Preventive care in mental health?

by Introspection 3 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  Introspection

  What do you think? Does this concept apply, and if so do you see professionals playing a role in such preventive care? Given the fact that preventive medicine is now being stressed for physical health, it seems to me it's a question worth considering for the mental health field. If you think mental health professionals can play a part in preventive care, what form do you think it will take? I guess one thing that immediately comes to mind is education. So how might professionals educate their clients? I don't want to limit the discussion to education alone either, but that does seem to be key.

  I invite everyone who has an interest to comment, as well as those who have sought therapy and of course mental health professionals. It seems to me a dialogue between clients and therapists on this subject would be very useful.
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  larc

  Hi Intro,

  I think this is being done in the many self help books that have been written. Just like therapists, they vary in quality, but there is some good stuff out there. I like Albert Ellis and Wayne Dyer. Both have good credentials and both write useful information. I am sure others here have read similiar authors that have helped them. Perhaps others here could comment on books of a theraputic nature that have helped them.
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  Tina

  Hi!
  Preventative care.....hmm. There is a prob with that in the mh field(from my experience anyway) and that's dealing with managed care policies and insurance coverage.
  It's unfortunately all about money.
  It's kinda difficult these days to do prevention. Seems like many insurance plans won't cover something until it's at a crisis point,or you can get a medical dx for it.
  We call it 'creative coding'......in an attempt to try to help folks.
  All medical and psych diagnosis have a code. You cannot get paid/reimbursed without a valid code. Insurance co. often review these diagnosis and may reject the claims.
  These ins plans have also limited time that one can do theraputic work---if you look at a lot of the lit. that has been coming out int he mh field,you'll find lots of strategies etc for 'short term' or 'brief' theraputic interventions...it's really become a sad situation.
  I agree with larc,thank goodness there is a lot of self help lit. out there(caveat) but be discerning,there's a lot of 'pop' stuff,you wanna sift thru them. Like larc mentioned,it's pretty safe to go with credentialed,well-known in their field authors.....
  I'll return when time allows and share a few titles I found personally helpful later,regards to all,Tina

  Carl Sagan on balancing openness to new ideas with skeptical scrutiny...."if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense,you cannot distinguish useful ideas from worthless ones."
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  Introspection

  Hmm okay, as far as self-help, are you guys familiar with Daniel Goleman, the Emotional Intelligence guy? I remember reading it a long time ago and one of my psych professors said it was well researched.. I guess he has co-authored something with his wife since, "Emotional Alchemy" ? They did a benefit at the local meditation center here..