Comments by Mary Fry, ND

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  • Terry,
    Thank you for your comments. Indeed screeners are very well suited to tracking changes in pilot studies. They allow one to monitor change in a typical treatment setting which can bode well for gaining high quality research results (as opposed to clinical trials that may be blinded &/randomized). And when it is possible to use more broad-ranging tools such as symptom logs and the MYMOP, one can approach a patient’s overall well-being and sense of their progress as well.

    Insurance reimbursement is typically ‘evidence-based’ and screeners may be a helpful tool in working towards greater reimbursement of alternatives in mental health care.

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  • Nathan,
    Thank you for taking the dialogue farther. I appreciated the issues that you raised in ensuring that the information derived from such screeners is used responsibly and put into a context of an individual’s broader experiences and challenges (as opposed to haphazardly assigning them with a disease category).

    Your discussion of how screeners facilitate discussion is also much appreciated. I do think that this is where they can be invaluable in improving the quality of a doctor-patient visit and ultimately in improving the quality of treatment. Symptom diaries and logs in particular permit a more complete view of the progress (or lack thereof) between visits than is typically recalled by memory.

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  • To my readers who have commented,
    Thank you for your feedback, your concern (and your understanding). The way that I employ the instruments I discussed is to bring more awareness to change (on the part of both the physician and the patient). Using therapies which are less studied and have such a broad range of action (many naturopathic/homeopathic approaches), these instruments serve as a useful adjunct to other means of assessing change (for both myself and for those that I work with).

    These tools are also incredibly helpful to use as evidence of healing. And if the evidence supports that naturopathic interventions make a significant difference both in one’s score on these tools and in one’s overall well-being, practitioners who prescribe and manage medications are much more likely to pay attention as are a number of others who may be interested in trying a different approach, but unsure of what to expect.

    Finally a point on “disease” categories versus other paradigms. In working with those experiencing mental-emotional distress, there exists a wide spectrum of challenges; some would say specific disease entities, others would say a ‘spectrum’ and those of us trained in whole medical systems, such as homeopathy, Ayurvedic medicine and Chinese medicine to name a few, would look at a person’s struggles in terms of an even broader scope which interrelates mind & body. Herein lies a challenge…for while I may treat according to a broader, more inclusive paradigm, the language for articulating such a paradigm is limited, or poorly understood by many. Hence my suggestion that screening instruments, including multidimensional tools (such as the MYMOP, the mood diary and others), may help to bridge some of the language and paradigm gaps and serve to advance both natural alternatives in their own right and a more inclusive and collaborative mental health care system.

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  • Dear Duane,
    I am sorry to hear that you were disappointed in the posting, however I think that you might be interested in the MYMOP measure, in reading my post with an eye to how to bridge different paradigms in a useful way and in the value of tracking progress (no matter what the modality).

    Further, I encourage you to read future posts as I will be discussing naturopathic modalities and perspectives (likely homeopathy’s unique understanding of mental illness, among other topics…)

    If you are looking for naturopathic mental health reading, I also encourage you to read my blog: http://ahealthystateofmind.com/blog/ where you will find more information (along with other resources on my site that may be of interest).

    Thank you for your feedback.

    Regards,

    Mary

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