Early History

Mental health care has come out of the dark ages only recently. Social workers specializing in mental health in the early 20th century facilitated patient care by putting clients together with the most appropriate caregiver or finding a state-run institution that might house them.

• "Mental hospitals" were full of patients suffering from violent criminal impulses, psychotic delusions and various emotional disorders all the way down to stress induced nervous breakdowns. Little else could be done to treat serious mental illness.
• At the dawn of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud informed the well-to-do upper middle class that their behavior was influenced by unconscious memories, thoughts, and urges. Only a lifetime of analysis could enable sufferers to cope with the deep traumas they had suffered. Psychoanalysis became the mental health treatment of choice for almost 60 years until the invention of Valium in 1963.
• Diazepam, better known by the trade name Valium, belongs to a group of chemically similar sedative and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) drugs called benzodiazepines.
• Valium, ("Mother's Little Helper") quickly became the best-selling medication in the United States between 1963 and 1982 and sales peaked in 1978 with more than 2.3 billion pills sold that year.
• Goodbye - Psychoanalysis / Hello - Psychotropics.

More and more frequently these days we hear from social workers specializing in mental health that many more clients are using teletherapy to attend sessions. Teletherapy is any remote therapy that uses technology to help the therapist and client communicate. 

Some examples of teletherapy include: 

•    doing therapy sessions over the phone 
•    having a group chat for group therapy 
•    using videoconferencing for individual, couples, or group therapy 
•    receiving therapy via email or instant messenger 
•    using apps that connect clients to therapists and offer therapy within the app

As Memorial Day 2024 drew near, this blog interviewed a 98-year-old World War II veteran who landed on Normandy beach with his brother and two high school classmates when he was 18 years old. He was the only one who survived.

Case workers who specialize in elder care are beset with the challenges of caring for a growing number of Alzheimer's and dementia patients. The CDC estimates that the number of people living with Alzheimer’s will nearly triple by 2060 to more than 14 million.

The integration of technology has become a catalyst for transformative change in the mental health industry. Among the innovations at the forefront is case management software, a dynamic solution poised to redefine the contours of in-patient mental health care. This software goes beyond conventional approaches, acting as a guiding force that streamlines processes, enhances communication, and places a premium on the individualized well-being of in-patients. In the following exploration, we delve into the profound impact of case management software on in-patient mental health services, navigating the nuanced intersection of technology and compassionate care.

As we embark on this journey, we must recognize the significance of in-patient mental health care. The intricate nature of mental health conditions demands a holistic and personalized approach, and case management software emerges as a promising tool to meet these unique needs. This discussion aims to uncover the multifaceted influence of case management software, illuminating how it optimizes administrative tasks and humanizes the patient experience, fostering a more empathetic and efficient ecosystem within in-patient mental health services.

Every child can feel its pull. Every parent is concerned. Social media landed in everyone’s backyard like the spaceship in "Close Encounters". We didn’t know what it was or where it came from, but we couldn’t take our eyes away. We fell under its spell and remain captivated. We still don’t know why it came or what it’s here for. But we have learned that it is not as benign as it first appeared. We now know it can harm us, and it will if we let it.

Social workers at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a one-time, online Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES), during January–June 2021 to assess behaviors and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic among high school students. An unexpected element of the survey's findings was that the pandemic had severe negative effects on adolescents’ mental health.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more people died from suicide in the United States in 2022 than any other year on record dating back to 1941. In 2022 (the last year for which stats are available), 49,449 lives were lost due to intentional self-harm. Men were about four times more likely than women to die by suicide, and rates were highest among senior men. But the suicide rate increased twice as much for women in 2022 with especially significant increases among White women ages 25 to 34.

A social worker from Kentucky who corresponds with this blog on a regular basis recently shared her unique journey with us. She started her career as a case worker in the Veterans Administration helping vets find housing and manage addictive behaviors. After only a year on the job, she felt the need to continue her education and got her degree in psychotherapy while working full time at the VA. She began to specialize in cases of PTSD and eventually was introduced to a unique therapy known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. 

Social workers, especially those specializing in counseling and psychotherapy often lean toward a career in private practice.

“I absolutely love being in private practice, everything about it,” says Barbara Groves, LCSW, who has a private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The flexibility, for example, to write off copays for motivated single working moms and students from low-income homes. The variety of patients in racial, socioeconomic, and spiritual orientation, as well as gender and political affiliation is so rewarding to me. I feel that I make a difference every day in helping patients become more self-aware and to become enlightened stewards of their lives.” (The Challenges of Private Practice by Sue Coyle, MSW, Social Work Today, Vol. 23 No. 3 P. 10)