Frequently Asked Questions

This is an understandable question given our system’s artificial separation of medical ("physical") & psychological ("mental") care. The need for standard biopsychosocial medicine & behavioral health care has been discussed but not delivered for decades. You are better served by asking yourself a different question: do I “want” to see a psychologist?

Yes. As with any clinical encounter, patients are vulnerable and intervention is relationship-based. Patients’ personal disclosure often correlates with treatment gains/outcomes. Risking uncomfortable discussion generally results in greater self-awareness/insight and growth. Confidence, perceived control, and psychological safety usually increase during treatment, while anxiety, worry, and stress decrease. Post-intervention patients tend to feel more empowered, capable, accurately understood, and “normal” than they did prior (i.e., at baseline).

Variable. This depends on what your presenting concerns (“chief complaint”), needs, preferences, and goals are. At your initial visit, Dr. Bensadon will take your history from you and learn about your background, including your prior experiences within the health care system. Collaborative discussion will yield a customized treatment plan centered on you. Dr. Bensadon will provide a psychologically safe, non-judgmental setting where you can disclose and discuss issues that you generally avoid elsewhere. Encounters generally enhance patients’ understanding of how their thoughts/beliefs (cognition), feelings (emotion), and behavior interact with each other. These insights then lead patients to challenge their previous, often automatic, thought patterns, which may be habitual but not helpful (i.e., “maladaptive”). Unlike your discussions with others -- friends, family, other doctors – consultation with a psychologist should enable you to feel heard, understood, validated, and accepted no matter what you disclose. This is often referred to as a “corrective emotional experience.”

Variable. This will depend on a collaborative discussion with Dr. Bensadon, often referred to in medicine as shared decision-making. Together, you will discuss your treatment goals, concerns, and preferences and formulate a plan accordingly. The plan can change during treatment and will always be informed by discussion. In some cases, patients have decided 1-2 visits were adequate. In other cases, patients continue seeing Dr. Bensadon for years. Treatment frequency is also variable (e.g., weekly, biweekly, monthly, PRN). There is no one answer. Usually, it is wise to initiate treatment with more consistent, frequent encounters that can then be spread out over time.

Variable. The Affordable Care Act requires reimbursement of services under Medicare Part B. Other payers vary. Payment is requested at the time of service, and an itemized receipt with a visit and diagnostic codes can be provided to you to facilitate your “out of network” reimbursement directly from your insurance carrier.

In the US health insurance companies have disproportionate control and power over clinical decisions and care. They decide if/how much clinicians are paid, and if/how much care is received. These companies decide whether patients benefit from/need particular services, and are guided by a business goal of “cost containment” i.e., reducing their cost to increase their profit. They often accomplish this by delaying or rejecting claims (i.e., not reimbursing services) and by providing patients more access to less training (master’s vs doctoral-level clinicians). At BMP&G we believe clinical care and related decision making are between you and your doctor. This model ensures you have access, choice, and the opportunity for a therapeutic, doctor-patient relationship. Remember, if you wish, BMP&G can also provide you with an itemized receipt that includes visit and diagnostic codes to facilitate “out of network” reimbursement from your insurance carrier

The therapeutic value of psychiatric diagnoses is debatable, and symptoms often overlap. Dr Bensadon will discuss his diagnostic impressions with you, but whether to formally document a diagnosis will be up to you. Some patients worry about potential stigma or negative consequences associated with diagnostic labels and prefer not to have a diagnosis documented. However, insurers generally require diagnostic codes for reimbursement.

For truly comprehensive care, it is usually best to coordinate with the rest of your care team. This is available and advisable, but ultimately will only be done with your express written consent/authorization.

No. Dr. Bensadon does not prescribe, but he does offer expert opinion on medication efficacy and may provide you with published data/evidence to help guide and inform related decision-making. Ultimately, though, it is always best for you to discuss your prescriptions with your prescriber. It is not uncommon for patients to express concern about their prescribing clinician’s reaction should they express a desire to discontinue medication. If you wish, Dr. Bensadon can help you by discussing medication-related issues with your other clinicians directly. Awareness of the following can help you navigate related discussions with your prescribers:

• Medication reconciliation: the process of reviewing your medications with you, including your adherence & experience with them.
• De-prescribing: method of optimizing your medication regimen so that you take only what is clinically necessary and appropriate.
• Polypharmacy: when multiple medications (>5/day) may interact with your body and/or with each other & lead to undesirable side effects or consequences.

Again, Dr. Bensadon can help guide you by offering his opinion, experience, and related scientific data/evidence, but this is not a substitute for a related discussion with your prescribing clinician.

It is best not to record. Patients who are worried they will forget important information may take notes. Often, patients bring family members and/or friends to help.