Mental Health Services

The perception of mental health has vastly changed over recent years. This topic has gained not only legitimacy through the growing number of mental health care providers, but through general access to information about what it is and how it affects our daily lives. This has done wonders for reducing stigma and spreading awareness to those who might otherwise not have sought treatment. Now that the idea that our mental health should be treated like our physical health has become more accepted, here are some things to consider.

What type of help do you need?

Medication Management:

One of the first questions often asked is if medication will need to be prescribed during treatment. The table below outlines who can prescribe and monitor medication (1).

Can prescribe:

• Psychiatrist (DO or MD)

• Physicians Assistant (PA-C)

• If states allows and they are licensed to do so:

• Psychologist (Ph. D. or Psy. D. or Ed. D.)

• Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (PMH-APRN)

*Family practice doctors can also prescribe some medications for mental health.

Cannot prescribe:

• Clinical Social Worker (CSW)

• Psychiatric - Mental Health Nurse (PMHN)

• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

All the above have the ability to diagnose to the level of their education and specialty. Those who cannot prescribe medications generally have a greater emphasis on talk therapy (also known as psychotherapy) to treat their patients. Prescribing physicians mainly focus on medication management and use psychotherapy as a tool in that process. In many instances, those who meet with a prescribing mental health provider greatly benefit from additionally meeting with a mental health therapist.

Psychotherapy:

(as described by the American Psychological Association)

Approaches to psychotherapy fall into five broad categories:

• Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies. This approach focuses on changing problematic behaviors, feelings, and thoughts by discovering their unconscious meanings and motivations. Psychoanalytically oriented therapies are characterized by a close working partnership between therapist and patient. Patients learn about themselves by exploring their interactions in the therapeutic relationship. While psychoanalysis is closely identified with Sigmund Freud, it has been extended and modified since his early formulations.

• Behavior therapy. This approach focuses on learning's role in developing both normal and abnormal behaviors.

1. Ivan Pavlov made important contributions to behavior therapy by discovering classical conditioning, or associative learning. Pavlov's famous dogs, for example, began drooling when they heard their dinner bell, because they associated the sound with food.

2. "Desensitizing" is classical conditioning in action: A therapist might help a client with a phobia through repeated exposure to whatever it is that causes anxiety.

3. Another important thinker was E.L. Thorndike, who discovered operant conditioning. This type of learning relies on rewards and punishments to shape people's behavior.

4. Several variations have developed since behavior therapy's emergence in the 1950s. One variation is cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focuses on both thoughts and behaviors.

• Cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy emphasizes what people think rather than what they do.

1. Cognitive therapists believe that it's dysfunctional thinking that leads to dysfunctional emotions or behaviors. By changing their thoughts, people can change how they feel and what they do.

2. Major figures in cognitive therapy include Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck.

• Humanistic therapy. This approach emphasizes people's capacity to make rational choices and develop to their maximum potential. Concern and respect for others are also important themes.

1. Humanistic philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Buber and Søren Kierkegaard influenced this type of therapy.

2. Three types of humanistic therapy are especially influential. Client-centered therapy rejects the idea of therapists as authorities on their clients' inner experiences. Instead, therapists help clients change by emphasizing their concern, care and interest.

3. Gestalt therapy emphasizes what it calls "organismic holism," the importance of being aware of the here and now and accepting responsibility for yourself.

4. Existential therapy focuses on free will, self-determination and the search for meaning.

• Integrative or holistic therapy. Many therapists don't tie themselves to any one approach. Instead, they blend elements from different approaches and tailor their treatment according to each client's needs.

Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology