Consumer Health

1
Consumer Health
2
Mental Health Care

• Chapter 6

3
Who Should Seek Help?

• Anyone who has a mental, emotional, or behavioral
  problem that interferes with the ability of the
  individual to function.

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Psychiatrist - Physicians who have completed at
  least three years of specialized training in
  psychiatry after graduation from a medical
  school.
• Child psychiatrist - Minimum of four years
  psychiatry training two years in both child and
  adult area.

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Geriatric psychiatrist - Those who have acquired
  an additional certification by passing an exam in
  the area of geriatrics.

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Psychologists - Those who have undergone training
  in the study of human behavior. They use three
  types of test to analyze the clients behavior.
• Intelligence test (test achievement)
• Aptitude test (vocational counseling)
• Personality test (assess emotional/social)

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Psychoanalyst - Practitioners who have undergone
  several years of psychoanalysis and completed
  additional years of training in the theories and
  techniques of psychoanalysis.

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Social workers - Provide counseling and therapy
  services after meeting the following
  requirements
• Masters or doctoral degree
• Two years post-graduate experience
• Passage of a written exam

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Clinical mental health counselors - Counselors
  certified by the state that require the
  following
• Masters degree in counseling
• Two years post-degree experience
• Passage of a written examination
• Adherence to a code of ethics

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Mental Health Practitioners

• Marital and family therapist - Counselors in the
  area of family problems that have meet the
  following criteria
• Masters or doctoral training
• Two years of supervised clinical graduate
  experience with couples

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Psychotherapy

• Any type of persuasive or conversational approach
  designed to help patients.
• Psychodynamic treatments - based upon the
  premises that childhood experiences influence
  current actions.

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Psychotherapy

• Cognitive therapy - Aimed at relieving symptoms
  rather than resolving underlying conflicts.
• Behavioral therapy - Aimed at replacing unwanted
  behaviors with more desirable ones.
• Biofeedback - A relaxation method that teaches
  control of functions.

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Psychotherapy

• Group therapy - Therapy that involves a number of
  people gathering together to discuss particular
  problems.
• Marriage counseling - Where the counselor meets
  with the husband and wife separately, together or
  both to discuss problems in the marriage.

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Drug Therapy

• Drugs are often prescribed for the treatment of
  anxiety, depression, psychosomatic disorders, and
  psychosis.
• Antianxiety agents (minor tranquilizers)
• Antipsychotic agents (major tranquilizers)
• Antidepressants (for severe depression)
• Anti-obsessive-compulsive agents (used to treat
  patients with uncontrolled actions)

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Electroconvulsive Therapy

• Referred to as electroshock treatment or shock
  treatment. This treatment involves producing a
  convulsion by giving a stimulus to the brain,
  usually to the temple.

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Selecting a Therapist

• When seeking mental health treatment four
  questions should be asked
• What type of help is wanted?
• Who can provide the help wanted?
• Are they available?
• How much can the patient pay?

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Psychiatric Hospital Care

• Hospital care is needed in four basic situations
• The patient poses a danger to self
• The patient poses a danger to others
• The patient is so malfunctional that community
  care is not possible
• Special treatment available only on an inpatient
  basis is needed.

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??? Self-Help Products ???

• Subliminal Tapes
• No supportive evidence
• Biofeedback Gadgets
• Devices that measure muscle or brain-wave
  activity
• Self-Help Programs
• Not validated / Not likely to help

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Questionable Practices

• Sensitivity Training
• Consumers should be careful when expressing
  strong/intimate feelings to strangers.
• Meditation
• Techniques intended to relax an individual and
  relieve stress.

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Questionable Practices

• Megavitamin Therapy
• Orthomolecular psychiatry No proven benefit

21
Questionable Treatments for Learning
Disabilities

• Doman-Delacato treatment
• Patterning based on high levels of motor and
  sensory stimulation in an attempt to train the
  nervous system.

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Questionable Treatments for Learning
Disabilities

• Eye Movement desensitization and reprocessing
  (EMDR)
• Involves asking the client to recall traumatic
  events and rate certain feelings before and after
  tracking the therapist finger. Week supportive
  evidence.

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Questionable Treatments for Learning
Disabilities

• Facilitated communication
• A process in which the facilitator supports the
  hand or arm of a handicapped person who spells
  out a message using a keyboard containing a list
  of letters, numbers, or words. Invalid - outcome
  determined by facilitator

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Questionable Treatments for Learning
Disabilities

• Neural Organization Technique (NOT)
• Based on the notion that many disorders are
  related to muscle imbalances caused by misaligned
  skull bones.

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Questionable Treatments for Learning
Disabilities

• Optometric visual training
• Based on the idea that learning can be improved
  by exercises that improve coordination of the eye
  muscle improve hand-eye coordination. Lacks
  scientific evidence.

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Past-Life Therapy

• Based on the notion that disorders arise from
  traumas from previous lives intruding on the
  subconscious.
• No evidence supports this theory

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Stimulation of False Memories

• The stimulation or creation of false memories.
  It is usually the therapist who initiates this
  process.

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Dianetics and Purification

• A method by the Church of Scientology described
  as an exact pastoral counseling technology for
  the location and elimination of unwanted
  emotional conditions that are of spiritually
  induced origin.

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Routine Personality Testing

• Test intended to reveal aspects of a persons view
  of self and others, along with interpersonal and
  emotional and emotional tendencies.
• Used as part of some evaluation and treatment
  methods.

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Psychic Hotlines

• Not an effective means of obtaining mental health
  services.
• Cost
• Evidence suggest that there money-making schemes

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Mismanagement of Psychotherapy

• Psychotherapy should not only be to help the
  patient solve the problem but to also help the
  patient learn to deal with the problem
  individually.
• Many practitioners encourage dependence on the
  therapist.

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Questions/Terms

• Mental Health Practitioners
• Psychotherapy (types)
• Drug Therapy
• Electroconvulsive Therapy
• When should you seek mental health treatment
• When is hospital care is needed

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Questions/Terms

• Questionable Self-help products
• Questionable Practices
• Questionable Treatments
• Past-Life Therapy
• False memories
• Mismanagement of Psychotherapy

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Assignment

• Read Ch. 7
• Dental Care