This workshop was intended to provide an understanding of how to interact with psychiatric patients, how to take and document case histories, ethical considerations to keep in mind while interacting with such individuals, and some basic knowledge of various disorders.
It was held on the 12th, 13th and 15th May 2020 and members of Project Navchetana (Service-Learning Cell) attended the webinar via google meet platform.
A session by Ms. Sharon Varghese, a graduate of clinical psychology from CHRIST (Deemed to be University) was attended by the Project Navachetana volunteers and heads along with Service Learning Cell core members. The session started off with a presentation of the clinical case of dementia and how it was much more than memory loss along with its symptoms and its effect neurocognitively. We also learned about schizophrenia, its symptoms, the difference between them and the skills needed to to help understand it. We also dove into subtopics of schizophrenia including schizotypal, schizoaffective disorder etc. We discussed mood disorders mainly focusing on depression,mania and its symptoms, time limit and onset along with the definition of hypothermia and dysthymia. Our last topic of discussion was PTSD and acute stress reaction disorder for which we learnt about the onset, symptoms and time period along with a brief mentioning about Hampton depression Scale. Overall, it was a very interesting and insightful session with a lot of interesting questions regarding practicality in the field and how to help with differentiating each symptom and understanding into each of these disorders in detail.
For the second session, we continued with case history taking and what we should keep in mind while taking the information from the client as well as the informant. We were also guided in detail on how to go step by step into taking the most resource information that would help in the diagnosis of the client which included topics such as demographic details, informant details, present complaints, history of present illness, past and family history, personal illness and premorbid personality. We were guided through the structure of the Mental Status Examination (MSE) which had components such as general appearance, psychomotor activities, speech, thoughts, moods, perception, level of insight and cognitive function. We then moved on to Assessing needs that are through MSE and using scales tests etc. maintaining record and a reflective report was emphasised. We then discussed planning interventions for groups and individuals and went through the limitations for them. In summary, the session was thought-provoking and extremely knowledgeable. It gave a more structured understanding of how to go about the clients in a more organised, professional and ethical manner.
For the third session, we spoke mainly about ethics while the resource person answered every single one of our questions in great detail and made sure that we had no doubts.