You might benefit from joining the practice of Dr. Preter, if:
- You wish to be in psychotherapy and would prefer an experienced physician-therapist rather than a non-medical therapist (e.g., a psychologist or social worker).
- You are looking for a psychiatrist with a broad international perspective on diagnosis and treatment integrating German, French and British-American training and schools of thought.
- You are looking for a neurologist with a broad international perspective on diagnosis and treatment integrating German, French and British-American training and schools of thought.
- Generally speaking, you are interested in integrative thinking and in exploring “CAM” (complementary alternative medicine) and “functional medicine” approaches.
- You are interested in the Anti-Dementia Protocol developed by Dr. Preter (the Protocol can also be helpful in TBI/mTBI/brain injury).
- You feel (and/or your current psychologist vs psychiatrist/psychotherapist) that you are in a treatment impasse and may benefit from a second opinion using an broad, integrated perspective.
- You are concerned about psychiatric or neurological medication failures and/or have questions about your current medication (or more likely, medications).
- You are suffering from “medically” or “neurologically unexplained symptoms”, or were told there is diagnostic uncertainty in your situation and you are looking for clarification of diagnosis.
- You are concerned about currently being over-medicated (or more rarely, under-medicated).
- You are looking for a differential diagnosis of neurological illness (such as memory loss and possible dementia) versus adverse effects of medication/polypharmacy interactions.
- Vous cherchez un psychiatre qui parle français. Sie suchen einen Psychiater, der Deutsch spricht. You are looking for a psychiatrist who speaks French and German fluently and practices in these languages, including psychotherapy.
- You are looking for a neurologist who speaks French and German fluently.
Most members of the practice wish to address/suffer from one of the following conditions or life events and/or need help with diagnosis and/or treatment:
- Life transitions and their psychological, and sometimes medical-psychiatric challenges.
- Dr. Preter's practice comprises patients from young adult, to adult, middle age, to very advanced old age, including centenarian individuals.
- Presenting issues may include struggles with parenthood, succession planning, and inheritance.
- You suffer from a chronic medical condition and experience potentially related psychological and/or neuropsychiatric adversity.
- You suffer from a psychiatric condition and have fallen ill with a major medical problem.
- You suffer from a psychiatric condition such as anxiety, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (read on for one of Donald Klein’s and my review paper)
- Depression/bipolar disorder ("manic depression")
- Psychological trauma, grief reactions after loss and PTSD.
- Alzheimer's disease/dementia/”senility“/forgetfulness/mild cognitive impairment: clarification of diagnosis and treatment options (including CAM approaches)
- Post-stroke depression (click here for a classic article on sinus venous thrombosis)
- Traumatic brain injury/head trauma.
- Insomnia and sleep disorders, including jet-lag.
- Parkinson disease.
- Epilepsy and "non-epileptic seizures".
- Unusual, “psychogenic” movement disorders.
- Differential diagnosis of the catch-all "Attention Deficit Disorder".
- Post-Covid infection with incomplete emotional and/or cognitive/neuropsychiatric recovery.
More on panic disorder (videoclip)
Neuropsychiatry: An Integrative Approach
A layered, step-by-step approach pays off. On the first layer, fundamental physiological disturbances can affect a person’s immediate emotional, cognitive and general well-being, and threaten health later in life. They are sometimes quite easily treated. Examples are obstructive sleep disorder, a thyroid imbalance, nutritional deficiencies, the unwanted effects of multiple, perhaps improperly dosed, sometimes even unnecessary medications that all impair the day-to-day functioning of the mind and the brain, and can cause or exacerbate illness and distress. However, the second layer and just as important as these biological, pharmaceutical and nutritional “basics”, is a longer-term, psychologically informed perspective that helps us to make sense of a person’s unique experience. This often forces us to look beyond simple diagnostic labels and requires a scientifically informed reassessment and integration of often isolated pieces of information: Biographic narrative, memories, but also imaging data, medication lists, blood tests, neuropsychological test reports etc.
A choice of treatment approaches that integrate psychotherapy with standard biological and complementary-alternative techniques
- Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.
- Special attention as indicated, to long-term brain and mind health (preventative neurology), healthy aging and cognitive rejuvenation measures.
- Neurological and psychopharmacological medications, based on a thorough, result-oriented assessment of the risks and benefits of these medications in a given situation.
- Promising old and novel compounds, and non-drug modalities such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
- Preventative neuropsychiatry through control of biochemical and life-style risk risk factors.
- The Anti-Alzheimer Protocol – a program using the ketogenic diet developed at Johns Hopkins as part of an overall treatment plan for disabling illnesses such as chronic body pain, migraine headache and neurodegenerative diseases (mild cognitive impairment/MCI, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease).
More on the Anti-Alzheimer Protocol (videoclip)
