Treatment of Mental Illness |
||
|
|
||
|
Once a person sees in himself the signs of mental illness or once such signs are observed by his relatives or friends, the question arises as to the proper place to go for help. In the rare cases of violent action toward others or an actual suicidal attempt, it may be necessary immediately to call on the police or emergency rescue squads to prevent an urgent threat to life. Few cases of mental illness require such drastic management. In most instances the patient should go himself or be quietly urged to go to his family doctor. The family physician is in 99 per cent of all cases of mental illness the first source of help. Sometimes, in the case of persons who resist medical advice, it may be helpful to enlist an influential friend or the family minister, priest, or rabbi. Some members of the clergy have come to know much about mental illness and can be very helpful to the family in steering a stubborn mentally ill person to proper professional help. They would be the first to acknowledge that final treatment must be placed in the hands of physicians and their professional associates. In the vast majority of cases the family doctor will be able to care for the mentally ill person without referral to anyone else. This is true especially of the neurotic and psychosomatic illnesses which constitute most of the mass of mental disease. In more severe cases the general practitioner may refer the patient to a specialist in the field of mental disease—the psychiatrist. The latter may treat the patient himself or may in turn use the services, under his supervision, of specially trained persons such as marriage counsellors, psychiatric social workers, or clinical psychologists. There is still confusion in the minds of many persons as to the distinction between a psychiatrist and a psychologist. A psychiatrist is a doctor of medicine who has had special training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. A clinical psychologist is not a physician, but rather a person who has been trained in the study of human behavior and psychology, and who with further special preparation can undertake the treatment of some forms of mental illness. The clinical psychologist is also trained in psychological testing, the laboratory procedures of the field of mental diseases. Such tests help in the diagnosis of mental disease and often in indicating the line of treatment that should be undertaken. Psychological tests are as important to the family physician and the psychiatrist in dealing with mental disease as are x-rays of the chest in the diagnosis of tuberculosis or an electrocardiogram in the diagnosis of heart trouble. The psychiatric social worker may, under adequate supervision and with special training, treat some cases of mental illness. More usually, however, he will be concerned with collecting information, helping the family adjust to the circumstances brought about by the mental illness of one of its members, and keeping relatives abreast of developments as the patient is treated. |
||