A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

Though hospitals are able to treat clients who have engaged in suicide or self-harm attempts with specific and effective treatment and care, such clients are often released from hospitals with little to no guidance on how to proceed towards a more mentally healthy road, including therapy referrals. The mental health group SANE is calling for better training and understanding of mental health resources among general practice physicians and emergency response staff, noting that these measures will likely help save scores of lives. Too often, says the group, clients who are treated in the hospital after a suicide attempt are not directed to a therapist or other mental health worker, despite the fact that a previous episode of suicidal behavior is one of the strongest indicators of high risk.

The group conducted a survey of mental health clients who had been hospitalized for a suicide attempt, and found that around thirty percent had not been referred to any sort of mental health program or treatment avenue, and about sixty percent did not receive any information about psychotherapy-based services. The survey, which involved nearly three hundred clients, also found that about eighty percent of participants did not have a crisis plan to work with should they feel similar suicidal feelings in the future. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Chapel Hill Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

Rates of diagnoses of various mental health concerns may prove alarming to many clinicians and others in the mental health fields, and when such diagnoses affect children, the alarm may be especially prominent. A significant issue in terms of client safety and well-being, self-harm usually grabs the attention of therapists and mental health workers, and self-harm among children is a major concern which many modern protocols and techniques work towards preventing and resolving. Recently, Scotland learned that its rates of self-harm among children and adolescents under the age of sixteen was declining from a turn of the century peak, the numbers are still significant, and many cases may be repeat clients-–a clue that current treatment methods aren’t optimal.

The information was delivered in the form of a report from data collected by the agency Audit Scotland from 1999 – 2009, and noted that over seven thousand hospital admissions for children affected by self-harm were recorded during this period. Though Scotland has implemented new initiatives and funding avenues for the mental health field, commentators have noted that services for the very young as well as the very old have remained considerably under-funded and under-staffed, and many people may have difficulty reaching after-hours or crisis-centered services. Lawmakers have noted that increased funding is excepted to flow to national therapy and mental health services in the next two to three years, some of which would likely go towards improving treatment for children struggling with self-harm issues. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2010 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Sherman Oaks Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Headline

The process of delivering self-harm, whether in the form of cutting, burning, abstaining from food, or any number of individual manifestations, can present difficult challenges for young people and their families. Often developed as a way to cope with mental health issues, self-harm occurs in a significant population of adolescents and teens, a fact which prompted some young people who have recovered from the habit to offer their support and experience to others in need. The growing awareness of self-harming and a more diverse network of services and accessible contacts shows promise for helping youths who want to stop harming themselves overcome the compulsion.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Longmont Bureau - All Rights Reserved.