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Dr. Richard Ries, Professor of Psychiatry and Director, Addictions Division, Department of Psychiatry, has been named one of Seattle magazine’s Top Doctors for 2024. 

Why did you pick your specialty?

I didn’t plan to go into psychiatry or addictions when first in medical school but had great clinical clerkships with great teachers, which drew me into these areas.

What do you wish people knew about your specialty?

Both psychiatry and addictions practices can be really diverse. On Mondays I cover our department’s psychiatric consult line, PCL, which was set up with backing from our state to help community primary care and other clinicians deal with either psychiatric or addictions problems they encounter in their patients, and we do this with immediate phone access. Most Washingtonians don’t know that half the counties in our state don’t even have a psychiatrist practicing there, and this line helps hundreds of callers each year. On other days I may see my own long-term recovery outpatients, cover our Harborview inpatients, and other times work on research on suicide prevention or on developing our addictions track, which is part of our residency.

How do you support patients with their mental health concerns?

I try to do so in many ways but being steady, and being an advocate, is a little challenging if someone is stuck.

How is technology changing health care?

In our specialties this is mostly through the electronic medical record (EMR). The EMR allows better access to current and historical records. However, it seems to displace more time with actual face-to-face patient care, which is not good .

What’s the most important healthy habit for a patient?

I don’t think there is one “habit” but really a set of activities ranging from physical to spiritual, and is different between patients.

What questions do you wish patients would ask?

Maybe, “What are the best things for me to do for my condition outside of sessions?”

What do you do for your own personal wellness?

I love my work, and am fortunate to have a three-generation family in Seattle which is very interactive. We have a German shepherd and two Maine coon cats, and I walk hills on Capitol Hill with the dog almost every day. I am an active fisherman with many fishing-partner friends.