Our mental health affects how think, act and feel and affects us all no matter who we are or where we are from. The most important thing is that we recognise that our mental health is as important as our physical health, in fact they are often interlinked. Physiotherapy within mental health isn’t a well known speciality but this doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Below are some Physioplus course you really should check out, they will help you understand why mental health and physiotherapy are related.
These courses have been created by Andrea Sturm a Neurological Physiotherapist with an interest in Ethics and Mental Health.
Foundations of Mental Health
Mental Health is every physiotherapist’s / physical therapist’s business. As a key component of the bio-psycho-socio model used to understand a patient’s individual circumstances, Mental Health concerns in physical therapy are not just confined to those patients who have psychiatric diagnoses. As a healthcare professional with a long term personal relationship with their client, a physiotherapist is in a unique position to be able to identify and address this aspect of their patients well being. This is leading to the growing use of physiotherapy approaches in the treatment of patients even with severe mental health problems worldwide.
Physical Activity as EBP in Mental Health
Physical activity (PA) and exercise are increasingly being recognised as efficacious components of treatment for various mental health disorders. There is now increasing evidence supporting the inclusion of PA programs as an adjunct to treatment for various conditions for depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. These research results support the inclusion of clinical PA programs within mental health treatment, facilitated by dedicated clinicians (exercise physiologists/physiotherapists) and there are now many examples of successful integration of clinical PA programs within mental health treatment facilities.