Washington, D.C. is home to 388 practicing psychiatrists who have offices in 3 counties and 30 zip codes, including zip codes 20037, 20007, 20008, 20010, 20015, 20016, 20009, 20006, 20060, 20036, 20003, 20017, 20307, 20011, 20422, 20001, 20032, 20005, 20002, 20020, 20522, 20420, 20816, 20521, 20018, 20059, 20058, 20042, 20024, and 20012.

According to 2005 Census estimates, Washington, D.C. has a population of 550,521, which gives it a specialist to resident ratio of 1 psychiatrist for every 1,418 residents.

Description

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.

Diseases / Illnesses Treated

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.

Procedures Performed

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.

Tests Performed

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.