Thus, patients in our country, who suffer from these severe diseases and who until now had only drug treatment, will be able to benefit from complete interventions, psychiatric and psychological, as recommended in specialized guides.
They will thus have the opportunity to significantly increase their chances of regaining balance and mental and emotional health.
The treatment of mental disorders is possible and successful, provided that the harmonious combination of drug intervention (if necessary) with psychological methods (different forms and psychotherapeutic approaches).
In this context, Dr. Gabriella Bondoc, psychiatrist and manager of the Hope Clinic (the initiator of the programs) together with her team implemented in the clinic treatment programs that offer patients in Romania the same types of services and implicitly the same chances of healing that would have in other countries, especially in the field of major mental disorders (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder).
Bipolar Disorder Treatment Program “Navigating between poles“
Bipolar disorder (former manic-depressive disorder) is a chronic mental disorder characterized by the occurrence of episodes of severe mood swings (mania / hypomania) and episodes of depression, which alternate with periods of normal mood.
The age of onset and most episodes of the disease occur between 15-40 years, severely affecting the most important and productive period of life
Many celebrities have openly stated that they suffer from bipolar disorder, including Catherine Zeta-jones, Demi Lovato, Linda Hamilton and Sinead O’Connor. A number of scientists, writers and artists have suffered from this disorder such as Churchill, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Schumann, Virginia Wolf, Hemingway, Baudelaire, Herman Hesse or Edgar Allan Poe, etc.
Although the international recommendations emphasize chronic medication and psychological interventions, in Romania the treatment of this frequent disorder was, before this program, almost exclusively medicinal.
Through this program initiated by Clinica Hope a complete bipolar disorder management system is being built, in which psychiatrists and psychotherapists work closely together for a personalized treatment program.
The program contains 3 aspects:
- psychiatry for evaluation, diagnosis for establishing the drug treatment scheme and its follow-up
- individual and / or family psychotherapy
- psychoeducation group “Navigating between poles“
The 12-week psychoeducation program combines education about illness with interpersonal therapy and social biorhythms in a unique psychological intervention in Romania meant to restore balance. He helps patients “navigate” as efficiently as possible on the “waves” of anger and depression and manages to avoid going from “one pole” to another.
Currently, the second series of the psychoeducation group is already taking place in the Hope Clinic, the first being a success among patients.
Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Program “Find your balance“.
The second program initiated by the Hope clinic and unique in Romania addresses patients who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The lives of those affected by this disease are extremely dramatic and full of suffering.
The list of celebrities who have / have had borderline personality disorder includes very famous names like Princess Diana, Amy Winehouse, Courtney Love, Lindsay Lohan, Marilyn Monroe or Angelina Jolie. Their tumultuous life stories held the media’s attention for long periods of time, and some stories did not have a happy ending.
It is a very common personality type, almost 6% (Grant, 2008) of the general population and over 30% of those who turn to a psychologist / psychiatrist with this disorder.
Symptoms include profound emotional and interpersonal instability with impulsivity, major sensitivity to rejection, fear of abandonment, anger, interpretativeness, associated with suicide attempts, self-harm or drug or alcohol use, being frequently accompanied by other diagnoses: anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, alcohol or drug addiction, eating disorders.
The cause of this personality disorder is also intensely disputed, the last variant being: a personality pattern that appears after multiple psychological traumas in childhood accompanied by an instability of the parent-child relationship.
The treatment is very difficult and involves psychotherapy for a very long period of time, with many problems and conflicts, occasionally requiring psychiatric treatments for the associated mental disorders. Therefore, the treatment of these patients requires specialized forms of psychotherapy and therapists with skills in these types of interventions.
In Romania, the Hope Clinic is the first and only one to implement this type of psychotherapy, through the program “Find your balance!“.
The treatment is also in three poles:
- Consultation, diagnosis, evaluation and psychiatric treatment
- Long-term individual psychotherapy (essential)
- “Find your balance” skills course
The peculiarity of psychotherapeutic treatment for borderline disorder is that, in parallel with individual psychotherapy, it is necessary to participate in a course to learn a set of psychological skills that allow the client to improve symptoms more quickly and improve their quality of life.
It is a 6-month program, which can be repeated for a period of 1 year. There are taught 4 sets of techniques and skills: Mindfulness, tolerance to emotional suffering, effectiveness in interpersonal relationships (assertiveness), regulation of emotions and their learning is stimulated by weekly topics.
To better understand the role of this treatment, Oana Munteanu, psychotherapist, explained to us: with burns.
The sufferings of their childhood “burned” them and now this skill course comes as an “artificial skin” until, through psychotherapy, the “skin” of the soul heals. ”The first group to take these courses already began on September 3rd.
The treatment programs that reduce these deficits are important not only for the patients they address (not a few) but also for our society in general because they bring hope in building a Romanian medical system characterized by professionalism, quality, passion and interest for the maximum good of the patient.
You can find more details about the Hope clinic and the programs it runs on www.clinica-hope.ro.
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