Adult Psychopharmacology
Sometimes adults experience depression, anxiety, OCD, or mood problems which don’t seem to respond to standard treatments. When this occurs, patients don’t need more guess work. They need someone who can bring together knowledge of medications and how brain cells function. Dr. Henderson understands how the brain responds to medications at a cellular level, and combines neuroimaging, genetic testing, neurological assays, and a thorough knowledge of how medications interact with each other. Medication choice is no longer guess work; it is the culmination of a comprehensive analysis of how a particular person’s brain works.
Depression is a more common problem than we often think. Roughly 15% of people will be depressed at some point in their lives and about 5% will struggle with chronic depression. Women are twice as likely to be affected as men. Depression rivals hypertension as the most common problem seen in the primary care physician’s office. Inadequately treated depression increases a person’s risk for heart attack, stroke, cancer, stomach problems, and arthritis.
We have this expectation that antidepressants will cure depression. Sadly, only about one-third of all patients with symptoms of depression will respond to the first antidepressant that they try. Considerable research now shows that the failure of these medications is not only due to their incomplete mechanisms of action, but also due to the failure to identify the actual underlying neurobiological mechanisms of depression in individual cases. Depression is not one “thing”, but an array of disorders in brain function.
The same thing can be said for anxiety. It is not a single disorder. Approximately 27% of Americans suffer from one form of anxiety or another. The key to treating anxiety is understanding the underlying neurobiological mechanism leading to the anxiety. There is growing evidence that medical problems can manifest as psychiatric symptoms. Conditions as diverse as traumatic brain injury, infectious diseases, biological illnesses, hormonal imbalances, toxic exposures, and vitamin deficiencies can lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, mood dysregulation, inattention, and impulsivity.
Dr. Henderson brings together a wide knowledge base and a variety of innovative techniques to treat even the toughest of psychiatric problems. He is the medical director of a clinic for treatment-resistant depression which has a 90% response rate. This result comes from the use of cutting edge treatments, sophisticated knowledge of medications, attention to the biomedical bases of psychiatric symptoms, and a dedication to solving the puzzle of a patient’s illness.
Dr. Henderson brings together a wide knowledge base and a variety of innovative techniques to treat even the toughest of psychiatric problems. He is the medical director of a clinic for treatment-resistant depression which has a 85% response rate. This result comes from the use of cutting edge treatments, sophisticated knowledge of medications, attention to the biomedical bases of psychiatric symptoms, and a dedication to solving the puzzle of a patient’s illness. He has recently published groundbreaking studies on the treatment of depression and of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which is often mistaken for depression). Some of his recent publications:
Some of Dr. Hendersons recent publications:
New Study Shows Ketamine May Regenerate Brain Cells, Relieving Depression with Lasting Benefit
The Role of Antiviral Therapy in Chronic Fatigue Treatment
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is Not Merely Dysbiosis