I have been challenged on this assertion in several settings such as teaching, by students and also by families who are torn apart by psychiatric disorder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It could be the challenge does indeed reflect experience – people do experience poor care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step is to make a diagnosis, which in Psychiatry\nmeans \u201cwhat is most likely\u201d and what are the alternatives. I was going to say\nbest guess, but guess is exactly what it is not. It is a careful evaluation of\nall the information available. This then leads on to a plan of action. I\nemphasise the importance of a methodical, scientific approach, reviewing\ninterventions appropriately and then fine tuning the treatment plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few examples of “hopeless situations”:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf he (or she) doesn\u2019t stop drinking they will die of liver failure (or I will divorce them, or they will lose their job)\u201d. Addictions can be challenging that is true, but why has treatment not been helpful? What has been missing from the assessment? Let us try a different approach. Maybe it is time for an admission to hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve been told to pull myself together and man up\u201d. Anxiety is one of the most misunderstood labels. \u00a0It is a symptom as well as a diagnosis. In severe cases, initially the individual is too ill to undertake any form of Psychotherapy. When treatment appears unsuccessful this leads to the patient feeling even more miserable. Medication can often help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is true that at the moment, the underlying process of dementia cannot be changed. However, there are many ways of ameliorating the consequences. Why not try them at least?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps then, Psychiatrists should be more assertive when we say \u201cthere is always something that can be done to help the situation\u201d, because it is true.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been challenged on this assertion in several settings such as teaching, by students and also by families who are torn apart by psychiatric disorder. It could be the challenge does indeed reflect experience – people do experience poor care. The first step is to make a diagnosis, which in Psychiatry means \u201cwhat is … Continue reading “Something can always be done to help? Really?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-429","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/429\/revisions\/604"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drandrewmacaulay.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Addiction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Anxiety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dementia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n