September 19, 2011

Dear Colleague:

Behavioral Health Urgent Care, Central Florida’s first psychiatric urgent care, opened in April 2011. Since then, we have grown exponentially, and we are expanding our offices to accommodate more immediate appointments and provide more assistance to people in crisis. Our new space will feature additional therapy offices, comfortable private areas for patients to relax while waiting to be seen, and more staff to support the growing demand. 

Our operation is thriving thanks to referring physicians like yourself who understand the need for immediate psychiatric care. For that, we are forever grateful. We strive every day to offer the most high quality psychiatric care to our patients without the wait time associated with many psychiatric offices. We see patients within hours, not days, and we offer them the psychiatric and counseling services that provide support and rebuild skills and confidence.

Behavioral Health Urgent Care offers mental status examinations, outpatient addiction treatment and detox, and immediate psychiatric consultation. 

Should you have a patient in need of urgent psychiatric care, please don’t hesitate to call our office. We work directly with referring physicians to make sure that referral patients receive priority, immediate care and any records are forwarded as necessary.

For more information on Behavioral Health Urgent Care, please view our website at www.behavioralurgentcare.com. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call our office at 407-852-8882. We strive to be friendly and accommodating, so please contact us if we can assist in any way.

Sincerely,

Lawrence B. Erlich, M.D.

Medical Director

Behavioral Health Urgent Care

Lawrence B. Erlich, M.D. and Behavioral Health Urgent Care now accepts Aetna Behavioral Health for general and addiction psychiatric sessions as well as crisis situations. 

Lawrence B. Erlich, M.D. and Behavioral Health Urgent Care now accept United Behavioral Health and Cigna for general and addiction psychiatric sessions as well as crisis situations. 

Behavioral Health Urgent Care, Central Florida’s first solely psychiatric urgent care, is open in Celebration, Florida. Lawrence B. Erlich, M.D. and his team of counselors and therapists offer urgent care services for individuals in crisis. Through the crisis intervention center, they offer addictions evaluations, mental status examinations, evaluations for drug seeking behavior and immediate psychiatric evaluation.

Dr. Erlich is board-certified in general, forensic and addiction psychiatry. Together, he and his team will offer crisis intervention care for most behavioral conditions.

Patients who are committed to a psychiatric hospital while in crisis can often wait days to see a doctor. Through the Behavioral Health Urgent Care program, patients are able to see a doctor or counselor in a timely fashion to determine the best course of action for improvement. Rather than spending days in a hospital bed, they are able to get the care they need in an outpatient setting. Similarly, this opens up beds at receiving hospitals for other patients and helps to relieve the overflow that many hospitals experience. 

 With the potential for drug-seeking behavior on the rise, Behavioral Health Urgent Care also accepts referrals from physicians who determine that a patient needs an addictions evaluation. Behavioral Health Urgent Care offers in-person evaluations as well as psychological testing to create a full picture of the patient’s potential for drug seeking behavior.

 For more information, please visit our website at www.behavioralurgentcare.com or call 407-852-8882.

 

 

The idea of “rehab” gets a little muddier every day. What is supposed to be a place where admitted addicts go to begin recovery for physical and psychological addictions is becoming synonymous with a timeout corner that the rich and famous use to show that they’re sorry for being naughty. The publicists and image mechanics of Hollywood use rehab as if it were a transgression eraser. Mr. A-List yelled at the valet guy in front of the paparazzi? He must need rehab! Yesterday’s pop idol cheated on her husband? Clearly rehab. In actuality, he probably just needs to apologize and leave a better tip next time, and she needs to get out of what may have never been a happy union. Rehabilitation is not meant to erase the past or “fix” mistakes. Rehab helps addicts understand what got them there so they can have a different future.

The same story has run through the news what seems like 1,000 times. A young actor, beauty queen, socialite or sports figure gets caught one time doing something scandalous or inappropriate and checks into rehab immediately thereafter. The publicist puts out a release that proclaims that the star has inner demons to conquer and has opted to go to rehab for a new start. There is only one problem with that: he or she probably isn’t an addict.

This pattern of behavior follows that of a college freshman tasting freedom for the first time more than it does a true addict. Does one incident of public drunkenness or disorderly conduct make anyone an addict in need of rehab? No. It just means that he or she got caught doing disreputable things. The scare of it usually leads to a teary-eyed national apology and change in behavior. Addicts don’t straighten up after one bad experience.

There are two issues here that seem like the same thing but offer very different consequences. The distinction is between substance abuse and chemical dependency. Ninety-five percent of people who get into trouble for drinking too much or experimenting with drugs are substance abusers. The test to determine if someone is an addict consists of one question: Does the individual repeatedly do things that are personally damaging without regard for the consequences? A person who gets a DUI and realizes that behavior like that is dangerous is a substance abuser. The person who continues to disregard consequences after a bad experience or scare is chemically dependent on the substance.

I am not condoning substance abuse by any means. It only takes one time drunk behind the wheel to kill yourself or someone else. I am pointing out, however, that for someone without the predisposition toward addiction, the behavior can be easy to change and doesn’t require a long-term treatment plan. They wise up on their own and make better decisions. An addict wakes up in the morning and immediately wonders where the drug is going to come from. Addicts spend all of their money on their drug, and, when the money runs out, they will go into debt for it. Addicts rarely have the capacity to make a good decision like staying in and studying for tomorrow’s final rather than going out and chasing a high. Substance abusers usually retain the ability to say no when life points out a good incentive to do so. The addict requires treatment and a 12-step program. The abuser deserves punishment proportionate to the offense committed, but rehab is not usually necessary.

Help is available for people who genuinely struggle with addiction. There is a dedicated, compassionate network of specialists and recovering addicts throughout this country who can offer assistance and guidance to those who are ready for it. Addicts who stay clean and sober are some of the strongest and most dedicated people in the world.

Treatment programs offer real assistance to people who need help. They exist for that reason. Timeout rehab, on the other hand, is just an extended vacation and an attempt to save face. There is no saving face in real addiction. Addicts who get to the point that they ask for help usually have no “face” left. They’re at their bottom and they have lost or will lose everything. They are incredibly brave for letting go of pride and finding assistance, and they certainly aren’t looking for a vacation. They’re looking for a new life.

Rehab is not supposed to be a timeout; it’s the start of a whole new game.