Monitoring your overall health while you’re involved in mental health treatment is a vital aspect of any mental health program. Medical monitoring usually occurs when your mental health treatment team monitors your physical and mental health to get a comprehensive picture of your mental and physical health to ensure your treatment program is effective and healthy. At Psycamore, medical monitoring is an integral part of all our treatment programs, as we seek to address your mental health needs comprehensively and effectively.
What is Medical Monitoring?
Medical monitoring is a part of any mental health care treatment plan and is where your health care team checks and tracks your overall health and progress in treatment. If you’re in a program for your mental health, your team should be monitoring every aspect of your treatment plan. Most often, medical monitoring will involve physical and mental health check-ins.
What Is Involved in Medical Monitoring in Mental Health Treatment?
If you’re in a mental health program, you can expect to have regular check-ins with your doctor, psychiatrist, therapist, and other members of your medical team.
Manage Medication
Your physician or psychiatrist meets with you to check on the effectiveness of your prescribed medication. This involves checking on if your symptoms are improving with the medication, if you’re experiencing any side effects, if the dosage seems correct, and so forth. Medication management is a way to ensure your medication is working as it should and provides an opportunity for you to present any concerns to your doctor. This check-in also can be used to adjust the dosage or type of medication in order to fully meet your needs.
Conduct a Physical Health Check-up
If you’re taking medication for your mental health, these psychiatric medications can affect your physical health such as weight, blood sugar, cholesterol, heart health, and so forth. It’s always important to assess your physical health to see how the various therapies you’re engaged in are affecting you physically and to rule out any short or long-term complications. For instance, your medical team may check blood pressure, blood and urine, perform a general physical exam, and assess any potential side effects from prescribed medication or physical activities related to your treatment.
Address Co-occurring Conditions
Many people have co-occurring conditions, with everything from medical conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid issues, etc.) to other mental health conditions (bipolar, general anxiety disorder, depression, etc.). Your mental health and medical teams should be carefully monitoring the effects of your treatment plan on all aspects of your mind and body, specifically checking on your conditions and ensuring you’re progressing safely.
Monitor Therapy Goals
While medical monitoring is mainly utilized to check on medications and physical health, if you’re enrolled in a treatment plan, it’s always a good idea to evaluate all aspects of your plan which often includes therapy. A therapy check-in can help you and your mental health team determine if your individual and group therapy sessions continue to be beneficial for you and provide the opportunity to assess if any changes need to be made, whether in therapists or adding or dropping certain therapies. This is also a chance to monitor your progress towards your therapy goals that were set upon initiating your mental health program. You’ll likely discuss challenges you’re facing and celebrate improvements you’ve made along the way.
To learn more about Psycamore’s mental health treatment programs in Mississippi, contact us today!
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