The initial consultation may run for 30 minutes or more, depending on the complexity of the issues at hand.  I will collect a thorough medical and psychiatric history and address the issues that brought you in. At the end of the session I will offer my recommendations and produce a treatment plan.  Sometimes this may be a referral to another treatment setting. Medication prescriptions are sometimes but not always written in the first session.  Psychotherapy will usually begin in the second or third session after an initial history has been collected.