Welcome to our Practice 

Athens Behavioral Medicine provides both general and sub-specialty neuropsychiatric care for children, adolescents, and adults. Our practitioners work as a team to ensure a careful, thorough evaluation followed by comprehensive multi-modal outpatient treatment.

Our mission

Members of our clinical team strive to be leaders in the field as well, by serving as University Professors, by teaching medical students and residents, by providing lectures to other physicians and the community regarding mental illness, by employing evidence based practice, by participating in clinical research, and by utilizing state-of-the-art technology to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Our mission is to be a regional resource providing the highest standard of behavioral health care, to search for new knowledge of mental illness and human behavior, to teach what we know and learn, and to apply this knowledge to promote mental health. Most of all, we are here to promote the health and overall functioning of the patients whom we serve.

Our philosophy

ABM’s philosophy emphasizes:

    ■ in depth evaluation and careful diagnosis

    ■ evaluation of potential medical causes of mental illness via lab studies,

          brain imaging, & specialist referrals as appropriate

   ■ multidisciplinary perspectives

   ■ individualized treatment based on the scientific evidence base & the

        specialty's standard of care

   ■ involvement of family members and other social supports

   ■ patient and family education

Our team employs the bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach to the diagnosis and treatment of those suffering from psychiatric problems. In short, medication alone is rarely the proper means of treatment, especially in children and adolescents. The bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach calls for the clinician to also consider social, psychological, and spiritual factors as potentially contributing to or causing mental illness and to consider social, academic, psychotherapeutic, and/or spiritual interventions as part of a comprehensive, multi-modal treatment plan. The judicious use of medication in children often has its place as a vital adjunct to other treatments, but the decision for a child to take psychotropic medication should be made only after a thorough discussion with their doctor about the risks, benefits, possible side-effects, and alternatives. We strive to educate patients that there are often known risks to not treating mental illness as well.