Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am grateful that this committee has the opportunity to address the various challenges associated with the opioid epidemic. I would also like to thank Ranking Member Brelage as well as the witnesses for being present at the hearing and willing to lend their knowledge expertise to help find a solution to this complex problem our country is facing. Additionally, I would like to thank my constituent and personal friend, Mrs. Mary McLane for providing me with her story which I will share with you today in her absence.…
I have experienced depression since my teenage years. I had suicidal thoughts that I came close to acting on several times. Something always happened to distract me from my plans. I was never free to voice my depression to anyone. That just wouldn’t have been acceptable in my Christian home.…
Most little girls dream of being a ballerina when they grow up, I was the little girl who dreamed of medical school. Anyone who was brave enough to ask got my vehement no when asked if I thought that the college, subsequent medical school, and training would be too much school or that I would get bored. I decided very early that to be a doctor was one of the most exciting things that a person could chose to be and my fantastic pediatrician was the initial spark for this love of medicine. The care that I could see him exhibit in his daily operations as well as the ease at which he interacted with patients and parents alike inspired me. His knowledge was fascinating and I longed to have that level of understanding of the human body.…
However, the results might be influenced by the luck of information, time, resources or when families are not willing to participate in collaboration. The practice method appropriate for this case could be brief solution-focused therapy, which relies on seeking positive changes with individuals and families moving away from a problem focused approach. This approach was influenced by Milton Erickson and De Shazer and is oriented on minimal intervention. Research rates effectiveness of this method in treatment of groups from 65% to 82%.…
When I was a child, I went through several life changing experiences that put a strain on me, not only physically but mentally. This changed my mindset on how I view mental health and seeing how debilitating it was, made me think, is anyone with mental illness or to a lesser degree, emotional distress getting the help they? Finding evidence-based practice within Occupational Therapy was difficult, although information was limited, I did find that many OTs heavily advocated for their right to be more involved in the mental health community. How Occupational Therapy Gave Me Hope The area of Occupational Therapy I would like to pursue is mental health.…
For those therapists who utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) one primary goal is to focus on efficiency evidenced by the emphasis on both structured sessions and a limited number of sessions as well as accenting the here-and-now. Of course, the above emphasized details are not written in stone and may at times be adjusted accordingly; for the most part CBT seems to get at the heart of the matter quickly and effectively. Regarding behavior modification, a functional assessment is one technique that allows therapists to achieve this objective. When a counselor executes a functional assessment he or she is on a fact finding mission in an attempt to pin point specific causes of behavior so as to assist them with the ultimate goal of modifying…
Because I came into this counseling program to better help those individuals who suffer from addiction, I want to be able to balance my personal experience with addiction and my long history of sponsorship with my newly acquired clinical mental health counseling skills. I realize that addiction can be an amazingly difficult problem to treat. I know that it takes a strong minded, experienced sponsor to help individuals find their way to sobriety. I also believe that recovery must go beyond just being sober, and a mental health counselor is in a better position to help with compounding issues that a person who suffers from addiction faces. I want to be able to not only help a person stay sober, but help them have a fulfilling life, emotional…
One of the most difficult things for me is to think back to the exact moment I realized I was suffering from depression. I was 13 and it was early march. My curiosity had creeped in as to why I had differences from the rest of the world. I loved being myself, but not when the person I thought I was suppose to be was acting up. At first I noticed my difference from my friends.…
Abstract: The aim of the study is to test the hypothesis that CBT with exposure is better than CBT without exposure at decreasing avoidance and decreasing Agoraphobic symptoms in adults with PD. The results of these studies suggest that data on baseline fear and avoidance can provide compelling prognostic information regarding the conditions under which intensive treatment for PDA is most effective. Regarding the frequency of panic attacks, 68% of the patients showed improvement from pre- to post-treatment, while 6% had deteriorated. From post-treatment to follow-up, 24% showed further improvement, while 8% had deteriorated. In order to treat avoidance in Agoraphobia, the findings demonstrate that treatment delivery factors are relevant to…
She sat in the car, opened her mouth, and started to tell her grandmother everything that came to her mind, to her grandmother she never shut up. To the rest of the world, she might as well never opened up to begin with. The drastic changes in her life gave her issues that she had to overcome. Adoption changed my outlook on life; it placed some obstacles in my life that would hold me back for a long period of my life. My life was so changed by adoption that I gained some problems in my life that I had to find ways to get past.…
I awake to a narrow beam of sunlight that penetrates the closed shades of the window in my dorm room. It lets me know it is late in the morning if not already afternoon, but the time means little to me. I am still unable to vocalize this feeling I awake with so often. I know only that the prospect of getting out of bed feels insurmountable. I roll under my covers for a few more minutes of sleep, but when I look at the clock again, hours have passed.…
Drug Treatment and Therapy Judith Lewis, Robert Dana and Gregory Blevins, authors of Substance Abuse Counseling state that many current substance abuse treatments have leaned heavily on past methods and familiar practices such as the 12 step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous. Instead of creating an opportunity for evidenced based practices to work within the treatment center allowing for individualism of choice and concrete evidence of overall effective care. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration define evidenced based practices as “approaches to prevention or treatment that are validated by some form of documented scientific evidence…(and) stand in contrast to approaches that are based on tradition, convention, belief,…
I 've never been able to focus on anything worth focussing on. When I was younger I was diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder aka normal energetic kid syndrome). I distinctly remember taking the pills for about a week and then in my rebellious ignorance, insisting to my parents that I did not need them and making up crap about them making me feel bad or sick. That was definitely a big mistake that I think made my life significantly more difficult and (after spending so much time researching how attention affects your everyday life) I finally plan to looking into changing that and see if medication can help.…
Reflecting back on the course of Interventions II, the coursework and in-residence portion had given me a better insight in learning how to define my personal and professional identity. The implementation of a “mock” clinical therapy sessions during the in-residence portion had been a challenge in the beginning due to the lack of having any type of background in conducting a therapy session. These therapy sessions provided the needed feedback from the instructor and my peers to gain a better understanding my theoretical orientations and areas in which I can work on to become a more competent therapist. The coursework that was provided through this course also assisted in having a better knowledge base for my future practice based on empirically…
The treatment process can be overwhelming and difficult at first. A. Every case is handled differently and can be challenging for yourself and the physician treating you. It can become a long drawn out process which makes you want to stop trying, because results are often slow and tiresome. That’s what happened in my case.…