A psychiatric evaluation explores your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to gather information about your mental health. It’s a diagnostic tool that can help identify any underlying illnesses  that could explain some of your unusual behaviors or emotions.

You might opt for a psychiatric evaluation because you notice changes in yourself or someone else has recognized a difference in you. After your evaluation, your provider gives you an overview of their findings and can start developing your personalized mental health care plan.

Your psychiatric evaluation happens during a 60-minute session at Avazach Psychiatry. You will be given an assessment that asks many questions about symptoms related to depressed moods, anxiety, and other signs of various mental health conditions.  

A complete psychiatric evaluation also touches on your overall medical history. You will be asked questions about your lifestyle, behaviors, background, and everyday habits.  

Your provider can also:

• Rule out certain conditions that might cause your symptoms
• Predict future concerns with your mental health
• Start selecting possible treatment options that align with your diagnosis
• Include you in final decisions about your treatment

Your provider will go into detail about your results before recommending any treatments that may benefit you. This includes therapy and psychiatric medications.  

Once your psychiatric evaluation is complete, your responses will be assessed and a mental health diagnosis obtained if your symptoms meet the criteria. While it’s possible that some of your symptoms might be related to other factors like stress, a psychiatric evaluation can help identify:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Mood disorders
• Bipolar disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Eating disorders

Mental health conditions commonly co-occur, and you may have multiple diagnoses during your initial psychiatric evaluation. If this is the case, your provider plans their treatment simultaneously and ensures any medications they prescribe won’t interact negatively with each other or with any other non-psychiatric medications you may be taking.