Your treatment begins with a comprehensive, 75-minute evaluation. During this evaluation, you and Dr. Cole will discuss your current concerns and symptoms, your previous psychiatric history, your medical history, and details about your life to best understand what brings you to treatment.

At the end of the evaluation, Dr. Cole will discuss his diagnostic impressions and recommendations for treatment with you. These recommendations may include medication management, psychotherapy, and/or other treatment options. Dr. Cole utilizes a collaborative treatment approach that matches clinically appropriate treatment options with your needs and preferences. If Dr. Cole is unable to treat you appropriately, he will provide referrals for providers who may be able to meet your needs more effectively.

Initial evaluations can occur virtually or in-person, though in-person visits are strongly recommended.

Medication management visits are typically 30-minute visits that focus on your current symptoms and concerns and the progress of your treatment. While the focus of these visits is to discuss the role of medications in your treatment, Dr. Cole uses a holistic approach that acknowledges that medications are one part – in many cases, a small part – of emotional wellbeing and mental health recovery. Together, you and Dr. Cole will discuss what interventions – medication and otherwise – may improve your symptoms. Dr. Cole strongly believes in using a collaborative approach in treatment, working with you – not against you – to develop a treatment plan that will best allow you to achieve your treatment goals.

Medication management visits can be done virtually or in-person, depending on your preference and Dr. Cole’s recommendation. For some patients, longer follow-up visits may be recommended, and in rare cases, shorter appointments (15 minutes) can be scheduled.

At its core, psychotherapy uses conversation and the relationship between the patient and therapist to better understand the patient’s experience and alleviate suffering. Dr. Cole primarily utilizes a psychodynamic/psychoanalytic approach, which is founded on the following core tenants:

• Our experience in “the here and now” is strongly shaped by experiences “then and there.” In other words, our view of ourselves, our view of the world, and our relationships with others are heavily influenced by past experiences and relationships, particularly those that occurred in early life.

• Much of our mental/emotional experience occurs out of awareness. Paying careful attention to our thoughts and behavior can help us understand the emotional “undercurrents” that drive repeated patterns in our emotional lives. Free association – the practice of speaking whatever is on your mind without censorship – is an important technique for exploring these patterns.

• The relationship between the patient and therapist is an important tool to help understand these “undercurrents” as they will inevitably influence the therapeutic relationship (as they influence every relationship!). Curiosity and discussion about the therapeutic relationship – in particular, the patient’s thoughts and feelings about the therapist – play an important role in this kind of work.

In contrast to other commonly used psychotherapeutic approaches – for example, cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) – psychodynamic/psychoanalytic therapy is highly individualized and tailored to the individual patient. Rather than focusing on “skills” to improve symptoms and focusing exclusively on the problem of interest, psychodynamic/psychoanalytic therapy sees symptoms as occurring in a broader life context, and exploring that context can help better understand the causes of symptoms. Though often more difficult, psychodynamic/psychoanalytic work can be more emotionally meaningful and transformative than other psychotherapeutic approaches and is well-suited for those that are interested in exploring “why I am the way that I am.”

Psychotherapy visits occur in-person. For established patients, Dr. Cole can meet virtually or over the phone on an intermittent basis, if needed.

If you already have a psychiatric provider but want a fresh perspective on your care, Dr. Cole can complete a comprehensive evaluation, discuss your response to your current treatment, and explore additional treatment options that may be available to you. With your permission, he can provide documentation from your evaluation to your current psychiatric provider for review.