Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories

Diagnosis guides treatment....except when it doesn't

Craig Heacock MD Season 2 Episode 12

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 51:08

In most specialties of medicine, the dictum "Diagnosis guides treatment" is the law of the land. In psychiatry, however, most of what we treat are often overlapping syndromes, not actual diseases, and these syndromes involve hugely varying dimensions of symptoms with a vast array of potential causes and exacerbating factors.

Maggie came to Dr. H with a challenging clinical presentation:  likely genetic loading for a mood and/or anxiety disorder, childhood emotional neglect, years of school problems, hormone irregularities and progesterone hypersensitivity, all leading to  steadily worsening mood instability, depression, and hopelessness.  Over the course of the last 12 years, Maggie and Dr. H were eventually able to co-create both a successful treatment course and a shame-free narrative, without a clear diagnosis to guide them.

Comments, suggestions, questions? We'd love to hear them! Email us via https://www.craigheacockmd.com or message us on Twitter @bftapod

If you haven’t already, please write us a review!

Support the show