Behavioral Health

Overview

At The Portland Clinic, we believe that treating you as a whole person means more than just treating your physical symptoms. Your overall health depends on nurturing not only your body, but also your mind and your spirit. Neglecting your emotional health can make you vulnerable to illness, worsen symptoms or slow down recovery. On the other hand, research demonstrates that improving your emotional health can improve your physical health.

Depression and anxiety, two of the most common forms of emotional distress, are highly treatable. If you feel that you are suffering from either of these, you should talk to your doctor about them. Many people, however, don’t recognize when depression has slowly encroached on their quality of life. For this reason, The Portland Clinic periodically gives a depression screening questionnaire to all patients. This allows your doctor to assess whether depression is affecting your health and to refer you for counseling, if appropriate. We offer counseling through our own licensed psychologists — or, if you prefer to access these services on your own, we can provide you with a referral.

SERVICES

We offer adult and adolescent individual therapy for these issues:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Relationship problems
• Low self-esteem
• Job stress
• Living with a disability
• Relocation and transition difficulties
• Grief and loss
• Post-traumatic stress
• Parenting issues
• Adult children of alcoholic or drug-addicted families
• Fear of intimacy
• Chronic pain
• Managing chronic mental illness

RESOURCES

• Patient referral information for behavioral health
• Sleep hygiene tips
• Self-care tips
• Relaxation tips
• Gain control over chronic pain, by Dr. Michael Shrifter
• BLOG: 5 ways to reduce your stress and increase happiness
• BLOG: Building a life of length and depth