Medication management in neuropsychiatric illnesses can be nuanced and complex, and there is a lot of misinformation in medicine and culture that have led to an enormous amount of stigma and anxiety related to them. This becomes more complex in patients for whom treatment by both neurology and psychiatry are required. The same brain chemicals and overlapping brain networks bring about anxiety, depression, migraine, chronic pain, dizziness, and a thousand symptoms shared between the two fields. Unsurprisingly, these syndromes overlap, and the medications used for them do as well. Why, then, rely on four different providers to treat each syndrome with a different medication when they will inevitably interact and have unintended consequences for the other symptoms you experience?

With his individual neuro-psychopharmacology patients, Dr. Claunch tries to identify the very specific patterns and symptom clusters a patient experiences and works with patients to determine a streamlined medication regimen to address as many problems as possible with the fewest number of medications, often utilizing common side effects to become side benefits. These decisions are not made through benevolent paternalism, where the all knowing doctor tells the patient what is best for them, but instead by teaching patients about different options and effects of various medications to decide with the patient what medications or medication combinations will help them achieve their goals.