Mental Health and Addiction Treatment

This Wikibook is intended to help support learning about mental health and addiction treatment. The motivation behind the book is to help build freely available resources as part of the broader open education inititative. Students in the Master’s of Social Work program at the University of Michigan are the primary contributors to this book. The collected works in this book are built on the philosophy of evidence-based practice (EBP). While EBP is defined in many different ways, this book recognizes it using the common definition that integrates client preferences and clinical experience with the best available evidence (cite). As this book develops over time, it is hoped that other people with knowledge and experience in the area of mental health and addiction treatment will edit existing material and make new contributions.

This book is structured around the major classes of disorders. Within each set of disorders are four subsections that are intended to provide basic and practical knowledge. The four subsections are: practitioner knowledge abstracts, case examples, Internet resources and treatment manuals. Following the disorders are additional tools that are intended to promote further learning and delivery of EBPs.

Practitioner knowledge abstracts
Practitioner knowledge abstracts (PKAs) are structured summaries of recent empirical studies. The specific format follows the recommendation of (cite). The studies summarized using this format have been selected based on their quality, publication source, and relevance to practice. The PKAs provided in each section can provide practitioners with a quick update of recent research. The focus on empirical articles is intended to help bridge a stronger connection between research and practice. Due to copyright restrictions, only a limited number of PKAs contain links to the original research or portable document files (PDFs). However, the full citations are provided to guide the reader in locating original research of interest from a university or college library.

Case examples
Case examples have been informed by based on real-world examples from students' field experiences. No identifying information has been included that could link an example here with a person who actually received services. Each case example contains a description of the presenting problem and relevant bio-psycho-social information for additional context. A sample treatment plan is proposed, along with a brief discussion of the plan and corresponding evidence. Case examples can be used for introductory purposes -- that is, to gain a better understanding of the disorder and how problems are treated. One can never know in advance whether a treatment plan will be effective. Thus, the case examples provide opportunities in the classroom and supervision to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed treatment plan. Other variables, such as cultural factors or common birth disorders, can also be introduced to consider how an approach may need to be revised.

Annotated Internet resources
The Internet contains a vast amount of useful (and useless) information on the treatment of mental health and addictive disorders. For each class of disorders, useful Internet resources have been identified and briefly summarized. It is important to recognize that the term "useful" is subjective. For this Wikibook, "useful" refers to being empirically supported and effectively formatted information sources.

/Anxiety Disorders/

 * /Anxiety Disorders/Practitioner Knowledge Abstracts
 * Case Examples
 * Internet Resources
 * Treatment Manuals

/Mood Disorders/

 * Practitioner Knowledge Abstracts
 * Case Examples
 * Internet Resources
 * Treatment Manuals

/Substance Use Disorders/

 * Practitioner Knowledge Abstracts
 * Case Examples
 * Internet Resources
 * Treatment Manuals

/Psychotic Disorders/

 * Practitioner Knowledge Abstracts
 * Case Examples
 * Internet Resources
 * Treatment Manuals

/Personality Disorders/

 * Practitioner Knowledge Abstracts
 * Case Examples
 * Internet Resources
 * Treatment Manuals

/Eating Disorders/

 * Practitioner Knowledge Abstracts
 * Case Examples
 * Internet Resources
 * Treatment Manuals

Conceptual tools
Getting the proper treatment for mental health and addiction conditions is critical. It should be done in a timely manner and by licensed professionals. Treatment can be expensive although most group medical insurance plans through employers provide adequate benefits.

However, private medical insurance plans in most states exclude or limit this type of coverage. So it's extremely important to take this into account if you are leaving an employer. Losing this valuable coverage may be hard to replace. COBRA, if available, will offer similar protection for some employees. But the cost of COBRA is expensive...often twice to three times the typical standard individual rate.