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Mental Health services offered in Charleston, SC
Mental health disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), depression and anxiety can be just as devastating as any physical disease. However, with treatment, you can lead a long and healthy life. At Palmetto Health, in Charleston, South Carolina, Dr. Lominchar provides compassionate care for patients affected by mental health disorders that restore their well-being and quality of life. To benefit from her expertise in mental health, call Palmetto Health today or use the online booking form to schedule a consultation.
What is mental health?
Mental health is a broad term for conditions that affect your emotions, thoughts, and mood to such an extent they have a negative impact on your daily life. These disorders are widespread but often not well understood.
You can’t shake off mental health problems any more than you could walk off a broken leg. They often involve genetic differences and brain chemical imbalances over which you have no control, changes in your body like fluctuating hormone levels, or result from severe and/or ongoing trauma.
What mental health disorders might affect me?
The most common disorders that affect people’s mental health are depression and anxiety:
Depression
Depression causes chronic low mood and feelings of despair, self-loathing, and hopelessness. Common symptoms include appetite changes, difficulties sleeping, irritability, and losing interest in the things you usually enjoy.
The negative emotions rarely, if ever, lift, making life increasingly unbearable. Untreated severe depression can lead to thoughts of suicide as these symptoms worsen.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a constant state of fear, worry, and stress that can overwhelm you. Living on your nerves all the time is wearing and makes even the simplest daily tasks exhausting. People with anxiety disorders sometimes suffer from panic attacks, where they can’t manage their emotions and may suddenly freeze, scream, or cry.
These attacks are so distressing that you might find doing anything that could trigger one becomes a serious challenge that you try to avoid.
Other mental health disorders include:
Cognitive decline (dementia), and developmental and behavioral problems like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are also mental health conditions.
How are mental health disorders treated?
With the proper treatment and ongoing support from a compassionate provider, like Dr. Lominchar, you can learn to manage your symptoms and lead a more fullfilling life.
Treatments typically involve psychotherapy, medication, or both. Milder illnesses might only need talk therapy, which we would send you to one of our many partners, but for moderate to severe conditions, a combination is usually best. Medications help restore a better balance to the chemicals in your brain (neurotransmitters) that regulate your mood.
Dr. Lominchar also offers medical treatments like bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) to help patients experiencing depression because of hormonal imbalances.
At Palmetto Health, we also work in connection with mental health professionals to get additional services like talk therapy to help support the medication management we offer.
For help with your mental health medications or for an evaluation, call Monica Lominchar MD today or book an appointment online.