Health Counseling: HLT-490V

Health counseling
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Health counseling
Abstract
The main objective of any health worker in any health institution is to improve the health of the patients and improve the quality of their lives. One way in which this is done is through psychological counseling for patients who have experienced traumatic events in their lives. In this paper, I will be putting forward some recommendations on how this counseling can be offered effectively and the people who are supposed to be given such services. Methods used to identify and retrieve the evidence of this service and the rational for exploring this clinical issue are also described. There is also the implementation plan for this proposal in order to effectively help and improve the quality of life of patients. Psychological counseling is an important part of treatment after the patient has been prescribed some drugs by the doctor. When the patient is discharged from a hospital, he or she may suffer psychological problems, which may result from the experience one faced while at the hospital. Some of the patients come out of the hospital being traumatized because of what they went through. Therefore, counseling is an important component of the healing process of the patient.
Introduction
Counseling psychology is a specialty in the field of medicine that facilitates both personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span. The main objective of a counseling psychologist is to pay attention to the social, emotional, educational, vocational, developmental, health-related and organizational concerns of an individual. The practice includes a wide range of sensitive practices of the culture that can help people improve their well-being, resolve personal and interpersonal crisis, and improve the ability of a person to function better in his or her life. This is a field that serves persons of all ages and thus it is appropriate for both the children and the adults. All of them require these services especially after release from the hospital. Psychological recovery helps an individual to recover faster in case of an ailment, than a patient who has not been taken through psychological counseling (Sena, et al. 2013). Intervention by these counselors can either be short term or long term depending on the severity of the condition and the willingness of the patient or the person involved. Counseling psychology is not only done to patients, but also to other people who feel or are recommended to undergo it.
Most counseling psychology in hospitals and other health clinics are offered to patients who have undergone traumatic events during the period of treatment. Medical treatments are only known to health physical ailments and injuries, but may not be able to deal with mental and emotional pain. An example of patients who are mostly affected by psychological problems and traumas are the rape victims who experience stigmatization. This affects their social, emotional and cognitive development, which if not take care of, could lead to fatal effects later. Post-traumatic stress is very common in such victims and they might find it difficult to fit in the normal life situations after they are treated. Therefore, it is very important for such patients to be counseled in order to accepts themselves and be able to move on with their normal lives. Though to some it may take a long time before they heal psychologically, it is highly recommended that they undergo the treatment. There are a lot of benefits that result from counseling psychology for patients who experience traumatic events. This study will be looking at the effectiveness of the counseling and how patients who have not been counseled differ from those who have received the counseling (Helpguide).
The professional goal of the counseling psychologist is to foster the psychological development of the individual. This includes all people on the adjustment continuum from those who function at tolerable levels of adequacy to those suffering from more severe psychological disturbances. The counseling psychologist will spend the bulk of his time with individuals within the normal 250 P. H. Munley et al. range, but his training should qualify him to work in some degree with individuals at any level of psychological adjustment. Counseling stresses the positive and preventative. (APA, 1952a, p. 175) The report noted that with counseling psychology’s emphasis on facilitating optimal personal development, it was anticipated that educational settings would be a central home for counseling psychology. However, other appropriate settings for counseling
Psychologists included business and industry, hospitals, community agencies, vocational guidance centers, and rehabilitation agencies.
Problem
According to a study conducted by UCL at the University College Hospital found out that more than 50% of the patients experienced adverse psychological problem after they were discharged from the hospital. This mostly happened to the patients who were discharged from the intensive care unit of the hospital. Most of them were traumatized by the conditions which they were suffering from and they ended up having psychological stress even after being discharged from the hospital. Some of the emotional and psychological traumas patients experience include frightening memories, upsetting emotions, feeling numb and disconnected, losing trust in other people and having a feeling of constant danger. People react differently after a repeated trauma, where they experience a wide range of emotional and physical reactions. Some of the emotional symptoms that are seen in the victims include disbelief, denial, shock, confusion, anxiety, withdrawal from friends and relatives, self-blame, and guilt among many others. On the other hand, physical symptoms include increased heartbeats, aches and pains, fatigue, nightmares and insomnia, and difficult in concentration.
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to look at the advantage that comes with psychological counseling after one is released or is being treated in the hospital. There is a very big difference between patients who have been taken through counseling and those who have not. The reason why experts offer psychological counseling to patients after treatment is to help them to adjust to life post-treatment and be able to accept their conditions this helps them to recover even quickly than those patients who do not undergo the process. Some people ignore such services; little do they know that they have a great impact to their physical and social lives. Although some people recover well even without undergoing the psychological treatment, this may not apply for all the people. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the consequences of failing to go through the process and the benefits of taking the counseling. It is worth noting that the patient has the final word on whether all not he/ she will undergo post hospitalization counseling. However, it is very critical to ensure that a patient is very well assessed to determine the need for psychological training. This is more so especially for the patients who had been admitted for mental related health problems or for trying to commit suicide. By conducting this research, it will help many people change their minds about the process of counseling after treatment. It will also encourage more people to undergo the process and hospitals will also increase the professionals who offer these services.
Question
What are the benefits of undergoing psychological counseling after treatment and what are the effects of those of do not undergo the process?
Literature review
Psychological counseling can also be referred to as a personal therapy since it is aimed at helping an individual. Some people go for psychological counseling when after talking to friends and families fails to yield fruits. Others look for this help when they have reached their end or after experiencing a traumatizing event in their lives. Psychological counselors are trained to listen and have skills to help a person to explore their concern and help them make sense out of a complex issue. Their main concern is to deal with emotional and psychological problems that affect people. Sometimes in order to cope with a problem is finding someone who you can talk to. Therefore, that is why psychological counselors are there so that patients and other clients can talk to them. These counselors must have a high level of integrity since whatever is discussed between them and the clients is considered confidential. This profession calls for good listening skills and being patients since some patients will not be able to understand some issues. A counselor should not add stress to a patient, but should rather ease their stress. Apart from helping people to cope with difficulties, psychological counselors also help people to develop their creativity, be able to express themselves and find ways to self-discovery.
More than 15% of the patients in the United States suffer from Post-Traumatic Disorder (PTSD), which affects an individual by making them have hallucinations, frightening thoughts, and commemorations or in form of recollections. This mostly happens to patients when they are subjected to similar circumstances that had led to the trauma (Helzer, et al.1987). Most patients are diagnosed with this disorder one month after the incident had occurred and in case of patients who have been discharged from the hospital, it may occur a few weeks after they settle at their homes. Majority of patients will have wounds and memories of what they went through when they were in the hospital, and this may affect their recovery process. Some of the patients, who have been interviewed after undergoing psychological counseling, said that they live more encouraging lives after the counseling than before they were being counseled. Therefore, it is evident that those people who suffer post traumatic stress disorder and undergo psychological counseling benefit more by appreciating their lives more than those who do not. It is therefore a practical solution for patients who may suffer similar disorders after being discharged from the hospital. This should therefore be recommended in every hospital and every patient who is being discharged from a hospital should go through this counseling. Some of the diseases people are treated in the hospital do not seem to pose a great threat to psychology of a person, but they later come to affect them. Therefore, it is very essential for all the patients to be given psychological counseling after they are discharged from the hospital.
Good counseling approaches
There is no clear consensus on what constitutes good counseling due to the diversity of each patient’s needs. This is especially so because counseling should be client centered, that is, it should be based on the needs of each individual patient. However, the basic aspect of counseling that should guide counseling psychologists is that counseling should be a two way communication which is very interactive and where each participant is invited to make responses or seek further clarification and information in case he/ she needs such information. According the United States Association of psychologists (APA) counseling psychology, is an approach which gives much focus on the enhancement of the problem solving skills of a patient for the main purpose of improving and or maintaining the quality of life or the improving or maintaining the mental health condition of a patient. Psychology counseling and by extention psychology, must put emphasis on the role of the patient as an expert and determiner of his/ her own health. As a result, the psychological, social- cultural, emotional and intellectual perspectives and the health beliefs and values of the patient should be prioritized and respected. It is therefore the responsibility of a medical practitioner- psychologist, to give support to the efforts of his/ her patient in developing a counseling strategy and should move in the direction of self- responsibility with empathy, honesty and patience. The level of information should be detailed to suit the specific needs of each individual patient. The main objective of doing this is to ensure that a psychologist offer quality and relevant guidance to his/ her patient to ensure his/ her needs with regard to taking charge of his/ her medical condition are taken care of. The nature of psychology and by extension counseling psychology should always be interactive and be modeled as a learning process for the patient and to some extent the psychologist also.
How effective is counseling
The use of randomized controlled trials to evaluate counseling and other psychological therapy treatments is contentious. However, a number of randomized controlled trials’ of counseling in primary care have been conducted. A systematic review of counseling in primary care has been published. The latest update of the review includes seven randomized controlled trials’ of counselors trained to the standard recommended by the American psychology association. The review focused on counselors meeting these standards as they are increasingly recognized as a useful benchmark in primary care. The counselors in these trials treated patients with mild to moderate mental health problems for instance, anxiety and depression referred by general practitioners. In six of the trials, the comparison group was ‘usual general practitioners care’ including support from the general practitioners within normal consultations, medication and referral to mental health services. One randomized controlled trials used a comparison group of ‘general practitioners antidepressant treatment’ and was considered separately.
The results indicated that counseled patients demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression than patients receiving usual general practitioners care when followed up in the short-term- up to 6 months. This is a clear indication that counseling psychology is an effective approach that can be used to address patient psychological needs during discharge. Counseling psychology should be incorporated to a patient’s recommendation of treatment during discharge to en...