Laila Marashi: Sometimes just getting to therapy itself can be overwhelming, and I think that’s what makes such a difference in that treatment plan of utilizing medication with therapy.

Dr. Babushkin: It’s a really great point because I think what you’re saying is even if the person’s learned a lot of things through therapy, they’ve kind of learned who they are, how they function. If they have these symptoms that are really tough to manage, even if they wanted to get out of the house or connect with their loved ones, or if they felt so anxious they couldn’t go to work. Even if they learned those new skills, they couldn’t kind of apply them. “They might feel like, “wow, I learned it but I can’t even execute it. Is there something wrong with me.”

And then if they do a good psychiatric evaluation and maybe medications indicated for them, it’s almost like those symptoms are holding them back from actualizing what they want to do or what they want to put into effect. And if they’re on the right medication and they’re monitoring it with their provider, then they can kind of take action and really put things into, into motion and apply them.

So that makes a lot of sense. I think it sort of lifts some of the burden of the symptoms so they could really participate in the world in the way that they want and in the relationships that they’re in.