About Dr. Roger Carey

After completing my doctoral degree I went to work for Lake County Mental Health as a Managed Care Clinical Coordinator. We treated chronic mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, Bipolar, Type I Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and relational issues, including personality disorders. I vetted many contracts with hospitals and institutions, including residential treatment programs as far away as Modesto, California. I served the people of Lake County for four years then decided to gain experience in forensic work with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). I began my career with the department in 2006 and continue my tenure to current time. I have had the opportunity to sharpen my diagnostic skills, providing individual psychotherapy, group therapy, assessment, consultation, psychological testing, working with a medical team of doctors, to address their medical and psychiatric conditions.

In 2015 I had decided to expand my private practice, in addition to my work with CDCR.

The health benefits of seeing a psychologist, written by Dr. Roger Carey – Originally published in the Tracy Press

Roger Carey, Psy.D., is a consultant, licensed psychologist, forensic consultant, Divorce Mediator, private practitioner and government employee of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Dr. Carey has served in many roles throughout his career as a psychologist, including Residential Treatment, hospitals and institutions, schools (elementary and high schools), private practice, and forensic work in law enforcement.

Dr. Carey’s approach to counseling, psychotherapy, and consulting emphasizes health and healing versus pathology and diagnoses. Our mission is to help people find meaning to their lives, to search for their calling in life, to improve their relationships, to enhance their lives through positive psychology.

What is psychotherapy?

Dr. Carey’s practice focuses on a range of treatments that can help with mental health problems and psychiatric disorders.

Our mission and practice aims to enable patients to understand themselves better, to understand their feelings, and what makes them do what they do, and equips them to cope with difficult situations in a more adaptive way.

Psychotherapy can provide help with a range of problems, from depression, low self-esteem, combined with medication; it can play a role in treating bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

What does therapy look like?

Some forms of psychotherapy last only a few sessions, while others are long-term, lasting for one hour, once a week and they follow a carefully structured process. Sessions may be one-to-one, in pairs, or in groups. A psychotherapist may be a psychologist, a marriage and family therapist, a licensed clinical social worker.

Talking cure or medication?

Psychotherapy is sometimes called the “talking treatment” because it uses talking, rather than use of psychotropic medications. Psychotherapy focuses on the wider context of relationships within a family or at work. A psychiatrist is more likely to prescribe medications to relieve symptoms that interfere with daily functioning. Combining psychotherapy with medication, such as antidepressants, provides the best outcomes, based on current scientific research studies.

Methods of treatment

Behavioral therapy:  helps patients to understand how changes in behavior can lead to change the person’s engagement in positive or socially reinforcing activities.

Cognitive therapy: starts with the idea that what we think shapes how we feel. Changing our belief systems can change a person’s view of events, and their emotional state.

Interpersonal therapy: the primary approach is focused on interpersonal relationships. Learning skills to improve communication patterns may help the patient to manage their depression.

Family therapy: Identifying family patterns that contribute to to behavior disorder or mental illness can help the family to better understand patterns that may cause dysfunction.

Psychodynamic therapy: referred to as insight-oriented therapy, focusing on deep-seated causes of behavior stemming from a person’s upbringing or early life experience. The aim is to increase self-awareness and understanding of how the past affects the present behavior. Looks at unresolved issues, and symptoms that stem from past dysfunctional relationships that underlie behaviors such as drug or alcohol abuse.

Some forms of psychotherapy last only a few sessions, while others are long-term, lasting for one hour, once a week and they follow a carefully structured process. Sessions may be one-to-one, in pairs, or in groups. A psychotherapist may be a psychologist, a marriage and family therapist, a licensed clinical social worker.