A psychiatrist is a medical doctor. He or she provides mental healthcare services for people with mental health needs, problems or challenges. He or she can diagnose psychiatric disorders, distinguish them from other illnesses that mimic mental illnesses, order appropriate investigations, plan treatment, prescribe medications and offer psychotherapies like CBT, REBT etc. Kolhapur district has nearly 2 dozen professional psychiatrists in practice. Psychiatrists in Kolhapur provide all services listed above.

Depression is a mood disorder. Maintaining a stable mood is a brain function. Depression, either endogenous (without any stressor) or in reaction to a stressor is a result of poor serotonergic neurotransmission in the brain. Depression is not grief or stress or sorrow. Depression is treatable with psychotherapy like CBT, RTBT and counselling for milder cases, therapy and medications for moderate to severe cases, and with medications and modified electroconvulsive therapy for cases which are very severe and are not responding to conventional methods of treatment.

Psychiatric medications need to be taken for a sustained period that usually lasts 8 to 12 months for a single psychiatric episode. If patient follows advise, continues treatment, maintains follow ups and adheres to all lifestyle modification advise, doctor can reduce doses as per the need. Just like medications for diabetes and hypertension, medications for psychiatric illnesses may be required for prolonged time periods for some patients who have shown resistance to earlier treatments, or have challenges in implementing all non-pharmacological treatment advises. Psychiatric medications are not addictive. They may be needed by some patients for prolonged time periods depending on illness severity.

Patients often search for best psychiatrist in Kolhapur, or, best psychiatrist near me when they look for a doctor. What they dont realise is, it is very difficult to answer this question. However, a best psychiatrist is one, who has excellent clinical skills, has patience and time to give to his patients, has wisdom and experience to make decisions and take actions. Most importantly, he or she has empathy. Every patient will have different needs in all these domains. So, a psychiatrist is well suited for one patient, may not be a good fit for another. When these qualities join hands in a psychiatrist, and the combination suits the patient and his or her needs, he or she will be the best psychiatrist for that patient.

OCD is a complex psychiatric illness. It depends on the time of detection the degree to which it will respond to treatment. Early diagnosis and mild symptoms can respond to counselling, CBT and psychotherapy. Moderate to severe symptoms often require medications such as antidepressants. Early detection is linked with a faster and complete recovery of symptoms, often leading to complete remission of symptoms.