A Message for Health Professionals
Richard J. Metzner, M.D.
Clinical Professor
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA
Founder, DepressionConsultant.com
Thank you for visiting this website. Perhaps you are here because you treat depression or have a professional interest in the topic. Maybe you are just interested in seeing what is available here. In any case, feel free to explore.
I created this website and the Clinaptica Depression Consultant app because I know that there is a better way to treat depression than I was taught and is now being taught in many places. Thousands of patients and colleagues with whom I've spent time would agree. People all over the world are now beginning to use the individualized methods I talk about on this website. That's good news, because the usual one-size-fits-all cookbook approach doesn't work most of the time and has made the word "antidepressant" a joke in too many people's minds.
Depression is anything but a joke. I know because I’ve battled it myself. It runs in my family, and I've seen what it can do up close and personal. That's part of why I decided to devote my professional life to finding a better way to treat it. My personal experiences with treatment in the beginning were not great, so I am very sympathetic to anyone who questions the value of therapy or medications. What I've learned, however, is that those treatments can be very valuable when we professionals pay careful attention to what our patients need.
Our message to patients should be: "Let's figure out together what your particular situation calls for." There are many places on this website devoted to the details of how to do just that.
Other parts of the website are aimed at patients. We have, for example, extensive information about antidepressants, but we've divided it into separate sections, just because the facts needed by non-professionals are quite different from those needed by us.
Many of the articles are professionally-oriented, though educated non-professionals may learn from them as well. The menu items that specify "for professionals" are particularly intended for you.
I hope you will take advantage of all the features on the site. To do so, just take a moment to register. It costs nothing and your contact information will be kept confidential. By registering you will help us individualize the content on the website in the same way that we are trying to help you individualize the treatment of depression for your patients.
Welcome to DepressionConsultant.com.
Copyright 2012, Scaled Psychiatric Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.