Cheerleading and Game Plans

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

What do football and psychiatry have in common? For starters, there are “wins” in both. In football, scoring a touchdown requires players to have tenacity, perseverance, concentration, and the willingness to forge ahead despite the human obstacles in their way. Similarly, to help patients achieve treatment success, clinicians use their earned wisdom and a sense of determination to overcome various treatment obstacles, including complicated diagnoses and insurance hassles.

Both football players and psychiatrists require good game plans, but they also need to read the field and know when—and how—to zig instead of zag. Such is the case when unexpected adverse effects pop up. Sharon Packer, MD, shares the story of one patient who had such an issue, and how she needed to pass the ball to a specialist.

Similarly, both clinicians and football players need to engage in good defensive mechanisms in order to win. In psychiatry, that might mean monitoring electrocardiograms for some patients who have been prescribed lithium, as David N. Osser, MD, shares in this month’s Bipolar Update column. And let’s not forget the importance of cheering. In this issue’s Special Report, we look at issues in patient empowerment and patient education, as “cheering” and supporting patients is an important path to success.

Here at Psychiatric Times™, we continue to cheer you, our reader, by providing you with the tools, tips, and information from cover to cover to make your game plans successful.

Mike Hennessy Jr

President and CEO, MJH Life Sciences®