Psychiatry deals with prevention, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of mental illness. A psychiatrist diagnoses and treats those with mental and emotional disorders such as schizophrenia, addictions, mood and anxiety disorders, substance-abuse disorders, and sexual and adjustment disorders. After assessment, the psychiatrist can diagnose, treat and manage an illness or problem by medication or various forms of psychotherapy. A psychiatrist is qualified to order diagnostic laboratory tests and to prescribe medications, evaluate and treat psychologic and interpersonal problems, and to intervene with families who are coping with stress, crises and other problems.

Physicians in this specialty treat patients suffering from numerous diseases and illnesses, but some of the most common are attention deficit hyperactive, learning disabilities, co-dependency, attention deficit disorder, clinical depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, phobias, mania, schizophrenia, claustrophobia, paranoia, agoraphobia, psychosis, social anxiety disorder, hallucination, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and panic attacks.

Once properly diagnosed, practitioners can perform numerous procedures on patients including marital therapy, marital counseling, adolescent counseling, child counseling, stress management, hypnosis, family therapy, shock treatment, relaxation therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychiatric therapy.

To diagnose patients with possible illnesses and diseases, specialists will often perform one of many tests including psychiatric evaluation, intelligence tests, personality tests, add/adhd tests, depression tests, stress tests, abuse tests, psychiatric exam, sexual health tests, and addictions tests.

Doctor density varies by specialty and location. Alabama has 330 practicing psychiatrists. Broken out by city, psychiatry doctor density in Andalusia is 1, in Anniston is 5, in Athens is 2, in Bessemer is 1, in Birmingham is 119, in Brewton is 2, in Cullman is 6, in Daphne is 3, in Decatur is 17, in Dothan is 10, in Elba is 1, in Fairhope is 6, in Florence is 8, in Foley is 1, in Gadsden is 9, in Geneva is 1, in Graysville is 1, in Greensboro is 1, in Guin is 1, in Gulf Shores is 1, in Guntersville is 2, in Hartselle is 1, in Huntsville is 24, in Jasper is 3, in Loxley is 1, in Luverne is 1, in Madison is 2, in Mobile is 34, in Montgomery is 24, in Moulton is 1, in Mount Vernon is 5, in Mountain Brook is 1, in Muscle Shoals is 1, in Northport is 2, in Opelika is 8, in Ozark is 1, in Pelham is 1, in Rainbow City is 1, in Selma is 5, in Sheffield is 1, in Shorterville is 1, in Thomasville is 1, in Tuscaloosa is 32, and in Tuskegee is 2.

Montgomery is the capital city of this southern state, though Birmingham is its largest city. Population in 2005 was 4,557,808. Alabama is the birthplace of historical figures Hank Aaron, Helen Keller, and George Washington Carver. Take an airboat tour on the Mobile river delta, see the Alabama Civil Rights museum in Mantua, or tour the Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham. Visit the Shakespeare Festival Theater Complex in Montgomery, or play a round of golf at one of Alabama’s many acclaimed courses. From the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the state’s north to the Gulf coast beaches in the south, Alabama’s scenery includes a varied and diverse landscape.

According to 2005 Census estimates, Alabama has a population of 4,557,808. Of this population, 1,074,627 are under the age of 18 and 600,258 are at or above the age of 65.