Topic Tuesday 1: Special guest psychologist YvonneS answers your questions *CLOSED*

Hi NikNik and thank you Snoo. At the moment in Australia psychologists cannot prescribe medication, this is generally the domain of a psychiatrist who is medically trained. In some other countries psychologist do prescribe and have specialist training to do so. As this is not yet happening in Australia, its difficult to give you a clear answer to this question and I guess we will have to wait and see.

Hi Tommy, I am not medically qualified so I cant comment on your question. What I can say however if you are concerned about any aspect of your treatment, you should discuss it with your doctor. You might also want to seek a second opinion, there is definately nothing wrong with doing that... a new pair of eyes can review your treatment plan with a fresh perspective. Can be very helpful. And I am not aware of any studies taking place. If you contact the SANE Helpline 9-5 M-F, 1800 18 7263 they can direct you to places where you can find out about mental health studies.

NikNik, I guess that this is dependent on what the presenting concerns are. Generally the GP will undertake an assessment and develop a treatment plan. Remember that GP's are generalist practitioners, which means they know a little bit about alot. Psychiatrist are specialist mental health professionals and mental health is their area of expertise, which means they have a lot of knowlege about all the up to date treatments.

Psychologist have 8 years mental health training and generally work with people to develop day to day coping strategies. While they can diagnose, they cannot prescribe and so psychiatrists and psychologist tend to work as a treatment team.

If a client comes to counselling with a psychologist and their symptoms are so overwhelming so as to make counselling unhelpful, the psychologist may suggest that their client see a psychiatrist for a review and maybe to consider medication to assist with symptoms and make therapy more helpful.

Thanks @YvonneS - that makes complete sense!

Something I've seen discussed in these forums before is a carer contemplating whether to go to a therapy session with their loved one. A couple of questions that came up were -

1. is it a good idea for a carer to go to a session?

2. if so, what's the best way to approach this topic with the person you care for?

NikNik thats a question and I am going to cover a couple of different points here.

1. One of the symptoms of mental illness can be a lack of insight into being unwell. This can make it hard for family members who can often see that their family member is not doing so well and are living with the sometimes odd or unusual behaviours.

If you have concerns for your family member and they are currently engaged with a treatment team – doctor or psychologist, I would encourage you to firstly speak with the person you are concerned about and if they are open to it go with them to see their professional to discuss your concerns. If they are not open to it, you can still speak with their treating professionals however they cannot discuss your family member with your without their permission.

Why is this helpful? If your family member lack insight into being unwell then they are not going to discuss things with their treatment team.

Your insight will help the treatment team to better understand whats happening in your family members life and will provide a much fuller picture.

1. Privacy laws prevent treatment professionals from speaking with family members. There are several reasons for this, some of these are – to protect their therapeutic relationship with their client, the law protects the rights of people to choose how they want to live and this includes engaging with or refusing treatment. Treating professionals are unable to discuss a patient/client without the persons express consent.

3. If not knowing is causing you stress, you might want to see a psychologist yourself to discuss how your feeling and the impact of being a carer.

Your very last point there @YvonneS is a really good one! Looking after yourself!

Our members seem to have some really grat ways to look after themselves (they have created discussion topic full of tips and ideas). What would you suggest to carers who lack time & sometimes space to be able to take care of themselves?

Hi NikNik looking after yourself is important. It can be hard to put yourself first. Caring for another person can seem to take all your energy so that at the end of the day all you want to do is get some sleep. Its great that your talking among yourselves to come up with ideas as having lots to choose from. It might be as simple as reading a few pages of a book, talking on the phone to a friend, going for a walk. Keep sharing those ideas and looking after yourselves!