Finding ways to demystify the process of mental health care is what I enjoy most about medicine. This starts with helping patients change the way they understand their own biological, physiological, and social circumstances, so that it is easier for them to set themselves on the path towards improvement. The days of starting medications and assigning diagnoses without providing proper explanation should be long behind us. Yet this still happens, and some patients even prefer to have their doctor unilaterally make decisions for them out of respect or otherwise. This is not the type of provider that I am.
My goal is to educate if nothing else, and provide an alternative perspective to those you have already heard. There will be time to hear to what you have to say and I’m certainly not going to force you into medications or therapy, but also recognize then that the onus ultimately lies upon you (with my support of course) to grow the change that you would like to see within yourself.
Education: Doctor Lam was born and raised in the city of Chicago, attending elementary school at St. Ben’s and completing high school at Walter Payton College Prep downtown. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of California Los Angeles, majoring in biochemistry and minoring in english before beginning medical school at Touro University Nevada in Las Vegas. He returned to Chicago for residency training and finished his specialization in psychiatry at Lutheran General Hospital.
Primary Areas of Focus: Medication management, psychiatric education, diagnostic consultation, introductions to mental health treatment, reviews of pharmacotherapy, and single visit care when appropriate.
Conditions: Depression, Anxiety, OCD, Bipolar, ADHD education, stage of life stressors, transitional age psychiatry, pregnancy and post partum mood disorders, social anxiety, and medication side effects.
Philosophy of Practice: Our session is designed to be collaborative in nature. I always welcome any questions you might have, and in this present state of misinformation, many of my patients just come to clarify things they have seen from peers, online, or in social media. While it is your responsibility to decide what you would like to get out of our time together, any treatment plan you decide upon will be individualized to reflect your specific needs. For some patients this means I am working with you as we develop the knowledge and skills needed for you to achieve particular goals you have set for yourself. For others, my role in your care is simply to answer any concerns you might have and to continue clarifying the steps between where you stand now and where you imagine yourself being.
My main mission is to provide you with my best recommendations relative to your current situation so that you are able to make the most informed decisions possible for yourself. Know that I am being completely honest with you in sharing my expertise and in what I am able to do for you, even if this does not make me the perfect psychiatrist for everyone.