Anxiety may seem like a minor health condition, but for some people, their feelings of anxiety sometimes turn into panic attacks when not handled properly or treated by a health professional. People who have anxiety or other mental health issues often find themselves having to choose between undergoing inpatient or outpatient treatment for healing and recovery.
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There are multiple factors to consider before making your decision on your treatment. If you want to learn more about inpatient and outpatient treatments for anxiety, you can go here or visit other sites for more information.
What Is Inpatient Care?
Inpatient mental health requires a patient to be checked into the psychiatric ward of a hospital or other mental health facility. This type of treatment requires patients to be under the direct care of psychiatrists or other health professionals 24 hours a day until they’re cleared for discharge.
In many cases, the purpose of hospital confinement is to provide constant medical and emotional support to the patient. This is often necessary when the patient attempts to inflict harm either on themselves or on other people. It’s also sometimes employed when the living environment of the patient tends to trigger aggressive or depressive behavior.
Inpatient treatment is highly disruptive. In most cases, it would require that a mental health patient be confined at a psychiatric institution for prolonged periods. Confinement could range from a few weeks to several months. The patients have to wake up, eat, and do some tasks and activities, following a strict schedule each day.
The purpose of confinement, among others, is to uproot the patient from their environment and be taken away from the pressures that might be causing stress or triggering anxiety. The mental health facility can provide them with a safe and controlled environment where they can be given proper treatment and be closely monitored.
The prospective patient has to undergo consultation with a mental health professional before the family or next of kin decides to check the patient into a hospital. There has to be an evaluation of whether the patient really needs a more intense level of care because inpatient treatment can be highly disruptive.
Some patients who are going through issues and difficulties, such as substance abuse, and those with a history of self-inflicted harm, are considered for inpatient care when outpatient care doesn’t work.
What Is Outpatient Care?
Outpatient care for mental health issues is a type of treatment in which the patients of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as the clients of counselling psychologists and psychotherapists don’t have to be checked into a psychiatric ward or mental health facility for protected periods. It may involve more than just one type of mental health service.
Most of the time, outpatient treatment aims to assist patients in learning how to take care of their personal mental health. In addition, it aims to help patients learn how to cope with the things that trigger stress in them. Outpatient care service includes individual personal counseling, group therapy, medical consultations, and psychiatric treatment. The treatments can be done for short-term counseling or can stretch into long-term mental health treatment.
Outpatient care is a more common treatment for mental health conditions compared with inpatient treatment. It’s preferred by more patients and their families since it gives them more flexibility. They don’t have to be confined for weeks or months in a hospital, which could disrupt their work or family life. Furthermore, outpatient care allows patients to select from a wider array of choices.
However, mental health professionals would only recommend patients to undergo outpatient treatment if they didn’t need to be confined. If the mental health professional determines that the patient would be better off staying in their current environment, they usually recommend outpatient treatment. Sometimes, they would allow the patient to experience some degree of stress. They’re permitted to go through stress, so they can learn how to cope but still be guided by a mental health professional.
Outpatient treatment is the more frequently recommended course of action for patients who have issues that aren’t as severe as other conditions, such as depressive moods, eating disorders, and anxiety. Patients who are into substance abuse are given either inpatient or outpatient treatments, depending on the individual’s circumstances.
Health professionals consider various factors when making their decision, such as health history, relapse history, and the patient’s commitment to quit substance abuse. Even for those who are required to go through inpatient treatment, some experts recommend that they still go through outpatient care.
Immersive Approach To Recovery
Some mental health professionals would say that inpatient treatment would have a clear advantage over outpatient treatment because the clients can undergo an immersive treatment approach.
Apart from this, they say that mental health patients benefit a lot from being able to spend the whole day each day away from the external stressors that lead to anxiety and pressure from their relationships. This is sometimes called milieu therapy. The idea is that the patient is immersed in a safe space or milieu where they can heal and recover together with like-minded peers.
Benefits Of Inpatient Treatment
There are some patients or clients who are more suited to inpatient treatment. This type of high-level, immersive treatment can be effective for patients who are going through severe, co-occurring, and underlying mental health conditions. Patients who live in a harmful environment that’s causing their anxiety are the ones most fit for inpatient treatment.
Below is a list of some benefits of inpatient treatment:
- Inpatient treatment removes a patient or client from the environment or surroundings that might be the primary cause or stressor, leading to the patient’s anxiety or other mental health illness.
- Inpatient treatment makes the patient or client undergo an immersive approach to treat and restore their mental health.
- Inpatient treatment is able to provide round-the-clock treatment and support to all their patients and clients.
Downsides Of Inpatient Treatment
Despite its advantages, inpatient treatment has its disadvantages:
- One of the downsides of inpatient treatment is that it’s going to uproot the patient or client from their natural home environment, away from family and friends. This might be too much to do for someone who is experiencing anxiety.
- Inpatient treatment is very rigid and follows a strict schedule. Some patients might find themselves even more stressed by the rigid schedule of activities.
- Inpatient treatment is often more expensive than outpatient treatment.
Real-Word Learning And Coping
Some professionals say that outpatient treatment has the advantage over inpatient treatment because an outpatient client is able to learn how to cope and recover in a real-world environment. A patient’s environment in a psychiatric ward or mental health institution isn’t realistic because they’re removed from the context, stressors, and pressures of daily life in the real world.
Others would recommend that inpatient treatment programs should try to incorporate, as much as possible, activities that would enable the patient to develop coping mechanisms with stressors and pressure. This, they say, would better prepare them for the conditions of real life once they are cleared for discharge by the psychiatric ward or mental health facility.
Benefits Of Outpatient Treatment
Outpatient treatment would often include a set of programmed daily activities that the mental health patient would be required to undergo. Examples of these activities are counseling and individual and group therapy sessions. In most instances, patients would be required to go to a licensed treatment facility for their outpatient treatment program.
Some mental health facilities now offer schedules for both evening or daytime therapeutic and educational therapy sessions. This has enabled those who prefer to stay at home and still be part of a guided self-learning and individual therapy session without having to leave their homes.
Here are some of the other benefits of outpatient treatment:
- The patient or client doesn’t have to quit work or cancel everything in their schedule because they can still opt to have their outpatient treatment and therapy sessions in the evenings or weekends when they don’t have work.
- Outpatient treatment clients don’t have to be uprooted from their work and family life. They can still do the things that they have to do for their family, their workplace, and with their friends. It’s highly suited for patients who have a strong support system from their friends and family.
- The cost of outpatient treatment is also less expensive than that of inpatient treatment. It’s more suitable for those who don’t have any healthcare coverage or have only limited health insurance coverage.
- There are many outpatient treatment programs for anxiety, and the patient or client can work with their counselors or therapists to select the type of program that would be most suitable for their specific circumstances.
Downsides Of Outpatient Treatment
The downsides of outpatient treatment include the following:
- Some patients and clients aren’t able to consistently attend their treatment or therapy sessions. Since they’re not confined to a mental health facility, the outcome of their treatment program is entirely dependent on their voluntary willingness to attend their treatment sessions.
- Outpatient treatment might not be suitable if the patient or client is experiencing multiple disorders, each of which requires immediate medical attention. Some outpatient programs might not be able to handle patients or clients who have multiple disorders.
- Outpatient treatment might not be able to meet some of the client’s or patient’s needs, especially if their anxiety is coupled with or accompanied by cigarette smoking or substance abuse. If the patient or client needs 24 hours of medical care and attention, outpatient treatment might not be the most appropriate way to go.
Conclusion
Inpatient treatment has its benefits and downsides in the same way that outpatient treatment does. People with anxiety, even those with a severe type, often opt for outpatient treatment instead of inpatient treatment. They might be more suited for outpatient programs unless they have a history of inflicting harm on themselves or on others.