“Mind” Mental Health Group Advocates for Choice in Treatment
January 8th, 2010
Though the prevalence of therapists and other dedicated mental health professionals is growing in many places throughout the world, many people facing personal concerns first discuss such issues with a general practice physician who may not have or know of local resources for specific issues. The mental health charity Mind has recently released statements calling for the improvement of such resources in needy communities to provide adequate treatment options for doctors and their clients. The statements coincide with evidence from the Mental Health Foundation showing that around three quarters of general practice physicians in the UK have admitted to prescribing medications despite suspecting that other treatments would be more beneficial.
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Comments
Why would they do something so stupid like prescribe a drug that they may not be familiar with. or worse yet instead of referring someone to something better, they do what comes naturally and insist on only prescribing medication? This sounds like a case of doctors not wanting to admit that there might be someone else out there who knows more about a case than what they do and taking liberties with the lives of their patiemts. This is beyond irresponsible if you ask me.
General physicians will definitely have colleagues dealing with psychotherapy and other things… and it would take them just a minute to refer the patients to them, but I think its just their greed that stops them from doing it!
It is ridiculous of professional health care personnel to do such a thing…like prescribing a medicine knowing well that there is a better option…it is not good at all.There need to be proper outlets for people,they need newer and more facilities to be able to go to the right places for the right problems… and if they do consult a general physician bout something that a specialist should handle,it is the duty of the specialist to guide them or at least refer them to one!
Writing a prescription is faster and gets the patient out of their office and their hair until the next visit. That’s why. Anything else requires paperwork for referrals, liaising with clinics outwith their own practice, waiting for the appointment dates to come in, informing the patient of the schedule, etc. It’s sheer laziness.
Just because there are better optionsavailable does not mean that they are going to be utilized. People go with what they are familiar with.
Look, if the gp’s were doing what they were supposed to be doing then none of this would be happening. They do not know their limitations sometimes and try to do way more than what they are qualified to do. And this does nothing for their patients but probably lead them to more time not knowing what is going on and not receiving the right kind of professional treatment. GP’s are a great place to start but too many stop there- you have to go to them for a start, but not necessarily expect that they can fix all that ails you. If we would stop relying on them so much then maybe they would stop feeling like they have to able to fix everything.
GP’s aren’t idiots either, Jon. The way you talk they’re almost the janitors posing as doctors. GP’s are what they are. General Practitioners. Very experienced and very knowledgeable. Maybe they try to do more than they are qualified to do because they know how extremely long the wait is for psychological services.
I can see where lacey is coming from. MIND’s own report on this, While we are waiting, is available in PDF and the summary intro reveals the waiting times .
http://www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/report_and_resources/900_while_we_are_waiting
“Waiting times for psychological therapies on the NHS for people with mental health problems have long been acknowledged to be too long.
While no reliable figures exist for how long people have to wait for psychological therapies, waiting times of several months are known to be commonplace (MHF, 2006) and in extreme cases waits of up to two years have been recorded. This is in stark contrast to waiting times for hospital operations, which are now tightly measured and limited to 18 weeks in most cases.”
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