Psycho-Economics

Book excerpt: Develop new ways to provide ethical, effective mental health services in a world of managed care! Psycho-Economics gives psychologists and mental health care administrators suggestions for handling the changes that have come with the advent of managed care. Using empirical research and practitioner accounts, this informative book assesses the impact of managed care, suggests ways to ameliorate its negative effects, and proposes ideas for the improvement of the managed care system and mental health care in general. Psycho-Economics takes a clear look at the ways in which the managed care system has altered the practice of mental health care. While acknowledging its positive effects on accountability and provision of a broader variety of care options, the chapter authors also note its powerful negative effects, including cutbacks in length of treatment, potential abuses of confidential medical records, and over-prescribing of mood-altering drugs. Yet the book also offers hope for psychologists, social workers, and other counselors. By developing diversified areas for professional practice, collaborating with primary care physicians, and creating corporate education opportunities, psychologists can contribute their expertise to people who might otherwise have never sought them out. Moreover, mental health professionals can embrace new opportunities in treating substance abuse, behavioral health, and such specialized areas as forensic psychology, domestic violence, crisis counseling, and employee screening. These areas and other new developments offer you a chance to build a solid practice devoted to serving society's needs. Psycho-Economics: brings practitioners effective, innovative approaches to clinical practice in relation to managed mental health care fosters awareness of the means by which managed care affects the quality of care that clients receive points out the steps that can be taken to minimize the negative effects that managed care dictates on the quantity and quality of mental health care highlights ethical and legal considerations that should be of concern to providers of mental health services encourages discussion of the future of the managed care system and its impact on providers and clients Psycho-Economics is a survival guide which will help contemporary practitioners like you maintain ethical and effective practices while coping with the administrative expectations of managed care systems.