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June 18, 2009
Hospital Updates
Psychiatrist Cara Yergen, M.D. brings her broad knowledge of mental health to Lower Keys Medical Center. For the past two years, she has worked as a moonlighting physician at Hartford Hospital’s renowned Institute of Living (IOL) in Hartford, CT. In 2008, Hartford Hospital was selected as one of the top-ranked hospitals in the nation for psychiatry by US News & World Report’s annual issue devoted to “America’s Best Hospitals.”
After graduating from Saba University School of Medicine in the Netherlands, Dr. Yergen completed both her internship and residency in psychiatry at Hartford Hospital, where she served as chief resident. At this facility, Dr. Yergen diagnosed and treated patients in a wide array of psychiatric settings including inpatient, outpatient, and the emergency room. The doctor also has specialized training in providing individual and group psychotherapy.
As a psychiatrist, Dr. Yergen specializes in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health concerns, such as anxiety and mood disorders, substance abuse issues, and psychotic disorders. She also sees geriatric patients for dementia and other memory disorders. Treatment modalities include medication management, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Today, ECT is most often used as a treatment for severe major depression which has not responded to other treatment, and is also used in the treatment of mania (often in bipolar disorder), catatonia, schizophrenia and other disorders.
While taking her first anatomy class in high school, Dr. Yergen knew she wanted to become a physician. In medical school, “during my first psychiatry rotation, I just knew that was it,” she says of becoming a psychiatrist. She further explains, “I love talking to people, sharing their stories, and offering ways to help them.” Rather than specializing in one type of disorder, she favors being a general practitioner because she enjoys the scope and diversity of the different psychiatric disorders. Says Dr. Yergen, “I enjoy everything that I do and would feel like I’m missing out if I specialized in one particular area of psychiatry.”
As a physician, her strong training in the biological sciences allows her to combine her knowledge of physiology and psychology to treat the whole patient. “For example,” she elaborates, “someone with hypothyroidism (insufficient production of thyroid hormone) can appear very depressed and sluggish. If I only treated the depression and didn’t order lab work, I’d miss a potentially life-threatening medical problem.” Instead, her training allows her to treat the underlying cause of the depression rather than just the symptom.
Dr. Yergen takes pride in her work and the close manner in which she relates to her patients. “My patients describe me as down-to-earth and they feel comfortable around me and not judged,” she says. She continues, “I’m not any higher or better than they are. I’m very empathic and I take the time to get to know the patient. Good rapport is one of my strengths.”
What she finds rewarding about her profession is the ability to “help work on problems or treat illnesses that plague people for months or years before they get help.” She continues, “everyday they go without having symptoms is a big feat and I like to be with them through it.”
Dr. Yergen plans to open her general psychiatry practice in Key West on July 1, 2009 and will see adolescent, adult, and geriatric patients. Certified in ECT by the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Yergen is excited to be able to make this treatment option available and more accessible to patients who live in the Florida Keys.
Currently she is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry. The doctor is board- eligible for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
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