range of circumstances. Often, the circumstances surrounding your anxiety are the key to diagnosis of a specific disorder.
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) - GAD causes you to feel extreme anxiety on most days, for at least six months. You may feel restless, irritable, worried, and have difficulty sleeping.
- Panic disorder - Panic disorder can cause sudden, extreme feelings of fear and panic that create physical symptoms like difficulty breathing, a racing heartbeat, sweating, and shaking. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a panic disorder brought on by specific traumatic events such as being involved in an accident or natural disaster.
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Social anxiety disorder - Social anxiety disorder causes you to feel extreme anxiety, worry, panic, or profound embarrassment when around groups of people, or in social situations like school or work.
- Performance anxiety - Performance anxiety may happen when you are in a situation where your performance is important, such as when giving a presentation, playing sports, or having sex.
There are many other types of anxiety disorders, and expert psychiatric care may be needed for effective diagnosis and treatment of your symptoms and for relief of your ongoing anxiety.
What treatments are available for anxiety?
New Journeys Behavioral Health takes a thorough assessment in order to understand the physical, psychological, and emotional causes of your anxiety. We create a treatment plan specific to you, which may include:
- Antidepressant medications
- Anti-anxiety medications
- Lifestyle changes
- Meditation & Yoga
Our team uses psychotherapy to help identify factors that increase your anxiety or make it worse. Cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy, is a valuable tool for teaching coping and behavioral techniques to help you manage your fears and worries.
PTSD
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder brought on by exposure to a terrifying or traumatic event. With PTSD, anxiety is severe and persistent and may affect your ability to work, form or keep relationships, or function in everyday life.
The triggering event could have caused or threatened serious harm or potential death to you or someone else. Traumatic events that can cause PTSD are physical or sexual assault, natural disasters, military combat, or witnessing someone’s death or severe injury.
Complications of untreated PTSD include severe depression, suicidal thoughts or behaviors, drug or alcohol addiction, or eating disorders. Effective treatment is possible and often necessary to successfully cope with your trauma and live a full, healthy life.
What are symptoms of PTSD?
Symptoms of PTSD can be complex and varied. How each person responds to traumatic events is unique to them, and your symptoms may not even be similar to those who may have witnessed the same event.
Those with PTSD often have:
- Recurrent, vivid memories of an event
- Nightmares related to the event
- Avoidance of the discussion or sharing details related to the event
- Avoidance of places or circumstances surrounding the event
You may also note changes in mood or behaviors, like:
- Being easily startled or frightened
- Having negative or self-destructive thoughts
- Showing extreme irritability or emotional reactions
- Having difficulty sleeping or concentrating
- Participating in self-destructive behaviors
Having some anxiety immediately after experiencing trauma is not unusual, and is to be expected. When your symptoms last longer than a month or affect your life significantly, it is important to seek professional treatment.
What treatments are available for PTSD?
Effective treatment for your post-traumatic stress disorder is possible and starts with a full, expert assessment by our team. We take time to fully understand your symptoms and creates a customized treatment plan specific to you.
Usually, PTSD treatment involves medications, psychotherapy, or both. Medications can help relieve physical symptoms of your anxiety, while psychotherapy treats the underlying cause for your anxiety and equips you with healthy coping skills.
Bipolar
What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic-depression, is a mental health condition characterized by fluctuating periods of profound, deep depression and extreme euphoria and energy, or mania. This condition is a chronic and severe mental health issue.
With bipolar disorder, you sometimes suffer from severely low mood and energy levels. Manic episodes can present as heightened mood, which may manifest as irritability, rage, uncontrolled behaviors, unusually high energy, and overconfidence.
Bipolar disorder can affect children and adolescents, but most often is diagnosed in young adults. Misdiagnosis is not unusual, and bipolar disorder can sometimes be mistaken as attention-deficit disorder (ADD), schizophrenia, or borderline personality disorder.
What are symptoms of bipolar disorder?
The key factor in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder is the presence of manic episodes. Mania may present abruptly after years of depression or after a triggering event. Symptoms may vary from mild to extreme. Often, someone suffering from bipolar disorder may deny manic symptoms entirely.
Manic symptoms include:
- Elevated energy and activity and inability to rest
- Increased, hyperactive mood and optimism
- Increased irritability, aggression, or anger
- Difficulty focusing and concentrating
- Racing thoughts and fast speech
- Decreased ability and need for sleep
During a manic episode, you may be reckless, promiscuous, spend extreme amounts of money, and have unrealistically high views of your abilities. On the other hand, depressive symptoms include:
- Constant feelings of sadness or apathy
- Extreme hopelessness or helplessness
- Loss of interest in activities you used to enjoy
- Decreased energy or extreme fatigue
- Sleeping too much or inability to rest
Both manic and depressive symptoms vary widely and can significantly impact your ability to live a normal, healthy life.
What treatments are available for bipolar disorder?
New Journeys Behavioral Health uses a variety of treatment methods to help you live the best life possible with bipolar disorder. Long-term treatment plans may include,
- Mood-stabilizing medications
- Nutritional counseling
- Lifestyle counseling
- Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy helps to empower you to manage your symptoms well, whether dealing with depressive or manic episodes. Psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic therapy serve to equip you for maintaining relationships and decreasing extremes of bipolar disorder.
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