Gateway Psychiatric Services

02/09/2022

https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/psychology-tools-resources-to-support-clinical-care-at-gps/

Psychology Tools offers a wealth of new resources for patients and therapists at Gateway Psychiatric. These tools include hundred of worksheets, handouts, exercises, podcasts, and information sheets that are solidly founded in clinical research. The entire collection is searchable by resource type,....

02/09/2022

https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/psychedelic-medicine-association-member/

As a continuation of our longstanding interest in alternative treatments for depression, Gateway Psychiatric just joined the Psychedelic Medicine Association.

02/09/2022

https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/covid-19-or-coronavirus-and-gps/

We will be focusing on ensuring that we test for signs and symptoms of infection before seeing patients in person, increased air flow and air filtration in all the rooms, and testing and vaccination of all clinical staff.

12/16/2021

What is is like being a therapist now.

Frontline mental health workers in every state say they can’t keep up with the demand from patients struggling with the disruptions of pandemic life.

02/17/2021

First estimate that I have seen of the number of people who died as the result of Trump's mishandling of the Covid epidemic. A shocking number even if it is an overestimate.

This report by the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era assesses the repercussions of President Donald Trump's health-related policies and examines the failures and social schisms that enabled his election. Trump exploited low and middle-income white people's anger over the...

01/01/2021

I love the idea behind this class. Rick Hanson brings a little good into our lives every day.

05/15/2020

CoVID-19 Update: We are currently accepting new patients for telehealth appointments.

06/09/2019

04/11/2019

Clues that can help us provide more effective care for those with treatment resistant depression are urgently needed. Sidney Zisook and colleagues report an analysis of the data from a large study of veterans with chronic depression (VAST-D) and conclude that two clinical features can help predict likely response to medications changes for some patients who have failed at least one trial of an antidepressant. [ 122 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/treatment-resistant-depression-more-clues-to-predicting-response-vast-d/

Clues that can help us provide more effective care for those with treatment resistant depression are urgently needed. Sidney Zisook and colleagues report an analysis of the data from a large study of veterans with chronic depression (VAST-D) and conclude that two clinical features can help predict l...

04/06/2019

What are the best strategies for using ketamine to treat major depression in the short term? Although we know that ketamine (and, now, esketamine) can be helpful we really don't know that much about what strategy works best. The most commonly used ketamine infusion protocol is adapted from studies using ketamine to treat chronic pain. An article in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that treatment three times a week may be helpful in the acute phase (standard treatment protocols have usually been twice a week) and that infusions once a week, after an initial period of two weeks of infusions three times a week, will preserve the response for at least a month without any short term evidence of tolerance (reduced response over time). [ 116 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/ketamine-short-term-treatment-strategies/

What are the best strategies for using ketamine to treat major depression in the short term? Although we know that ketamine (and, now, esketamine) can be helpful we really don’t know that much about what strategy works best. The most commonly used ketamine infusion protocol is adapted from studies...

12/05/2018

We are highly enthusiastic about our new therapist and case manager, Alana Kivowitz, LCSW joining Gateway's team just before the new year. Alana is a San Francisco native who is returning after completing her master's degree in social work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she remained for a number of years working with adults and adolescents in a variety of settings. [ 143 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/gateway-welcomes-new-therapist-alana-kivowitz-lcsw/

We are highly enthusiastic about our new therapist and case manager, Alana Kivowitz, LCSW joining Gateway’s team just before the new year. Alana is a San Francisco native who is returning after completing her master’s degree in social work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she rema...

10/13/2018

Gateway Psychiatric Services is excited to announce the release of our latest book: The Bipolar Disorder Workbook from Callisto Media. Designed to educate and motivate people who have questions, particularly about Bipolar II and cyclothymia, the workbook walks users through a series of structured exercises, beginning with a basic checklist intended to identify symptoms that may warrant further investigation. The Workbook guides readers through an understanding of the diagnostic process and teaches skills for management of the condition, using both medication and lifestyle change approaches. [ 54 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/bipolar-workbook-from-gateway-psychiatric/

Gateway Psychiatric Services is excited to announce the release of our latest book: The Bipolar Disorder Workbook from Callisto Media. Designed to educate and motivate people who have questions, particularly about Bipolar II and cyclothymia, the workbook walks users through a series of structured ex...

10/08/2018

Biofeedback is a stress management technique that uses devices that give you information about your body’s physiologic response to stress. The idea is to provide you with information that would ordinarily be outside of your conscious awareness, such as your body temperature, blood pressure, or heart rate. Generally, there are three stages of biofeedback: Developing increased awareness of the body function through use of a device to monitor it… [ 268 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/what-is-biofeedback-nancy/

Biofeedback is a stress management technique that uses devices that give you information about your body’s physiologic response to stress. The idea is to provide you with information that would ordinarily be outside of your conscious awareness, such as your body temperature, blood pressure, or hea...

09/17/2018

Would home blood draws (or office blood draws for that matter) be helpful? Obtaining routine blood work can be an essential part of your treatment if you have a mood disorder and are on medications as it is very important to know the levels in your blood reached by mood-stabilizing drugs. Finding time however to get your labs done can often be tough with work, school, family and other life obligations. [ 299 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/home-blood-draws/

Would home blood draws (or office blood draws for that matter) be helpful? Obtaining routine blood work can be an essential part of your treatment if you have a mood disorder and are on medications as it is very important to know the levels in your blood reached by mood-stabilizing drugs. Finding ti...

08/31/2018

Recently the American Psychological Association (APA) held their annual conference here in San Francisco and Gateway staff was there to take advantage of the opportunity to update our knowledge of the most recent developments in the field. Gina Gregory, LCSW and I spent the long weekend attending workshops, presentations, and discussions in order to align ourselves with the current research about developing trends. [ 554 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/gateway-staff-attend-apa-annual-conference-in-san-francisco-chris/

Recently the American Psychological Association (APA) held their annual conference here in San Francisco and Gateway staff was there to take advantage of the opportunity to update our knowledge of the most recent developments in the field. Gina Gregory, LCSW and I spent the long weekend attending wo...

06/29/2018

Once again we are reminded of the power of retrospective mood charting to transform treatment. A young man who has "tried every medication" without any success and has been seriously suicidal, recently came in to see us and we convinced him to try putting together a retrospective mood chart. The process was quite time intensive, but the result was a clear plan for putting together a combination of medications to treat his very treatment resistant depression. [ 79 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/retrospective-mood-charting/

Retrospective mood charting - a discussion of this incredibly powerful and yet rarely used tool for improving the outcomes of treatment.

06/24/2018

This weekend we have done some hard work behind the scenes creating a better treatment resources index to allow clinicians and patients to quickly access information about the array of services, online applications, clinical tests, pharmacogenetics tests, online courses and online CBT therapies that are provided at Gateway Psychiatric. There are so many tools in our toolbox that it can be hard to keep track of them. [ 38 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/treatment-resources-index/

This weekend we have done some hard work behind the scenes creating a better treatment resources index to allow clinicians and patients to quickly access information about the array of services, online applications, clinical tests, pharmacogenetics tests, online courses and online CBT therapies that...

06/09/2018

The news of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade's death by su***de as well as the CDC's report on increasing su***de rates in the US reminds us of a larger public health crisis that was given the name "deaths of despair" by researchers Case and Deaton (see below). We have been collecting information on this topic in preparation for an effort to get the American Psychiatric Association to play a larger role in advocacy for an adequate national response to this crisis. [ 563 more words ]
https://www.gatewaypsychiatric.com/deaths-of-despair-su***de-self-injury-crisis-in-us/

The news of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade’s death by su***de as well as the CDC’s report on increasing su***de rates in the US reminds us of a larger public health crisis that was given the name “deaths of despair” by researchers Case and Deaton (see below). We have been collecting informa...