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Advice page
Can you identify with any of the following?
Mental health assessments
To make sure you get the most appropriate treatment you may have a mental health assessment.
Assessments can range from talking to your doctor in their surgery or at your home, to a hospital appointment
with a specialist. The type of assessment will depend on the sort of mental health care needed.
You’ll be able to talk to the doctor or specialist about your thoughts and feelings and they can discuss
possible care with you.
Your local doctor (GP)
Usually all assessments start with your doctor. Your doctor will make a diagnosis and consider any
medication that would be appropriate for you. The doctor could also refer you to a specialist (for example, a
counsellor) where a further assessment would be made about any therapies that might help.
Your visit is confidential - the doctor will not tell any member of your family, friends or anyone else what you
talk about.
Emergency assessments
If you are in danger of harming yourself or others and you are refusing treatment an emergency assessment
may be necessary; this is when two doctors and an approved social worker (a social worker who is specially
trained in mental health) make the assessment. This may lead to admitting you to hospital against your will,
under the Mental Health Act 1983 (this is often known as ‘being sectioned’).
It is important to note that this is rare.
There are three main ways of having receiving an emergency assessment:
- by going to your local the accident and emergency (A&E) department at a local hospital
- if the police take you to a place of safety
- by telephoning the emergency number at a social services department
This type of assessment should not be seen as a way of being taken into hospital, it should be seen as a way of getting you the support and care you need.
A review will take place three months after you are first admitted. If necessary, you will be asked if you give your permission for the treatment to continue. If you refuse a second, independent, doctor (known as a second opinion appointed doctor or SOAD) will be asked to confirm that the care should continue against your will.
Once discharged from hospital there are a number of different community care schemes available. (www.direct.gov.uk/)
Depression is a change in the mental state of an individual. Depression causes a person to feel worthless, unmotivated, and unhappy. Depression is a disorder or in other words a mental illness. One important fact to realize about depression is that it can not be wished away. Anybody that is suffering from depression can not make a decision to get better and then it happens. If a depressive behavior goes untreated the symptoms can last anywhere from days to year. Now is the time to seek treatment. Some of the signs of Depression include the following:
- Changes in weight and eating habits
- Changes in sleeping habits
- No concentration including difficulty making decisions
- No feeling
- Feeling of nothingness or guilt
- Entertaining thoughts of suicide
Some of the available treatment options are as follows:
- A wide variety of prescription medications
- Herbal Tharapy
- Psychotherapies
- Setting personal realistic goals for improvement
How can you conquer addition? Addiction can rear its ugly head in many forms. Educating yourself about the complexity of addition and its many forms is the first step to conquering addiction. Addiction does not only affect the addicted but it also affects loved ones, employers, and even the community at large. Consider the following list of additions that may be gripping you or a loved one at this very moment:
- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Gambling
- Co-dependency
- Shopping
- Food
- Sex
- Exercise
- Internet
- Smoking
(this is not an all-inclusive list)
SOLUTIONS:
Permanent lasting solution can be found!!!
But where do I start?
Time for a holiday? Reduce my hours? Life coaches? Change my job? Counselling? Therapies? … |
