Clinical Care

Mood Disorder Clinic

The Mood Disorders Specialty Clinic has three goals: provide care for mood disorders, train health professionals to treat mood disorders and conduct research to improve treatment. Available services include psychopharmacology, psychotherapy and neuromodulation therapies.

Neuromodulation options include U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). Medication-based interventions include traditional antidepressants and intranasal ketamine for severe depression that has not responded to several antidepressants. Psychotherapy may be provided as the primary treatment or in combination with medication or neuromodulation.

View the Mood Clinic brochure (PDF)

Mood Disorder Faculty

Peter Thompson, M.D., M.S.

Dr. Thompson is a tenured professor of psychiatry, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Mood Disorders Division. His expertise includes the biology and treatment of bipolar disorder and major depression. He also leads the Southwest Brain Bank, and his work has been published in leading psychiatry journals.

Neuropsychiatry Clinic

The Neuropsychiatry Clinic offers comprehensive evaluations for complex conditions at the intersection of psychiatry and neurology.

The clinic provides treatment for psychiatric aspects of neurologic disorders, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson disease and other movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, intellectual disability and epilepsy.

The Division of Neuropsychiatry works to improve the lives of individuals and families affected by neuropsychiatric conditions through clinical service, research, education and community outreach.

University Medical Center of El Paso Consult-Liaison Service

The Consultation-Liaison Division is located at University Medical Center of El Paso, the flagship hospital of the El Paso County Hospital District. Trainees work on multidisciplinary teams that care for patients whose medical conditions may affect, or be affected by, psychiatric illness. The service provides consultation to medical, surgical, obstetrics and gynecology, and emergency departments.

Faculty members have expertise in mood disorders, addiction, geriatrics and neuropsychiatry. The service uses a hospital-based addiction consultation model for patients with co-occurring substance use, medical or psychiatric disorders.

The service is a training site for psychology trainees, medical students and residents in psychiatry, internal medicine and psychiatry, neurology, and family medicine. It also supports the addiction medicine elective for the categorical internal medicine program.

The Consult-Liaison Psychiatry Tuesday Conference is held every two weeks. During the conference, the team discusses a complex case or a relevant journal article with an expert in the field.

Consult-Liaison Service Faculty

• Peter Thompson, M.D., chair
• Pamela Lopez, M.D.
• Silvina Tonarelli, M.D.

Community Outreach

Second- through fourth-year rotations include community-based clinical experiences. The department partners with Ysleta del Sur Pueblo to provide care for the Tigua community and collaborates with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship to serve students through the Ysleta Independent School District clinic and the Child Guidance Center.

Services are also provided across West Texas through the Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN) and Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT). Additional partnerships support teens and adults with substance use disorders through Aliviane, older adults through the Bienvivir All-Inclusive Senior Health program, and veterans through rotations with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Addiction Psychiatry

Addiction psychiatry is a subspecialty focused on improving the lives of people with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illness. Addiction services are provided through the University Medical Center of El Paso Consult-Liaison Psychiatry Division for patients admitted to medical, obstetric, and surgical units with a co-occurring substance use disorder.

Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso provides consultation, assists with detoxification, and connects patients with long-term maintenance treatment at local clinics. The Department of Psychiatry also works with affiliated sites to improve addiction services throughout West Texas.

Psychiatric Emergency Service

The Psychiatric Emergency Service and admissions rotation give residents experience triaging, evaluating, and managing acute psychiatric emergencies. Residents encounter conditions such as acute mania, psychosis, depression, and anxiety while learning to make diagnoses, determine appropriate dispositions, and manage behavioral emergencies.

Inpatient Psychiatry

The program is affiliated with the El Paso Psychiatric Center, a 74-bed state psychiatric hospital serving children, adolescents, and adults. Residents, fellows, and medical students rotate at the facility to evaluate and manage patients with a range of psychiatric conditions. Residents also gain experience providing testimony in the facility's mental health court.