Poor Counseling Can Deteriorate Mental Health of Psychiatric Patients: Study

Poor counseling and wrong advice can leave psychiatric patients even more depressed, according to a study.

Psychologists from the Sheffield University School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) found individuals who seek professional help for emotional and mental distress are more likely to face negative consequences by following wrong suggestions. Their study titled 'Understanding and Preventing the Adverse Effects of Psychological Therapies' (AdEPT) noted a significant number of patients were misguided by their therapists and reported suffering further decline in their mental condition. Treatments for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsion disorder usually mean antidepressant pills and taking therapy sessions. But, experts recommend doctors and psychiatrists to understand the certain blunders in their treatment that can have long term repercussion on the patients.

"It has been known for a long time that some people get worse during or after therapy and there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of people feeling they have been harmed by talking treatments," said Glenys Parry, study author and Professor at ScHARR in a news release.

"Until now there has been very little research on understanding and preventing negative results from psychological therapy."

The research team investigated data from past clinical trials and interviewed therapists and their clients to spot common glitches in talk therapies. Their analysis revealed large number of psychiatrists had patients whose mental status worsened after therapy. The authors believe this group of patients partly comprised of those with critical mental illnesses that take long to diagnose and heal. And the others got worse regardless of whether they had the therapy or not.

"Somebody could deteriorate during therapy but if they hadn't had the therapy, they could have been dead. We have just got to be grownup about it - counseling treatments are effective but we need to understand more about the circumstances in which they can go wrong," Prof Parry adds, reports the Guardian.

Furthermore, she added there has been increase in the number of incidents when the patients are exploited and abused by their therapists. The transgressive behavior of the therapists can fuel trauma and amplify their troubles.

"We have got to learn from when things go wrong and get much more scientific about it and much more careful about it, but not making out that it is a big drama," Parry said, reports the Guardian.

Glenys Parry and her colleagues have created a website called 'Supporting Safe Therapy' that provides guidance for people undergoing psychological therapies on the dos and don'ts.