Assertive Community Treatment Model Essay

Psychiatrist - a medical practitioner specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

Schizophrenia - a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

Treat with; Antipsychotics

Bipolar - Bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings—from feeling overly “high” and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between. Severe changes in energy and behavior go along with these episodes. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of

mania and depression. It is often not recognized as an illness, and people may suffer for years before it is properly diagnosed and treated.

How Are Mental Illnesses Diagnosed?
A mental health diagnosis involves many steps beginning with an evaluation by a doctor or other mental health professional if symptoms of mental illness are present. The evaluation will begin with the health care provider asking questions about your symptoms and medical history and sometimes performing a physical exam. Although there are no laboratory tests to specifically diagnose mental illness, doctors may use various tests to make sure something else isn't causing the symptoms. If no other illness is found, you may be referred to a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health professional who is specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses.

Psychiatrists and psychologists use specially designed interview and assessment tools to evaluate a person for a mental illness. The doctor bases his or her diagnosis on the person's report of symptoms -- including any social or functional problems caused by the symptoms -- and his or her observation of the person's attitudes and behavior. The doctor then determines if the person's symptoms and degree of disability point to a diagnosis of a specific disorder.

The standard manual used by experts for the diagnosis of recognized mental illness in the U.S. is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM), which is compiled by the American Psychiatric Association.

Panic Attacks
Panic attacks involve sudden feelings of terror that strike without warning. These episodes can occur at any time, even during sleep. People experiencing a panic attack may believe they are having a heart attack or they are dying or going crazy. The fear and terror that a person experiences during a panic attack are not in proportion to the true situation and may be unrelated to what is happening around them. Most people with panic attacks experience several of the following symptoms:

"Racing" heart
Feeling weak, faint, or dizzy
Tingling or numbness in the hands and fingers
Sense of terror, or impending doom or death
Feeling sweaty or having chills
Chest pains
Breathing difficulties
Feeling a loss of control

How Is Panic Disorder Treated?
A combination of the following therapies is often used to treat panic disorder.
Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy (a type of counseling) addresses the emotional response to mental illness. It is a process in which trained mental health professionals help people by talking through strategies for understanding and dealing with their disorder.
Cognitive behavioral therapy. A type of psychotherapy that helps a person learn to recognize and change thought patterns and behaviors that lead to troublesome feelings. Therapy also aims to identify possible triggers for panic attacks.
Medication. The antidepressant drugs Paxil and Zoloft and anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax, Ativan, or Klonopin are used to treat panic disorders. Sometimes, heart medications (such as beta blockers) are used to help with anxiety.
Relaxation techniques.
Some people will respond well to treatment only to experience panic attacks later in life. When panic attacks continue after treatment has stopped, additional treatment may still help control and reduce panic attacks. In addition, relaxation techniques, such as breathing retraining and positive visualization, may help a person during an attack.

Psychotherapy helps people with a mental disorder to:
Understand the behaviors, emotions, and ideas that contribute to his or her illness and learning how to modify them.
Understand and identify the life problems or events -- like a major illness, a death in the family, a loss of a job, or a divorce -- that contribute to their illness and help them understand which aspects of those problems they may be able to solve or improve.
Regain a sense of control and pleasure in life.
Learn coping techniques and problem-solving skills.
There are several different types of drugs available to treat mental illnesses. Some of the most commonly used are antidepressants, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, mood stabilizing, and stimulant medications.

What Drugs Are Used To Treat Depression?
Antidepressants makes saratonin which is the happy chemical
When treating depression, several drug options are available. Some of the most commonly used include:

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, and Viibryd
Selective serotonin & norepinephrine inhibitors (SNRIs), such as Effexor, Cymbalta, Khedezla, Pristiq, and Fetzima
Novel serotonergic drugs such as Brintellix
Older tricyclic antidepressants, such as Elavil, Pamelor, Sinequan, and Imipramine
Dopaminergic drugs such as Wellbutrin
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), such as Nardil, Parnate, and Emsam
Tetracyclic antidepressants that are noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressants (NaSSAs), such as Remeron*******
Mood stabilizer, antipsychotic
Linthium

Anxiety and Panic
Panic attacks are intense periods of fear or feelings of doom developing over a very short time frame -- up to 10 minutes -- and associated with at least four of the following:

Sudden overwhelming fear
Palpitations
Sweating
Trembling
Shortness of breath
Sense of choking
Chest pain
Nausea
Dizziness
A feeling of being detached from the world (derealization)
Fear of dying
Numbness or tingling in the limbs or entire body
Chills or hot flushes
Panic attacks and panic disorder are not the same thing. Panic disorder involves recurrent panic attacks along with constant fears about having future attacks and, often, avoiding situations that may trigger or remind someone of previous attacks. Not all panic attacks are caused by panic disorder; other conditions may trigger a panic attack. They might include:
Mitral valve prolapse
Hypoglycemia
Hyperthyroidism
Heart attacks
Social phobia
Agoraphobia (fear of not being able to escape, such as flying in an airplane or being in crowds)
Psychotherapy
Often called talk therapy, psychotherapy is when a person, family, couple or group sits down and talks with a therapist or other mental health provider. Psychotherapy helps people learn about their moods, thoughts, behaviors and how they influence their lives. They also provide ways to help restructure thinking and respond to stress and other conditions.
Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation teaches people about their illness and how they’ll receive treatment. Psychoeducation also includes education for family and friends where they learn things like coping strategies, problem-solving skills and how to recognize the signs of relapse. Family psychoeducation can often help ease tensions at home, which can help the person experiencing the mental illness to recover. Many of NAMI's education programs are examples of psychoeducation.

Self-help and Support Groups
Self-help and support groups can help address feelings of isolation and help people gain insight into their mental health condition. Members of support groups may share frustrations, successes, referrals for specialists, where to find the best community resources and tips on what works best when trying to recover. They also form friendships with other members of the group and help each other on the road to recovery. As with psychoeducation, families and friends may also benefit from support groups of their own.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation
Psychosocial rehabilitation helps people develop the social, emotional and intellectual skills they need in order to live happily with the smallest amount of professional assistance they can manage. Psychosocial rehabilitation uses two strategies for intervention: learning coping skills so that they are more successful handling a stressful environment and developing resources that reduce future stressors.

Treatments and resources vary from case to case but can include medication management, psychological support, family counseling, vocational and independent living training, housing, job coaching, educational aide and social support.

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

Assertive community treatment (ACT) is a team-based treatment model that provides multidisciplinary, flexible treatment and support to people with mental illness 24/7.

ACT is based around the idea that people receive better care when their mental health care providers work together. ACT team members help the person address every aspect of their life, whether it be medication, therapy, social support, employment or housing.

ACT is mostly used for people who have transferred out of an inpatient setting but would benefit from a similar level of care and having the comfort of living a more independent life than would be possible with inpatient care.

Studies have shown that ACT is more effective than traditional treatment for people experiencing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and can reduce hospitalizations by 20%.

Flood therapy- You present a situation when the patient is freaking out, help them calm down.

like if claustrophobic; stick in a closet to make them calm down

People may experience:

Mood: apprehension, general discontent, loss of interest, hopelessness, anger, elevated mood, mood swings, apathy, euphoria, sadness, guilt, or inability to feel

pleasure
Behavioral: crying, hyperactivity, self-harm, risky behavior, irritability, aggression, agitation, or impulsivity
Cognitive: slowness in activity and thought, lack of concentration, unwanted thoughts, false belief of superiority, delusion, or racing thoughts
Psychological: paranoia, agitated depression, anxiety, manic episode, or depression
Sleep: difficulty falling asleep or excess sleepiness
Weight: weight loss or weight gain
Also common: restlessness, rapid and frenzied speaking, or fatigue

Haloperidol (haldol) is a first generation antipsychotic banned in around 48 of the states. It is a neurotoxin

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PSYCHIATRY TRAINING NOTES:
First key point: Patient confidentiality
Never give out information to a patient.
Do not invade the patient's space or private life, unless the patient consists to it.
To protect the patient, do not get close to their personal information. There are two patient confidentiality.
1. Child abuse 2. Mental health in court 3. Dispute with co-patients. 4. Crime/Fraud 5. Duty to warn

Second key point:
When you greet your patients, say it with a big warm and nice smile. Also ask them what you would like for you to reserve them as.
"Good morning, I am Dr. Davison DH of Psychiatry, what may I help you with today? :)" s, crime or fraud, and Duty to warn.
Those are the general exceptions to HIPPA.
•. It helps protect the privacy of our patients, and we are to abide by it at all costs.
Serotonin Sydrome
It is a general disorder, caused by oversaturation from an SSRI.