Getting‍‍‍ your affairs in order before your first psychiatric appointment will help you spend less time being stressed and more time productively preparing. You will have to complete most of the work within half an hour: note symptoms, list medicals, gather family health history, contemplate the questions to ask the doctor. This is a guide on how to prepare for a psychiatric evaluation conducted in-person in Sacramento vs remotely from home will all be discussed separately in each of these ‍‍‍sections.

Why preparation changes your first visit

This‍‍‍ may be your first time? A full psychiatric assessment can last for as long as an hour and the evaluator has many areas to cover including current symptoms, medical history, family background, and daily life. Many people tend to highlight their most severe symptoms and overlook symptom patterns. Or they will bring up medications but will not tell what dosage caused a rash.

Once you get the hang of what to prepare your way for the psychiatric examination these issues will not arise. When a psychiatrist obtains accurate time of a symptom, detailed timeline, and precise medication history the diagnosis is made earlier and even treatment suggestions can be personalized. Furthermore, you are not wasting time on trying to recall what your mind or body were doing, the appointment is much more about the issues you actually care ‍‍‍about.

A 30-minute plan for how to prepare for a psychiatric evaluation

You do not need days of effort. Set a timer and work through four short tasks.

Minutes 1 to 10: start a symptom journal

A‍‍‍ symptom journal records exactly what you feel and when. A notebook or mobile notes app would work just fine. The details should include:

• The onset of the symptom and its frequency
• The intensity of the symptom on a scale from 1 to 10
• The situations that trigger a symptom and those that help reduce a symptom
• The impact of the symptom on your sleep, food, energy levels, concentration and work/school

Specific details can help more than just general statements. A physician will get a clearer idea when reading “two panic episodes at a supermarket lasting about 15 mins every week” than “I have anxiety quite often.” If you have never documented symptoms before, you can write the symptoms based on memory for the last two weeks, after that continue to record daily notes till the appointment.

Minutes 10 to 18: build your medication list

Medications include all the drugs you use from the prescriptions to the over-the-counter ones, vitamins, herbal products. Don’t forget to write down all the alcohol, cannabis, or caffeine that you consume at home. For each of the drugs mention the dose and how long you take them.

You should also record the details of any previous psychiatric medications: the name, if it worked for your condition, what were the side effects, and the reason you stopped. List down the names of all the drug allergies if any plus the name of the pharmacy you are using. Carrying drug test results will help you if you have ever done pharmacogenetic testing. Snapshots of your pill label would be a good substitute if it’s tedious copying labels by ‍‍‍hand.

Minutes 18 to 24: write family history notes

Mental‍‍‍ illness and some physical illnesses share a tendency to run in families. You may want to list relatives (parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.) that suffered from depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, PTSD, substance use, psychosis, or attempted suicide. Also, mention when exactly they were diagnosed and what kind of treatment was administered if this information is known.

Furthermore, don’t forget to include medical conditions such as thyroid problems, heart diseases, and seizures. They are significant because certain drugs may need to be avoided if the patient has such medical conditions.

Of course, if you have missing information, a brief conversation with a parent or sibling can be helpful. Next, you will add your own information: diagnoses you have had in the past, therapy sessions you participated in, any hospitalizations, head Traумa or a brain injury, and your major life events such as a loss, a trauma, death, an unexpected ‍‍‍move.

Minutes 24 to 30: choose your questions to bring

Questions to pose that will steer the doctor’s visit toward issues you are concerned about. Choose only a few from the list below and include your own questions too:

• What is the probable diagnosis for my symptoms, and are there any other conditions that might explain my situation?
• Besides drugs, what else can be done to treat the condition?
• How soon after treatment am I likely to feel a change?
• Which of the medications should I expect to have side effects, and if I have those and other symptoms, at what time do I need to see the doctor?
• Will DNA tests allow me to pick the right medicine?
• How frequently shall we meet for checks, and at what ‍‍‍price?

Psychiatry appointment checklist

Use this list the night before.

• Photo ID and insurance card
• Symptom journal
• Medication list or the bottles themselves
• Family history notes
• Your questions, written down
• Records from previous providers, recent lab results, and the name of any current therapist
• For a child or teen, school reports and teacher feedback
• A relative or friend who can describe changes they have noticed, if you want someone with you

How to prepare for a psychiatric evaluation by telehealth

People in Sacramento often opt for a video visit nowadays because this way patients won’t have to drive to the clinic and won’t have to spend time in the waiting room.

All that is still the same, except that you will also need to do a few extra technical things. Make sure to charge your device, try out both the camera and the mic, find a quiet room where you won’t be disturbed and your internet is stable enough, have your meds right there and also your emergency contacts as well as your street address.

Sometimes, telehealth service is limited only to certain states, so just make sure that the clinician you will be getting your televisit from has a valid license in the state that you will be living or residing at the time of the call.

What happens during the evaluation

A‍‍‍ psychiatrist or nurse practitioner will probably begin by questioning you about why you came in, what your symptoms are, whether you sleep well, if you drink alcohol or use drugs, what illnesses you have had, and what your family background is.

Some practitioners will also include brief screening questionnaires for depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to get a better idea of the person they’re assessing.

It’s important to be very open and forthcoming because the psychiatrist will be in a position to protect the client’s health from possible threats including substance misuse or even suicide risk. At the end of the session, patients are usually given a provisional diagnosis, a set of possible treatment directions that they can choose from, and also a date for their follow-up appointment.

Occasionally, if there is a strong reason to do so, medication can be prescribed straight away at the first session. However, in some situations, it may be that the medical professional first wants lab tests to be carried out or a psychotherapeutic approach to be introduced before considering any pharmacological ‍‍‍intervention.

Mistakes that make evaluations less useful

• Playing‍‍‍ down symptoms because of embarrassment
• Omission of alcohol, cannabis or use of supplements
• Discontinuing a medication without medical advice before a visit
• No records from previous treatment taken along
• Elevated hope that all issues will be resolved within one ‍‍‍appointment

Book your psychiatric evaluation in Sacramento

The‍‍‍ key to getting ready for any psychiatric evaluation is getting your information together first. As soon as you have your notes completed, the only thing left is the actual visit. Open Minds Psychiatry offers psychiatric evaluations and the management of meds via telehealth for pediatric, teen and adult clients. You can schedule by calling us at 916-926-6650 or email us at ‍‍‍info@openmindspsychiatry.org.

Frequently asked questions