Neuropsychoanalytic Diagnosis (Part 3 )

Given your DSM symptom based diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder, your Psychiatrist may decide which antidepressant medication would be best for reducing your painful symptoms and will prescribe that medication for you. They will hopefully also refer you to me for neuropsychoanalytic psychotherapy. ( Your psychiatrist is also a mental health professional and may offer you psychotherapy and/or medication.) So let's say your Psychiatrist prescribes you the anti depressant drug Lexapro and refers you to me for neuropsychoanalytic psychotherapy. When you come to see me for your first session I will also learn about what unpleasant feeling you are suffering from, and I too will conclude that you are suffering from Major Depressive Disorder. But neuropsychoanalytic diagnosis goes beyond the descriptive diagnosis of the DSM to assess the underlying cause of your unpleasant feeling/symptom. This is the key difference in the two types of diagnosis!

1Natalie Melton