Services Mental Health

Clients to mental health clinics are usually not admitted arbitrarily. The process usually consists of an initial interview with a community worker or a mental health professional. If a client is considered in need of residential or out-patient treatment at a mental health clinic, an extensive history of the mental illness will then be recorded. Such assessments will also include interviews with other doctors and family physicians who have noted the onset and progress of the ailment.

The staff at mental health clinics usually consists of psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, and support personnel who are specially trained. The scope and activities of mental health clinics in America generally falls under the purview of the CMHC (Community Mental Health Centers). This body issues licenses to clinics and centers for the practice of mental health-related treatment.

Considering that mental health crises do not always announce themselves in advance, a mental health clinic or center usually offers twenty-four-hour emergency services. These include inpatient hospital referral, since many cases are diagnosed in hospitals while the client is under treatment for other health problems. Read more »

From Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, KY in a five-month inquiry, the Associated Press (AP) discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas. Read on if this concerns you.

This problem is not local to the United States drinking water the same problem can be found parts of Europe, Japan and Canada. The belief is that the water treatments are chlorine based which can disinfect against harmful bacteria but cannot remove the synthetic drugs from the water.

Okay, so how bad is this whole water and drug deal? Well, AP’s probe found the following list of pharmaceutical drug:

Philadelphia officials found 56 different pharmaceuticals or byproducts like medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, heart problems and mental illness. Read more »

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2006, about 212,900 women in the U.S. will learn they have invasive breast cancer. American women have a 1 in 8 chance of developing this type of cancer at some point in their lives, and roughly 2 million have already been treated for the disease. Thankfully, death rates from breast cancer have dropped dramatically. Early detection as well as advances in chemotherapy and other treatments mean that each year yields more and more breast cancer survivors.[i]

As with any cancer, traditional treatments for breast cancer can cause their own array of health challenges. Nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and low blood cell counts often follow chemotherapy and radiation. In a recent study published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Michael Hassett of Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found that 16 % of breast cancer patients under age 64 required a hospital visit to manage chemotherapy side effects.[ii] Chemotherapy targets all rapidly growing cells, including white blood cells (known as neutrophils), which support the immune system. Neutropenia, meaning white blood cell counts have dropped below normal levels, lowers immune response to invaders like bacteria, viruses and fungi.[iii] Consequently, the most common and serious reason for the post-chemo hospital visits was high fever from infections. Anemia-resulting from low red blood cell count-poses additional struggles in the form of extreme fatigue. Read more »