How should serious mental illnesses in society be treated? Ege University (EU) Faculty of Medicine Hospital Community Mental Health Center (TRSM), which is the Community Mental Health Center, provides services for patients with severe mental illnesses and their families in the region.
Ege University Faculty of Medicine (EÜTF) Hospital Community and Mental Health Center with chronic severe mental illness; It is an essential center where patients with schizophrenia, psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder and even more chronic forms of cognitive destruction receive service.
Ege University TRSM Responsible Doctor Dr. Lecturer Member Damla İşman Haznedaroğlu said, “Our center was established with the aim of eliminating the need for inpatient treatment, providing more adequate follow-up of patients, and combining rehabilitation with social and psychological skill training. Ege University TRSM is a unit that has been in existence for many years. Previously, we were providing outpatient rehabilitation services as a psychosis unit. Later, we were licensed as TRSM. We have approximately 900 registered patients in our center. "We serve our patients diagnosed with various chronic severe mental illnesses," he said.
“We treat with art”
Dr. stated that the therapies are carried out in a coordinated work not only with the patient but also with their families. Lecturer Member İşman Haznedaroğlu said, “First of all, we explain the disease and the process to our patient's family in detail. We have family group therapies and psycho-educational groups. Here, we treat the attacks that continue during the disease and try to prevent relapses, and we also provide psychological and social rehabilitation services. We try to achieve this through the outpatient clinic service we provide, psycho-educational activities related to the disease, occupational training, namely sports, music, theatre, ceramics, wood painting or culinary activities. "We hold workshops with our patients, especially on nutrition and diet, with our instructors from different units," he said.
“One type of treatments may not be effective for every patient”
Dr. Lecturer Member İşman Haznedaroğlu said, “We create individual care and treatment plans, taking into account the needs of the patients who come to our center. The needs of each patient can be very different. There are situations that we need to address multi-laterally, from housing to social security issues or difficulties in accessing treatment. Many of the relapses in schizophrenia patients occur due to non-compliance with medication or after stressful life events. At that point, a closer, more personalized follow-up is important. Because a single type of treatment may not always be effective for every patient. "We want our patients to become individuals who work and produce in society and who can recognize relapses of the disease and manage their own disease better," he said. Dr. Lecturer Member İşman Haznedaroğlu said, “Since the establishment of our center, we have been working with a group that knows all registered patients. This provides an advantage in terms of continuity. CMHC teams in other institutions may be in the form of rotating assignments. However, our team is stable, from our secretary who welcomes our patients to our nurses, from our psychologist to our social worker, our patients know the entire group personally. "Since we are in a university hospital, we do not have difficulties in obtaining equipment," he said. Dr. Lecturer Member İşman Haznedaroğlu also stated that it is important for mental health services to be inspected by the state.
