Psychiatry and Mental Health

Psychiatry is the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental, emotional, addictive and behavioral health disorders. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in treating these disorders, including their mental and physical aspects.

Patients may visit psychiatrists for long-term problems, such as feelings of overwhelming sadness or hopelessness, or short-term ones like experiencing a panic attack, hallucination, or thoughts of suicide. In addition to speaking with patients to further understand psychological data and genetics, psychiatrists will use a full range of medical and biochemical laboratory tests to make diagnoses.

Severe mental health disorders affect 2.8% of adults. Sub-specialties of psychiatry include neuropsychiatry, emergency psychiatry, addiction and rehabilitation, child psychiatry, adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and military psychiatry.

We also integrate behavioral health consultants, psychiatrists and psychologists into several Mercy Health Physicians’ primary care offices to provide existing patients with convenient, expert care when it’s needed most. Inpatient, outpatient — or somewhere in between — we make everyone feel at home with Mercy Health.