An Overview of Mental Health Evaluations
Mental health evaluations are necessary when patients consider treatment and/or enter a rehabilitation program. An evaluation is the first step toward building long-term recovery. After all, if you aren’t put into the right program, you could miss out on valuable recovery skills and tools.
These evaluations help record, recognize, and (in some cases) diagnosis underlying mental health conditions that affect your daily life. For some patients, this may also mean recognizing signs of co-occurring substance abuse that often comes with mental illness.
Examples of mental health issues that your evaluator might look for include:
- Anxiety disorders
- Depression
- Personality disorders
- PTSD
- Suicidal or violent ideation
When the mental health evaluation is performed, the testers are there to holistically assess your wellbeing both physically and emotionally. This will then indicate the pressing issues that need to be addressed by our treatment programs.
Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Mental health conditions and substance use disorders are closely related. When both occur, doctors refer to these conditions as co-occurring disorders, which indicates the connection between mental health and substance abuse.
In many situations, untreated mental illnesses become the driving force toward drug and alcohol use. When a rehab patient presents symptoms of further mental health concerns, the treatment plan will then adjust to address both the mental illness(es) and the substance use disorder(s).
Mental health conditions can, in serious cases, derail your life. Treating substance use disorders without addressing mental health is like bandaging a hole in the wall; it might cover it up for a while, but underneath there is still a gap that cannot be overlooked.
What Will the Mental Health Evaluation Look Like?
Mental health evaluations differ based on your needs and according to new research on how to effectively gather data.
Typically, a mental health evaluation will combine a variety of techniques to gain a fuller, comprehensive look into a your behavioral and thought patterns. From there, mental health professionals will use questionnaires and checklists as a way to collect raw data from your perspective.
The questions on these sheets will cover everything from your personal history to family history of mental illness. This will also help the evaluators document any diagnoses that you already have at the time of your intake. It is important to answer the evaluator’s questions as honestly as possible. This can be challenging, as you will need to share your relationship with drugs and alcohol.
It’s important to remember that our care staff is not there to pass judgement. They are there to help you find the best care possible, and that means they need honest answers from you.
Reasons Behind the Questions
Family history helps our mental health professionals detect genetic predispositions to mental illnesses and substance use disorders. When trying to identify your mental health struggles, this information may be extremely relevant.
Additionally, recording your personal and medical history can often indicate environmental, social, economic, and many other factors that contribute to your mental and behavioral health.
Your medical history directly relates to your future treatment as well. Your team will take note of any physical health problems, such as a traumatic brain injury, that could cause changes in mental and behavioral wellness. In these cases, physical therapy or other clinical measures may be needed to fix the physiological factors that will influence your ability to recover fully.
The mental health evaluations will also utilize interview techniques as a way for psychologists and rehab staff to assess symptoms that the patient might not be aware of. For example, you might not notice that you’re feeling anxious. However, the evaluator might observe external and physiological signs of anxiety, such as rapid speech or sweating.
Lastly, evaluators in these interviews will also assess the risk of dangerous behavioral health concerns such as suicidal or violent ideation. Treatment options for mental illnesses that could cause harm to the patient or others will often be more intensive as a result of the serious nature of these issues.
Results of Evaluations
At the end of your mental health evaluation, your evaluator and recovery team will develop a treatment plan that will be most beneficial to you.
This decision will take into consideration the data the evaluation provided, the evaluator’s professional recommendation, and it will also involve your thoughts and treatment goals.
At SpringBrook, we offer a variety of specialized programs to get you on the road to recovery. These mental health evaluations are important in guiding us toward the best program for what you need. Below are the programs we will recommend based on your evaluation results:
- Bridges Senior Program: Designed for adults over the age of 55 who are susceptible to both mental health conditions and drug or alcohol addiction, the Bridges Senior Program addresses anxiety, depression, eating disorders, bipolar disorders, and more.
- Eclipse Dual Diagnosis Program: Our Eclipse Program focuses intently on co-occurring disorders that can be found in the mental health evaluation, and it offers both inpatient and PHP options to give patients the best care.
- Intensive Treatment Program: If your mental health evaluation indicates that you are experiencing an acute mental health crisis, our Intensive Treatment Program is here for you. This program systematically approaches mental illnesses and substance use disorders to accurately and effectively treat these co-occurring issues.
- SpringBrook Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP): This program utilizes the same focus on both mental health conditions and substance use disorders while offering more flexibility to patients who do not need a more intensive treatment environment. Your mental health evaluation will determine if you fit the criteria required for this type of treatment.
After the mental health evaluation, you will be directed to one of these four treatment options at SpringBrook, and your recovery team will assist you in understanding the benefits of the program uniquely recommended to you.
We understand that not all treatment can or should be the same, because your recovery is unique to you. This is why our mental health evaluations are instrumental in determining what you need for a successful recovery journey.
Get the Treatment You Need
Whether you need help with your mental health, substance use disorder, or both, the care staff at Springbrook Hospital are ready to help. Wherever you are in your recovery, we are here for you.
Reach out to us online or call us at (352) 596-4306
