First Steps in Treatment

Today I had the pleasure of viewing the first steps of anyone seeking psychological help at Metro Hospitals. The Mental Health Assessment. When anyone comes into Metro, or really any place offering psychological help, the MHA is how the doctor gets a feel for the patient, understands their issues and makes an initial diagnosis. The doctor (in this case Dr. Kreutzberg) starts by asking very general questions about the patients main concern that brought them in, if they're in any pain etc. Then the questions get a little bit more narrow, i.e. tell me about your childhood, how was it growing up (any abuse, emotional, physical or sexual), if you've experienced any trauma, if there has been any drug use, jail time (very important because of the population), occupational status, marital status, how close they are to their family etc, what are your strengths (important to focus on strengths as well as "weaknesses"). After all of the questions about the patients life, the practitioner moves on to illness related questions. They begin with the milder disorders such as anxiety and depression, and move on to the more impactful ones such as manic (bipolar disorder) and PTSD. Because this is the first time they are seeing the patient, the doctor will not normally include any personality disorders in their initial screening because of how hard they are to officially diagnose. After all of the questioning, the doctor makes an initial diagnosis and outlines a treatment plan, both in medication and in goals for the doctor and patient, and sets up their next appointment. Counseling begins at the next appointment and after at least 5 the doctor can attempt to make a diagnosis for a personality disorder. Watching the first step of the process was essential knowledge moving forward and seeing more patients, as it shows how everything began and how the doctor gets a foot in the door, so to speak.