Psychiatric Assessment is intended to give a comprehensive and inclusive evaluation that refers to the mental and behavioral difficulties of the child. It is conducted during three sessions. The first meeting is with both parents. The second meeting with the child or teenager. And a third joint meeting is with everyone.
It is usually done in three sessions of 50 minutes each. In the first meeting, Dr. Kovalchuk will meet with both parents for information. In the second meeting, she will meet with the child for an introduction and a psychiatric examination. It is advisable to bring relevant medical documents to the first appointment, including summaries of visits to a pediatric neurologist, a developmental doctor and previous psychiatrists. Summaries of previous treatment from psychologists, psychotherapists, parent counselors, social workers and other emotional therapists should be brought if there were any. You must bring previous diagnostic summaries such as diagnoses from the child development unit, didactic diagnosis, psychodidactic, psychodiagnostic, communication diagnosis. Dr. Kovalchuk, as needed, will maintain contact with other clinical professionals involved, but at the initial visit, you must arrive with an orderly referral letter and a treatment summary or an interim summary of treatment if it continues. These include: clinical psychologist, CBT therapist, dietician, family therapist. After the two meetings, Dr. Kovalchuk may see fit to refer the child for further investigation (blood tests, psychological diagnosis, imaging, etc.). After that, you will schedule a summary meeting for the purpose of delivering the diagnostic findings and providing recommendations for treatment.
Possible reasons for referral
Your child has a noticeable change in mood and/or behavior, in a way that affects his/her functioning
For example, he/she seems sad or nervous a significant part of the time, lacks interest in the activities of his/her peers, expresses fears and a feeling of anxiety, has stopped expressing interest in studies or refuses to go to school
Your child has a damaged body image and is afraid of gaining weight and there is a radical change in eating habits including a lack of eating and/or excessive physical activity and/or you suspect that he/she is vomiting
In the described case, you must first of all contact your family doctor or a pediatrician urgently for a physical examination (cardiac electrical activity chart, blood tests). And this is to check that there is no physical danger as a result of not eating enough and/or vomiting. At the same time, a psychiatric diagnosis should be sought. In more severe cases, an urgent evaluation is required.
The doctor has a duty of medical confidentiality as part of the Patient's Rights Act, and the disclosure of medical information can only be done with the consent of the child's parents, except in extreme cases of danger or suspicion of neglect which require reporting by law.
Your child's medical summary will remain in the doctor's electronic record only and will not appear in the health fund's medical file. The information will be forwarded to the treating pediatrician only at the parents' decision and by them. If the parents do not forward the information to the attending physician at the health fund, the diagnoses given to your child and the medication he/she received will not be recorded in the medical file.
Could going to a child psychiatrist have unwanted consiquences on the future of my son/daughter?
Usually, a child and adolescent psychiatrist is the right address to contact in one of the following situations:
• For the purpose of a diagnostic process - if a question arises as to whether our child has a developmental problem (a problem that accompanies him from a young age) such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a communication disorder (disorder on the autistic spectrum), or in any case of prolonged emotional and/or behavioral difficulties that did not receive a satisfactory answer, and leave a feeling that a more accurate understanding of the source of the difficulty is needed.
• To examine the possibility of using drug therapy - sometimes children who suffer from mental difficulties, for example anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or depressive disorder, can use a drug that can significantly improve their condition. This is also true in cases where they receive emotional treatment from a child psychologist or other therapist, and despite the treatment they continue to suffer and even have difficulty functioning. In such situations, there is room to examine whether a drug that can be prescribed by a psychiatrist can help. The doctor will continue to accompany children who are taking medication throughout the period they are being treated with medication, once every few weeks or months.
• Assessment of risk situations - sometimes children and teenagers who are in distress will express their difficulties in dangerous ways - for example they will threaten to harm themselves. In such cases, the parent, the emotional therapist or the educational framework will request an examination by a child and youth psychiatrist to assess whether this is a dangerous situation that requires immediate intervention or whether the child can return to his daily routine with appropriate treatment.
Many times, parents choose to contact an emotional therapist first - usually a psychologist, social worker or an expression and creativity therapist who has specialized in the field - and they are the ones who recommend contacting a psychiatrist, if they feel that there is a need for it. So the order of referral - to a psychiatrist or an emotional therapist - is not always fundamental, provided that in the end the overall treatment adapted for him is adapted to the child.
When should you contact a psychiatrist?
At the end of the diagnostic process, the doctor will not necessarily recommend medication. She may recommend an environmental change (moving to a special education class, for example) or emotional therapy. If she recommends medication, she will continue to accompany your child during the period of taking the medication at least or beyond.
Is it worth contacting a psychiatrist even when you are not interested in drug treatment?
At the first diagnostic appointment, the doctor will always want to meet both parents. If one of the parents cannot attend and the parents are divorced, a parent who does not attend is required by law to give written consent for a psychiatric diagnosis of the child.
Divorced parents who are in a conflictual relationship can schedule separate parenting meetings with the doctor for each and pay for each meeting separately.
We are divorced parents. Do we both have to come to the first diagnostic appointment? What do you do if one of the parents does not want to come or when both parents prefer not to be present at the same meeting?
Frequently asked questions
Comprehensive psychiatric evaluation