To the mental health professional.....?

Question

When a patient doesn't show improvment over a period of time, do you feel that you have failed or do you feel that the patient has failed?

plz list any relative creditials and let me know if you are willing to be contacted personally in regards to this question.

answer number five SUCKS. if a mental health professional is misled by a mental ptaient then the counselor needs help. For any given circumstance there is a host of variables that are applicable. If the Professional doesn't know how to investigate those variables without disclosing his objectives then the professional is at fault for being improperly trained.

Go look for pity elsewhere. You are obviously the illusive patient that has gained pride by tricking your advisors instead of gaining humility by submitting to their suggestions.

Either drop the hammer or admit your pride and seek out resolution because your life sucks and I wouldn't live it at gunpoint.

Answer 1

The common feeling in the mental health profession is that the professional does their best but that it is up to the individual to actually do the effort to get better. But then what is success? For some patients just keeping them from committing suicide or out of jail that week is success. Cronic mental illness means just that, cronic. There are a lot of people who have severe mental health issues that are going to show little progress over time, if any progress at all. It is unfortunate, but a therapist can not open someone's head and fix things. Nor can the therapist do the exercises and homework for the client. No matter how many pushups I do, the client is not going to develop muscle mass.

Credentials: yes
List them: no sorry. Ethics and liability issues.

Answer 2

One way to think about this is in terms of the relationship between the patient and the treatment provider. A primary goal of the mental health professional is to develop a therapeutic relationship with a patient. Like any relationship, both parties are responsible for making it work. So if a patient is not showing improvement, both the treating professional and the patient have some responsibility. Of course there are exceptions. If the patient has been misdiagnosed and improper treatment is provided, then it is hard to see any failure on the part of the patient. If the patient has deceived the mental health professional - made up symptoms, provided an inaccurate history, then perhaps they have played a greater role in the treatment failure. However, I would think that in most instances the responsibility is with both. Treatment has failed because the therapeutic relationship has failed.

Answer 3

Far from a professional..I'd have to say that the first thing a mental health worker must do in order to succeed..is to prepare to fail. Sometimes, those requiring mental health assistance are beyond help and look forward to nothing more than medication and contant supervision. It would be part patient..part professional. If the patient is behind a locked door screaming and no pro in the building has the key.....Then I'd say the first one to call the locksmith would succeed. It's a difficult world we live in...Some of us are gifted in the art of looking beyond the crazed eyes of lunacy and seeing the inner person. Others will stare right through the eyes and label a depressed person as unstable and institutionalize without compassion. Good question.

Answer 4

Well, I'm not quite a mental health professional yet; currently I have my B.A. in Psychology and am now a graduate student at the University of Texas, and plan on obtaining my Master's degree next Spring. But as part of my work-study internship I do counseling at a local Psychiatric Hospital. And I've been talking with psychologists and psychiatrists and watching them work for five years. Answer to your question: It depends! LOL. Not the answer you probably wanted. But it's true. If a client quits coming to therapy for no apparent reason, or refuses to participate--as court-ordered clients will often do--then yes, we will usually attribute the failure reason for not meeting the therapy goals to the client. In cases where we've been seeing a client for a significant period of time, and he has been a good client, making his appts. regularly and participating in therapy, we will often not so much as blame ourselves, but perhaps ask ourselves or a colleague what we may have done differently, should that client choose to quit therapy or seek another therapist. We all know that psychology is a "soft science" and the answers are not always easy to obtain, and there are many ways to attempt to solve a fiven problem, unlike in a hard science where there is one way.
Where we usually blame ourselves is when a client whom we think is doing well suddenly has a bad exepreince: a suicide, a violent offense, a relapse into drugs or alcohol. In those cases, we will often blame ourselves from not seeing a warning sign.

Answer 5

When a doctor 'fails'...did he really fail? Sometimes, the patient, as in the case of say a psychopath type,...can shine disguise themselves to even the most astute doctor...a doctor can only do what he/she can do with the information received...so did he/she really fail? I think not...if a patient is not giving all of the information or lying about it,...what is a doctor to do>?...I know a man who is so mentally deranged, but is such an expert at hiding it, that the people trying to get him help look like the one needing a doctor..So what do you do?...You can only do your best, and keep trying...if they are not showing any improvement,...then you could very graciously suggest that maybe they try to go elsewhere....but if they are not comfortable with that...tell them to turn to the Lord,...and start praying...Of course being a man of science, you probably wouldn't agree with that..but sometimes, and usually always...a higher power needs to intervene....you also seem very angry and frustrated yourself with this whole issue.. You are the 'sane' one, so I doubt if you have failed to answer your question...sometimes, just when you think it has, you might be surprised to see that you have not failed at all.

Answer 6

no it means the patient is to mentally retarded or impaired to respond to any treatment, and is most likely needed to be locked away