Therapy Helps Mentally Ill Patients, Family and Friends

When people talk about mental health care and treatment, they often refer to group therapy. While the term may sound curious to those who have never experienced it, this is a way for patients to work through their issues. It helps them get better.

There are different kinds of group therapy, depending on the type of treatment and illness involved with the patient. For example, people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may be in the same therapy group even though they have different illnesses.

Patient Therapy

During inpatient treatment, programs are structured to put a number a patients with similar struggles in a group setting where they can talk about issues and experiences. While they may not all have the same diagnoses, they can often relate to each other's successes and difficulties. They may offer advice, support or simply listen. Group therapy is facilitated by a mental health professional who acts as a moderator to keep the therapy session on track. The idea is to help patients cope with what ails them in a productive way.

Family Therapy

People who are mentally ill or are substance abusers are not the only ones affected by mental illness. Friends and family members are often left to handle behavioral crises and sometimes the resulting financial issues. This puts a strain on relationships. Many treatment facilities invite friends and family members of their patients to participate in

therapy with the patient in order to strengthen and heal these relationships. Issues that are dealt with in these sessions may include addressing past indiscretions as well as ways to prevent similar patterns in the future. Seen more as a healing type of therapy than an accusatory one, these group discussions are facilitated by a doctor or case worker assigned to the patient's mental health care.

Support and Education

Aside from participating in therapy sessions for a mentally ill loved one, many mental health clinics or facilities will offer support groups for friends and family members as well. Caring for or living with mentally ill people can leave those around them feeling emotionally drained. Participating in a support group with others in a similar situation gives people a chance to work through their own frustrations, hopes and fears while the patient is in a rehabilitation program.

Aside from support group counseling, caregivers and loved ones of patients also need information and professional advice on how to deal with them at present and in the future. Mental health facilities usually offer therapy or training and educational programs to help the caregiver assist in a patient's recovery.

Author is a freelance writer. For more information on Skyland trail please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyland_Trail.

Are Physician's Relationships To Pharmaceutical Companies Unhealthy For Their Patients? (Part One)

The New England Journal of Medicine reports that 94% of all physicians receive some sort of compensation from drug companies. These incentives may be in the form of food and beverages in the workplace, free drug samples, reimbursements for professional meetings or their continuing medical education, and direct payments for consulting, speaking, or enrolling patients in trials or studies.

Such gifts and payments have a direct influence on the physician's ability to make sound medical decisions. The vast amount of amenities that the majority of physicians accept has made it difficult for them to any longer distinguish between legitimate sources of medical information from that which has been influenced by the pharmaceutical companies desire to market their products. This unfortunate situation has also blurred the lines between that which is actually educational, and that which is merely a marketing ploy.

Drug Companies Might Very Well Be Your Doctor's Only Source Of Education

It is quite likely that your doctor does not spend much time after hours going over reports and statistics on the latest drugs. It is more likely that the information he or she receives comes from drug representatives who are peddling their specific brands of medicines. According to a 2008 report, drug companies spend more than $50 billion dollars per year in promotions to help make sure that your doctor is actually listening to their high paid drug pushers.

Do These Doctor-Drug Company Relationships Effect Patient Health Care?

Although you would be hard put to find one doctor in a million who would admit that the many free gifts which they receive and enjoy from the pharmaceutical companies has any effect on what they prescribe to their patients, research has shown otherwise. These amenities in fact actually do influence prescribing practices. The nearly $20 billion dollars per year that the drug companies spend in building and maintaining relationships with physicians all over the country is proof enough that your physician's behavior is affected by these relationships, and these relationships do in fact increase sales or else the drug companies would not dish out that kind of money.

I believe that we place physicians on a great pedestal in this country and forget that they too are merely human beings who are just as capable of being influenced and persuaded by the love of money (greed), perks, and entitlements, as any other human being on the planet.

In this writer's opinion the question of whether or not a physician's financial relationship with a pharmaceutical company has any effect on the overall health care of a patient is really a no-brainer. It would actually be almost impossible to stay 100% committed to that which is actually best for the patient under a physician's care if the physician were promoting the drugs which paid for his or her new luxury automobile. This is quite obvious to me, but the question is, is it obvious to you? For your sake and the physical and financial well being of this great country I hope you will consider what is here written and start to make positive dietary and lifestyle changes in your daily walk and begin to rely less on your doctor who might very well rely too heavily on a big pharmaceutical company.

I am passionate about health issues, and the state of the health of our wonderful America. I believe the American diet is literally killing us and that a steady flow of money and perks from the meat, egg, and dairy industries to the U.S. government is the reason we have had a long sustained brainwashing campaign that has precipitated the shift from a predominantly plant-based diet to an animal-based diet. The result has been an unprecedented increase in heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancers of all varieties. I believe Americans are suffering from a lack of truthful information concerning our diets. I enjoy writing motivational articles that will help to correct the problem regarding this lack of information and also examine the prevailing misinformation in the light of truth.

Healthy Vegetarian Choices For Life
Dedicated to the advancement of informed choices that will benefit our health, our environment, and our animal friends. Please visit my website at http://www.ourhealthforlife.com and look around awhile. I would very much appreciate comments concerning your reaction to what I have written as well as any input that might aid me in the task of making my site more helpful. I thank you in advance for your consideration.