Behind the postcard
From the outside, Boulder can look like a town of marathoners, researchers, and startup founders who never have a bad day. The reality inside our Spruce Street office is different. High achievers burn out. Students far from home sink into depression. Athletes lose their footing after injury. A psychiatric evaluation takes all of that seriously and gives you a real diagnosis instead of a guess.
The conversation
Your provider will ask about your symptoms, when they started, and how they affect your studies, work, training, and relationships. They will cover sleep, eating, energy, and concentration. They will ask about past treatment and every medicine and supplement you use, including cannabis, alcohol, and any psychedelic or natural medicine use. Family history matters, so share what you know.
Perfectionism and pressure
Many Boulder patients are used to winning. Perfectionism can look like success for years while hiding anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or depression underneath. Your provider will ask how you respond to mistakes, how much you check and recheck, and whether rest feels impossible. These details help separate healthy drive from a treatable condition.
Eating, training, and mood
Endurance culture runs deep here. Under-fueling, overtraining, and rigid eating can quietly drive low mood, poor sleep, and anxiety, and sometimes point to an eating disorder. Your provider will ask about food and training without judgment and may coordinate with your primary care doctor or a sports medicine physician.
Trauma and PTSD
Boulder County has lived through hard events: the 2013 floods, the 2021 King Soopers shooting on Table Mesa, and the Marshall Fire that destroyed more than a thousand homes in Louisville and Superior that December. Many people also carry personal trauma from assault, accidents, or difficult childhoods. Post-traumatic stress can show up as nightmares, hypervigilance, irritability, or avoiding reminders. Your provider screens with care, often using the PCL-5, and you set the pace.
Screening for bipolar disorder
Periods of high energy can be mistaken for being driven or productive in a place like Boulder. Your provider will ask about times you needed very little sleep, felt unusually confident, took on too many projects, or made risky choices. Recognizing bipolar disorder matters because antidepressants alone can trigger mania, while mood stabilizers protect against it.
Measuring where you are
Rating scales such as the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 give your symptoms a starting number to track over time. If physical causes are possible, such as thyroid disease, anemia, low iron in endurance athletes, or concussion after a bike crash, your provider may order labs or coordinate with your doctor.
Who we see
We see adults and teens 15 and older from downtown, North Boulder, Table Mesa, Gunbarrel, Louisville, Lafayette, Superior, and Longmont. CU Boulder and Naropa students are welcome, as are researchers at NIST, NOAA, and NCAR and professionals across the tech and outdoor industries.
Graduate students and postdocs
Long hours, uncertain funding, and a single advisor who controls your future make graduate school a common time for depression and anxiety to surface. Postdocs face the same pressures with less structure. Your evaluation is confidential, and your provider will help you think through what support might help at school.
Bring your data
Many Boulder patients track sleep, heart rate variability, and training load on a watch or ring. That data is welcome. It can show sleep disruption, overtraining, or cycle-related changes that support the clinical picture, though it never replaces the conversation.
Older adults in Boulder County
Retirees often come to us for low mood after loss, sleep problems, or worries about memory. Your provider will screen for depression and anxiety and look for medical or medication causes of memory changes, coordinating with your primary care doctor when needed.
Your plan
At the end you will understand your provider's working diagnosis and the reasoning behind it. Your plan may include starting medicine through medication management, labs, or GeneSight testing if several medicines have failed before.
Find us downtown
We are at 1434 Spruce St, a few blocks from the Pearl Street Mall. No referral is needed to become a patient.
Why Choose Flatirons Psychiatry and Mental Health?
- Board-certified psychiatric providers serving the Boulder area and all of Colorado
- Research-backed treatment protocols
- Full documentation for all evaluations
- Coordinated care with your other providers across the region