Depending on your situation, psychotherapy can be combined with an appropriate medication prescribed by your physician or by a psychiatrist. Medication is most helpful to alleviate distressing symptoms so you can better focus on exploring and resolving your issues in therapy.
It is not always clear if medication is needed. In some cases just starting to talk about your situation with one of us, an understanding and experienced psychologist, can begin to help you alleviate depression and feel more hopeful. In that case, we will wait and see how you feel but may raise the topic of medication again in a few weeks if we think it might be helpful. We will discuss various strategies with you during your treatment. The final decision in most cases is up to you. We appreciate that many people have a strong preference to resolve their problems without medication.
Psychologists do not prescribe medication. However, we work with several psychiatrists whom we feel are very expert at evaluating and prescribing to people who are pursuing psychotherapy. We can refer you to one these psychiatrists and stay in touch with him or her to help you achieve the most benefit from the combination of treatments.