Being mentally ill might not even hold any real meaning for most of you. However, people do make deliberate efforts to lessen the blame of their bad behavior by saying they’re mentally ill. But that’s just another excuse which doesn’t even work. Observing mental illness on a serious note, you find it quite the opposite of the myths people have believed for so long. Almost all those myths are lame and self-made (probably due to the lack of palpable mental health cases around).
One exciting thought (albeit misleading) that popped up from a source stating that people with mental illness have an exceeded risk of being violent and dangerous to fellow beings. It was a laughter riot for the elites specialized in the area. Statistics suggest that only 4% of violent crimes are committed by psychic patients. It’s sad how people have been misled into believing an almost opposite of what mental illness indeed suggests.
But what if mental health education is not affected by jaded opinions? What if only the genuine ones concern us? Psychiatric patients don’t always act plaintively, but what they can do is not to depend on their fellows, instead, identify a treatment procedure.
This is what we are here for. It’s more about choosing an appropriate mental health facility rather than just taking a shot at the top-notch treatment center. The first step is always to recognize oneself and the intensity of mental illness that resides within. And then the following points will influence your decision.
Flexibility to find the best match
Seeking for a bright future requires you to tap visible opportunities. With opportunities, we mean a treatment community flexible enough to be molded according to what patients have a stake for. Wondering how a perfect program meets a person? You better do as it will change your life for good. There is a full directory of several women’s and men’s mental health treatment centers. Our goal is to meet all the specific ideas for membership while nailing every concern a mental patient might have.
Achieving one hell of a match requires you to link the treatment program. Of course, you’re not a mental health specialist and understanding the difference and tweaks in some applications will be a task. Keep the following points in mind.
- Determine the exact goal of the treatment facility during your initial selection process.
- Consider the right time to be admitted to a mental health facility.
- Clarifying your doubts regarding the period to be spent in the treatment premises.
- Determine how intense the mental illness has got and how much it has overshadowed your natural behavior. If you can’t do it yourself, seek support.
- Don’t ever fall for the claims made by one so-called top-notch treatment center.
- Push yourself in the research process to an extent, and while deciding, get the support of a person who has a neutral perspective.
What to do before the research?
Some facilities are self-pay and do not take any private or public health insurance. However, some rehab services might also be offered for free. Every facility is not entirely different, as some characteristics are found as typical. Although the ambiance, health resources and the human resource working there will inevitably be distinct. There are some goals to determine right before every search for residential treatments.
- Understanding your goal is the first step towards treating mental illness. The determination of the exact treatment needed will fall afterward.
- The environment and the ambiance offered by the facility. There are some specific guidelines to maintain the physical premises of a mental health treatment facility.
- The degree of freedom and social integration provided to the patients admitted. It includes all the activities and creativity-enhancing activities for better social interaction.
Evaluating your readiness for a mental health treatment
It’s all about being prepared for what’s coming. What better source to tell you about it than yourself? Readiness for mental health treatment can be evaluated by the following factors.
- The phase of your life must allow you to step into a residential mental treatment program. It’s quite a massive variation from what you lived like and what you are about to experience.
- Do your emotional and financial situation allow you to enter into such a rigorous treatment? It can be difficult to digest that one of the family members is being admitted into one of those men’s or women’s mental health treatment programs.
- Recognize the need for a mental health treatment before anything else. Now, this step requires some of the prayer steps but is going to help you big time.
- Outline a picture of exactly what you expect. A residential treatment program isn’t what any mental patient would imagine. Yes, he would picture himself being treated but living in a whole other location away from family and friends is a concept he would be doubtful about.
Some questions to ask from the shortlisted options
Asking questions before your admission will ensure you with pointers of what to expect and what do not. A layman beginning to research for residential treatment centers won’t be able to figure out what all to clarify in the first place. This is the only way to find those not so evident differences among them.
- What is the age of the already existing patients/residents?
- What is the gender diversity of the patients residing?
- What is the range of mental disorders you can handle and cure?
- What is the staff to patient ratio?
- What are the details of the qualifications held by the staff?
- What amount of regular supervision will the patients be under and how much freedom do you provide to your clients?
- How much interaction do you allow between staff and residents (and with peers)?
- What are your values (in detail)?
- Is there any other option for partial resident treatment?
- How much daily participation from the residents do you expect?
- What are the guidelines to behave in the in-premise treatment and the off-premise treatment?
- What kind of educational, vocational, nutritional, artistic activities do you offer?
- What are the in-house amenities you provide to everyone?
- How often can we arrange family meetings?
- Which channels of communication are used between the facility and the family? How often do they communicate?
- How do you hire the staff and what are the critical evaluations that go on before recruitment?
Ensure that your family supports you immensely
The best asset anyone could possess in this situation is the support of the family. If anything can act as a first step for you to be entirely healthy is a supportive perspective in all your ups and downs. They must understand that taking a shot at this treatment was not the initial plan, but it’s firm on the part of the patient to choose it over anything else. Remember, if your family cannot support you, no external help would be sufficient enough to resolve your issue. Follow the points mentioned below to ensure family support.
- Sharing your history about your behavior and observations made by the people who stay near you is very important for the family as well as a residential program. In most cases, it is the family who communicates with the treatment center.
- Your family must not push you too hard to resist the temptation to get admission in such a treatment program. Even if they do it, bring them on the same page by communicating with them the same evaluation you did while choosing a residential treatment program.
- Participation of the family in the treatment program is decided on how they volunteer. The more they participate, the better and faster results follow.
What kinds of mental health issues does the treatment center cure?
As you know, a full-fledged list of mental issues exists. A men’s or women’s mental health treatment facility will do more harm than good if it doesn’t know which area it specializes in. Here is a list of some mental disorders which a patient might be able to relate to.
- One of the most commonly diagnosed behaviors in the youth is attention deficit disorder. As the name suggests, it is characterized by inattentiveness, impulsivity, or hyperactivity.
- Bipolar disorder is another mental illness. It means the repetition of the phases of depression and mania, causing instant shifts in the mood. This kind of mental disorder is more prominent in aged people. The sufferer can detect it himself and when the confidence pops up, he can communicate the same with the family. The treatment, on the other hand, must be continuous.
- A borderline personality disorder is characterized by instability in mood, bad interpersonal relationships, deteriorated image, and bad behavior. The treatment center has to provide a more clinical treatment towards this disorder.
- Dissociative disorders are characterized by disassociation from the person’s fundamental aspects of consciousness. It can cause interferences in recognizing one’s personal identity, past, or even relationships, etc.
These are just examples of some mental disorders and your treatment center must address each of these. Moreover, it must proffer some specialized services for a few diseases.
Concluding your decision
You cannot depend on just one path to find the perfect match of the illness with the residential program. What do you need to figure out is if the treatment center holds a key position in the community and have the experience (at least a few years) in communicating with prospective patients and their families. We hope that you find the best solution to your mental illness that retains itself till eternity.
