First, the principle of prevention
As the ancient saying goes, “The best doctor treats the sick before they get sick”, which means that the best doctor is to prevent people from getting sick when they are not sick, and not to wait until they get sick to cure them, but to prevent them before they get sick. Prevention is the most important thing, and this principle is suitable for all diseases.
In the case of mental illness, prevention can begin in several ways.
First, equip yourself with knowledge of mental health, such as what is depression? What is schizophrenia? How is it diagnosed and treated? You can buy such popular science books to learn, and with this knowledge, you can achieve early detection and diagnosis as well as early treatment.
Secondly, we should improve our psychological quality, our ability to cope with setbacks and stress, our personality, our hobbies, our stress, our work and our life, and separate work and life in a reasonable way.
For parents, more communication with their children, so that the child has a cheerful and optimistic personality, healthy body and mind, so that the child has a good personality, good psychological quality, far more important than buying him fancy toys, wearing expensive clothes.
For adults, it is important to be able to realize their own shortcomings and improve them in order to better adapt to the environment and society.
Second, the principle of early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment.
In clinical work, we often meet patients who have been ill for several years and have not been cured even after repeated examinations in general hospitals, and finally came to psychiatry to get the correct diagnosis and treatment, which wasted a lot of financial resources and delayed treatment, causing a great loss for the patient. Most of the reasons for this are that they do not know that they are mentally ill and need to see a psychiatrist. Others are misconceptions about psychiatry and feel that seeing a psychiatrist.
Generally speaking, the earlier the diagnosis and the earlier the medication, the better the recovery and the higher the cure rate, on the contrary, the longer the onset and the later the visit, the worse the recovery and the lower the cure rate. Therefore, it is the best choice to acquire more knowledge about mental health and come to see a doctor in time.
We all need to treat patients with mental illnesses correctly, mental illnesses and fever, are essentially diseases, no one wants to get sick, sickness requires us all to care for patients, do not discriminate against patients, to create a good recovery environment for patients, to know that many patients recovered well after treatment, made a great contribution, such as the famous American Nobel Prize in Economics For example, John Nash, the famous American economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics, was a schizophrenic himself and fought with the disease for his whole life and made extraordinary achievements.
Early detection, early diagnosis, early treatment, the patient will be able to recover better.
Third, the principle of systematic treatment.
When a patient is diagnosed, medication is generally essential, and when the condition is under control, many patients and families stop the medication, with the predictable result that relapse soon follows. Why? This is because mental illness is very different from physical illness. Many mental illnesses are chronic and prone to relapse, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, etc., which require long-term, systematic medication to maintain a healthy state, just like hypertension and diabetes, which require long-term medication maintenance. Discontinuation and reduction of medication requires the consent of the doctor.
I often encounter old schizophrenic patients who have been ill for decades, who come to the clinic to be prescribed medication on their own, who are in a good mental state, who can do housework, and who did a good job when they were young. Patients with poor compliance tend to have poor mental status and relapse from time to time.
Systematic drug therapy means: taking the medication for a sufficient period of time, taking the medication in sufficient doses, assessing the efficacy of the treatment by the doctor, and adjusting the treatment plan if necessary: increasing the dose, changing the medication, and combining medications. After the illness is cured, the patient must take medication for a longer period of time to prevent relapse, depending on the patient’s diagnosis and previous illnesses, as recommended by the treating physician. Generally speaking, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder require long-term medication. For depression, it takes 2-3 years to take medication for the first time, 3-5 years for two times, and three times for long-term medication.
It is not advisable to reduce the dosage and stop the medication at will, nor is it advisable to change the medication at will. It is also unscientific to evaluate the efficacy of medication if it is not taken for long enough, because most psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anti-compulsive drugs take a few weeks to take effect, and 8 weeks or even longer if the efficacy is obvious.
Fourth, the principle of individualized medication
The principle of individualized medication refers to the fact that different patients, even if they have the same diagnosis, the same age and gender, and the same physical condition, may have significant differences in the effect of medication, the dose of medication that works, and the side effects of the medication may also vary greatly. The reasons for this may be related to the cause of the disease, genetic differences and other factors.
As for which drug is suitable for each patient, we should take into account the patient’s condition, previous medication experience and the effect after taking the drug, the patient’s tolerance of the drug, side effects, and the patient’s economic situation, and then make a decision after comprehensive consideration, and then follow up with the patient. Solve. Adjust the treatment plan at any time, so that patients gradually towards recovery, so that smiles bloom on the face of each family member, and for each patient, no matter what kind of medicine, as long as you eat the effect is good, side effects are small, this is good medicine. There is no inevitable link between the efficacy of the drug and the price, expensive drugs are not particularly effective, cheap drugs are not necessarily bad, the efficacy of the drug itself is related to the characteristics of the drug, but also varies from person to person.
As for the difference between imported and domestic drugs: the same drug is both imported and domestic, generally speaking, the quality of imported drugs is slightly better, if the economy is not a problem, you can eat imported, if you consider the cost, domestic drugs are more affordable, economic conditions are not so good, or eat domestic drugs can be. Do not need to blindly pursue expensive drugs, imported drugs, rational treatment can be.
Five, the principle of relapse prevention
Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder are more prone to relapse, generally speaking: drugs, seasons, and adverse stimuli are common causes of relapse.
Reasons for medication: such as unexplained discontinuation or reduction of dosage, patients and family members not realizing the need to adhere to medication, or side effects being too great, or economic conditions not being affordable, etc., all affect patients’ adherence to medication. Patients and family members should realize the importance and necessity of adhering to medication, and communicate with doctors about side effects and other problems that occur during treatment, so that they can find a treatment plan that is suitable for the patient as much as possible and create a good recovery environment for the patient. Pay high attention to the side effects of drugs, both doctors and family members, as much as to the therapeutic effects of drugs, because side effects can seriously interfere with patients’ compliance with medication.
Seasonal factors: Generally speaking, spring is the season when schizophrenia and mania are prone to relapse, and late autumn and early winter are the seasons when depression is prone to relapse. If patients have a seasonal pattern of onset, they should increase their medication doses in advance and pay close attention to relapse aura: insomnia, mood instability, abnormal behavior, etc. Adverse stimuli: give patients a good recovery environment, good support, more communication and more exchanges, improve patients’ ability to cope with adverse events and avoid the stimulation of adverse events.
Sixth, the principle of never giving up
When a family has a mental illness after the patient, it can be very unfortunate, the family has to pay energy, money, time, get may be suffering, the patient is not cured for a long time. As a psychiatrist, I understand you very well, at the same time, I am also deeply aware: you family members are the main force in the treatment and recovery of patients, to care for patients, observe the condition, monitor the medication, medical treatment, buy drugs, encourage patients, pay a lot, as a doctor respect you, I hope we never give up, to persist, after all, technology is developing again, new drugs and new treatments are constantly emerging, we work together to find the right patient. We work together to find the right solution for the patient, as long as we can make a little progress for the patient, is our success.
As for which drug is suitable for each patient, we have to take into account the patient’s condition, previous medication experience and the effect after taking the drug, the patient’s tolerance of the drug, side effects, and the patient’s economic situation, and then make a decision after comprehensive consideration, and then follow up with the patient to adjust the treatment plan at any time, so that the patient can gradually move towards recovery and let the smile bloom on the face of each family member.