Finding a new shrink to see ASAP in Greensboro, NC

September 26, 2012 8:35 AM

How do you find a psychiatrist when you've just moved to a new place and have zero mental health or even just health contacts in the area? Or do you have a referral for the Piedmont Triad or Chapel Hill areas?

This is complicated. I just moved to Greensboro, NC and need to find a psychiatrist ASAP because I have some abnormal labs that need to be looked at. (I am on a non-traditional medication augmentation treatment. It's not, however, something dangerous when the labs are abnormal, like lithium or something. I just need to see someone soon.)

I do have insurance (grad student insurance from another state) that I can use to see someone here (or Winston-Salem or Chapel Hill, I'm fine driving). But I have no idea how to parse the list of dozens of names! I've never had to go about it in this way before. I should just . . . start calling people? Some of them are at the public health clinic (where I suspect they're overworked and patients underserved, so I don't want to go there) or at a substance abuse clinic (where I don't need to go). So that eliminates THOSE people . . . or does it? Do I just start calling people?

I know how to find a therapist. I do not, however, know how to find a psychiatrist, much less one with some experience with depression augmentation treatments. Help?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

When I lived in Chapel Hill, I saw a psychologist at HRC, who was very good. I seem to recall that the receptionist made her excellent recommendation when I called the office for the first time.
posted by gone2croatan at 8:41 AM on September 26, 2012

Start here. Enter your insurance info and location. You'll get a decent list to work from.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:43 AM on September 26, 2012

In a similar situation, I started googling, either the names from the list or just "LOCATION PSYCHIATRIST." Reviews, qualifications, and such will pop up. I am biased toward people from high-ranking medical schools and who are board certified.
posted by jaguar at 8:45 AM on September 26, 2012

Mod note: This is a followup from the asker.

Start here. Enter your insurance info and location. You'll get a decent list to work from.

Unfortunately, the Psychology Today therapist finder is not what I need. There is only 1 psychiatrist in the area in this database. I know how to find a therapist, and that's not what I need help with.

posted by cortex (staff) at 9:30 AM on September 26, 2012

Maybe start with the UNC hospital? They seem likely to have a good psychiatry clinic.
posted by thelonius at 9:48 AM on September 26, 2012

I have been very, very happy with the UNC psychiatry clinic in Chapel Hill. It is staffed by residents, so the docs change every year-and-a-half or so. Still, in seven years I've not had a bad experience. It seems like the residents are comfortable with the idea of non-traditional treatments, maybe because they are so recently out of school and still up on the literature. Plus UNC (and Duke) have a lot going on in terms of clinical research. For example, I've recently been reading about the effects of Ketamine on depression, and asked my psychiatrist about it, and she's looking to see if there are spots in a trial going on at UNC right now.

I can't find the right link for the program at the moment; I'll try to update later. Please MeMail me if you have questions.
posted by Fui Non Sum at 10:32 AM on September 26, 2012