In this week’s episode, Dr. Mona Gupta and Justin McLendon, both from Gupta Wellness in Raleigh, NC, discuss with me about Mental Dental: Helping People Move to The Next Step.
Dr. Gupta was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In 1999, she graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management. While completing her graduate work, she met her husband and married in 2001. Dr. Gupta then moved to North Carolina to complete her residency in Psychiatry at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and obtained her Board Certification in General Psychiatry in 2009.
After completing her studies and residency, Dr. Gupta sought to gain a variety of experience working in several different inpatient and outpatient facilities. Through her experiences, she was able to gain a better understanding of the needs of her community. In 2009, Dr. Gupta opened Gupta Psychiatry. Dr. Gupta’s experiences helped mold her style as a psychiatrist today.
Justin McLendon, LPC, LCAS, received a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from South University in Royal Palm Beach Florida. Justin has worked in a variety of settings including psychiatric acute stabilization, psychiatric Partial Hospitalization, and both inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment. Justin has extensive experience in both clinical counseling as well as program development.
Justin enjoys working with individuals struggling with substance use disorders and helping them work toward freedom from their disease. He relies on clinical approaches to treatment which include motivational interviewing, cognitive and behavioral interventions, and believes strongly in the integration of the family system into the recovery process.
Both, Dr. Gupta and Justin believe in the utilization of evidence-based treatment, the engagement of family systems in the recovery/treatment process, utilization of community supports, developing deep meaningful relationships with others, and facilitating positive change within the whole person (mind, body, and spirit) not just controlling the substance use.
Dr. Gupta explains that effective treatment is one that uses a multifaceted approach to meet the patient where they are and support them in facilitating positive change in all areas of their life. Justin describes what is substance abuse and how IOP works. They also share signs and symptoms of substance abuse and how to seek professional help. A lot of people with primary substance use disorder tend to ignore the consequences of what they are doing. Justin helps us understand how to determine who is a candidate for IOP and who isn’t and how we can help people to move the next step.
This week on T-Bone Speaks Dentistry Podcast:
- Signs and symptoms of substance abuse
- What can we do to help people with primary substance use disorder?
- The consequences of not seeking professional help.
- What are the triggers for substance use disorder?
- The effect of alcohol in our daily life.
- How to find candidates for IOP?
- Helping others to move to the next step.
Our Favorite Quotes:
- “A clear sign of substance use disorder is when people use alcohol to self-medicate themselves to cope with stress, frustration, and depression.” – Justin McLendon
- “Financial stress, too much time at home with family, and uncertainty can trigger substance use disorder.” – Dr. Mona Gupta
- “The amount and frequency are big signs of substance use disorder.” – Justin McLendon
- “Intensive outpatient falls between a more restrictive inpatient/residential level of care and the less restrictive outpatient level of care.” – Justin McLendon
- “There are some medications that are game-changer for some people.” – Dr. Mona Gupta
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