Geriatric Psychiatry

Personalized Psychiatric Care for Seniors

Dealing with the changes that come with aging can be overwhelming. At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), we help you manage the mental and behavioral health symptoms you may experience as you age. These symptoms may include anxiety, depression, and memory loss.

Your geriatrician works with many care providers:

• Psychiatrists
• Psychiatric social workers
• BIDMC residents and Harvard Medical School trainees
• Neuropsychologists
• Clinical psychologists

Together, we evaluate your condition and provide the best treatment for you.

Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic

Our Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic is part of the BIDMC Psychiatry Ambulatory Service. We work with your gerontology primary care doctor to provide psychiatric consultation and recommend the right treatment for you or your loved one. Common treatments we offer include psychopharmacology and time limited psychotherapy.

At our specialized geriatric psychiatry clinic, we focus on the following:

• Behavioral and emotional changes related to dementia
• Depression management 
• Medication management 
• Your emotional, physical and social needs

We invite your family members to attend appointments with you. 

Specialty Outpatient Psychiatry Clinics

Depending on your diagnosis, your doctor may also refer you to one of our other outpatient psychiatry clinics.

These include:

• ASPIRE clinic. The Advancing Services for Psychosis Integration and Recovery (ASPIRE) clinic provides evaluation and outpatient treatment if you have early psychosis symptoms. We offer coordinated care and the opportunity to take part in research studies.
• Cancer wellness clinic. If you are in active cancer treatment, you may have anxiety, depression, and fatigue. You may also experience relationship issues with loved ones. We offer medicines and psychotherapy. We coordinate your care with your oncology, palliative, senior health, and social work care teams.
• Digital clinic. Our digital psychiatry clinic provides cognitive behavioral therapy with the mindLAMP app. If you have a behavioral health condition, mindLAMP might work for you. We combine face-to-face therapy with skill reinforcement sessions on the app.
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) clinic. We provide TMS treatment for depression that has not responded to medicines and therapy. This FDA-approved treatment uses magnetic field pulses to activate or inhibit specific areas of the brain.