PRINCETON, NJ – When it comes to diagnosing and treating a child for behavioral, learning, or mood disorders, parents have the tough choices of deciding to send their child to a psychiatrist for help, and selecting the right type of treatment and the right practitioner for the job. It’s a highly sensitive matter that can yield wonderful breakthroughs or create greater rifts between the child and desired behavior.

Understanding this, one of the top New Jersey psychiatrists, Dr. Yitzhak Shnaps, MD, has incorporated treatment techniques that never infringe on the parent-child bond and allows parents to work with one doctor rather than a doctor for every discipline of treatment from psychiatry to psychology to medication.

These treatments, Intensive Combined Therapy and Non-Violence Resistance (NVR) are treatments that either can not be provided by most psychiatrists because they don’t have the qualifications or have not adopted the treatment modality yet.

Intensive Combined Therapy

This treatment method can only be provided by psychiatrists that both certified therapists and doctors of medicine. This allows the single doctor to provide therapy and prescribe medication to enhance treatment.

“When it comes to Intensive Care Therapy I relate psychiatric care to a rumor grapevine,” says Dr. Shnaps, a leading psychiatrist in NJ. “The more people involved the further from the core truth the tale becomes. Psychiatrists want to get to the root problem and help patients break through, and this is done most efficiently when one doctor can diagnose and treat the patient from beginning to end.”

Furthermore, adjustments to medication and therapy strategies can be made instantly, which saves patients from unnecessary medication or less-fruitful therapy notes the New Jersey psychiatrist.

Providing patients with more efficient treatment not only benefits the patient, but the family as well. With less doctors involved, parents are spending less on treatment and have less trouble scheduling appointments.

“When children are seeing three, four, or even five different doctors, not only does the child feel more exposed, he or she also might feel like the problem is worse than it is,” says Dr. Shnaps. “It’s a natural reaction. People feel vulnerable enough seeing one doctor, but when there are multiple doctors diagnosing, the patient’s self-esteem may be hindered, permanently.”

NVR

Non-Violence Resistance is a family approach to help families react and respond to a child exhibiting undesired behaviors. While many other methods utilize punishments for bad behavior and rewards for good behavior, NVR utilizes empathy and positive emotional expression to strengthen family ties and respect between family members.

This treatment method is especially useful for severe emotional, behavioral, and learning disorders. Through compassion and understanding, patients don’t just accept treatment and change, they agree to it and understand that altering behavior is not only better for themselves, but for their loved ones as well.

“Rather than matching a child’s aggression and challenging those volatile emotions, NVR uses passive reinforcement that over time teaches a child that what he is doing is inappropriate and it is hurting his loved ones,” says Dr. Shnaps. “This not only defuses aggression, but helps families bond and build new relationships together.”

Few psychiatrists in NJ provide Intensive Combined Therapy and NVR. Other treatments provided by Dr. Shnaps include Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Combined Psychopharmacology, and Psychotherapy.

“When it comes to treating patients, especially children, I find that it’s best to have several treatment modalities at the doctor’s disposal,” says Dr. Shnaps. “What works for one patient won’t necessarily work for the next patient. So, doctors need to be flexible. Besides, if a family is willing to open themselves to a psychiatrists aid and advice, the least we can do is recognize and provide what will help the patient best.”

About Dr. Yitzhak Shnaps, MD

Yitzhak Shnaps, MD provides integrated psychiatric treatment and psychological counseling for individuals along the lifespan. He specializes in psychiatry, with expertise in Mood Disorders, Learning and Behavioral Disorders, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, and other mental health issues in individual, family, and school settings.

Dr. Shnaps is a graduate of the Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel and performed his Psychiatric Residency and Psychiatric Chief Residency at Albert Einstein Medical College, Bronx, New York. His academic and administrative appointments have included Chief, Dual Diagnosis Services – Carrier Foundation, Belle Mead, New Jersey; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey; and Courtesy Medical Staff, University Medical Center at Princeton, New Jersey.

He is board certified (an American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Diplomate), is licensed to practice medicine in the State of New Jersey, and has DEA (US Drug Enforcement Agency) certification. He has received the Sandoz Award for Excellence in Psychiatry from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and has been named one of the Best Doctors in America, first selected in 1996. Dr. Shnaps is a member of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and an affiliate member with both the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the International Society for the Research of Aggression (ISRA) and has authored and co-authored clinical and research publications in peer reviewed medical journals.

© 2010 Master Google and Dr. Yitzhak Shnaps. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Master Google is credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this article is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded link.

-end-

Author Bio: To learn more about Princeton psychiatrist or more know about New Jersey psychiatrist or one of the best psychiatrists in NJ visit Dr. Shnaps’ Web site: princetonpsychiatrist.com/ or call (609) 921-7878 for more information.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: psychiatrist in NJ, psychiatrists in NJ, New Jersey psychiatrist, New Jersey psychiatrists