Your Mental Health Repair Manual: An Empowering, No-Nonsense Guide to Navigating Mental Health Care and Finding Treatments That Work for You

by Pauline Lysak, Mark Roseman

Overview

MENTAL HEALTH CARE DRIVING YOU CRAZY?

It should be easy: ask for help, get help.

Far too many people ask and don’t get the help they need. Instead, they get vague advice. Treatments that don’t work. Conflicting opinions. Silence, or worse.

You’ve got questions, but few answers.

How should you move forward?

Diet? Talk therapy? Herbs? Pills? Help!

If your mental health care has stalled, you need easy-to-follow, real-world solutions. Let this honest and engaging guide help you navigate the gaps in your mental health care and find answers that are uniquely right for you.

Break the cycle. Stop feeling powerless. Discover:

• how your physical health, diet, exercise, talk therapy, medications, cannabis, and natural health products all affect your mental health;
• strategies to overcome expensive treatments, shortages of family physicians and mental health specialists, long waiting lists, and rushed appointments;
• critical but widespread mistakes that waste your time and keep you from finding the most effective treatments; and
• practical tools to cut through uncertainty, make smart choices, fill the gaps your healthcare providers can't, and keep your care on track.

By the end of Your Mental Health Repair Manual, you’ll have a deeper understanding of your mental well-being, all your treatment options, and how to choose between them. You’ll have a working treatment plan, avoiding needless delays. You’ll confidently know how to get from where you are today to where you want to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781999149543
Publisher:	Late Afternoon Press
Publication date:	11/25/2019
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Dr. Pauline Lysak is an accomplished general psychiatrist with a particular interest in treating complex patients having both physical and mental comorbidities. Dr. Lysak obtained her medical degree with honors in research at the Univer- sity of Alberta. She completed her psychiatry residency at McMaster University. She subsequently completed the prestigious Advanced Health Leadership Executive Program at Rotman. She has practiced and held leadership positions in a cancer centre's psycho-oncology service, a program for complex psychiatric patients at a nationally renowned mental health and addiction facility, and in several hospital- based and private outpatient practices.

Mark Roseman is a software developer, entrepreneur, writer, and mental health advocate. He previously worked and published extensively on topics related to user experience and technology to support collaboration between groups of people, and founded two software startup companies. More recently, he has been supporting Pauline with her psychiatry practice.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I. A Primer on Mental Illness

What is Mental Illness?

Diagnosing Mental Illness

The Mental Health System

Part II. Navigating Your Care

Taking a More Active Role

Get Prepared

Family and Friends

Working with your Family Doctor

Describing your Symptoms

Working the Waiting List

Mental Health Interviews

Difficult Encounters

Paging Dr. Google

Your Living Treatment Plan

Using Your Plan

Part III. Treatments

So Many Choices!

Just Enough Neuroscience

Physical Illness

Lab Investigations

Lifestyle Factors

Vitamins and Supplements

Talk Therapy

Finding a Therapist

The Role of Medications

Antidepressants

Other Medications

Medication Side Effects

Evolving your Medication Regime

Looking Ahead

Appendices

Internet Resources

Talk Therapies

Medications