Peter Yellowlees – författare

The only current book on the topic, Telepsychiatry and Health Technologies: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals is a practical, comprehensive, and evidence-based guide to patient-centered clinical care delivered in whole or in part by technological devices and applications. Not a technology-centered "health informatics" book, but rather one that describes basic technological concerns and emphasizes clinical issues and workflows, it is designed for psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health clinicians who seek to learn the modes, models, and methods of telepsychiatry. More than 30 practitioners of telepsychiatry across the core mental health disciplines were involved in development of the text, contributing knowledge and clinical examples. Rich with case studies and hands-on guidance, the book introduces strategies, then clearly illustrates how to put them into practice. The editors believe that psychiatry increasingly will focus on the treatment of populations, and that technology offers the best hope of doing so efficiently and effectively.Careful thought went into the book''s conception and design, resulting in a marriage of structure and content that meets the needs of today''s clinicians: • The editors employed a unique process of manuscript development, first outlining each chapter in its entirety, then assigning sections to contributors selected for their specific clinical experience and therapeutic expertise. The result is a text that flows logically and creates synergy across chapters without duplication. • The book provides "how-to" guidance on setting up a new telepsychiatry practice or integrating technologies into a current practice, covering critically important topics such as data collection, security, and electronic health records. • Technologies addressed include telephony, smartphones, apps, e-mail, secure texting, and videoconferencing, all of which are increasingly being used in the assessment and treatment of patients with psychiatric disorders. • More than 30 case examples of patients or programs are included, illustrating the range of clinical techniques that can be used and the types of patient that can be treated using available technologies -- whether in person, online, or in a hybrid form of care combining both modalities. • Every chapter concludes with a summary of major learning objectives or findings covered.

Telepsychiatry and Health Technologies: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals is destined to become a core resource in the training of mental health professionals from all disciplines, as well as an indispensable reference for those already integrating new technologies into their practices.

Physician Suicide examines the multiple risk factors that account for the higher rates of burnout, depressive symptoms, and suicide risk physicians experience compared with the general population. Suicide is typically caused by a convergence of factors, chief among these are untreated or inadequately managed mental health conditions. Physicians are less likely to seek professional help for these conditions -- in part, because of fear of professional repercussions -- and many seek to address their symptoms by self-medicating with alcohol or drugs. Burnout is especially common and is frequently due to workload, work inefficiency, lack of autonomy and meaning, and work-home conflict. The author explores these issues through the lens of a series of beautifully written and fascinating case studies that allow the reader to get inside the minds of his subjects and understand their lives and the stressors they face. The only volume of its kind, it provides an in-depth and nuanced approach to the topic of physician suicide in the context of the broader topic of physician health and wellbeing: • The book covers the full range of physician mental health issues, from lifestyle and professional expectations and burnout, through depression, anxiety, addictions, personality disorders, and aging, carefully noting the many interactions with suicide and suicidal behavior. • Prevention of these diverse problems -- at the individual and organizational level -- is addressed, with emphasis on the response of health care organizations and institutions to the issue of physician health and wellbeing, and the impact that well-organized physician well-being committees, taking on the function of a physician health program, can have on individual physicians.• The chapter-long case studies resemble short stories that realistically capture the mental health challenges doctors confront in the cultural context of medical training and professional practice. These represent the core of the book, and they succeed in making the issues discussed "personal" and engaging for the reader.• Accompanying each case study is a concise literature review that offers commentary and emphasizes the most important points. A detailed reference list is also offered for readers who want more extensive background material.• The author calls clearly upon the medical profession to take serious actions to improve physician health and thereby reduce the number of physicians who kill themselves each year. • "Physician Suicide" is a case-based textbook of physician health and wellbeing that can be used in courses teaching physicians and medical students about self-care.

There is little mention in the health literature of the daily pressures inherent in the physician lifestyle, which may lead to unintended consequences, of which suicide is the most extreme. Physician Suicide is an attempt to document the pain and suffering that physicians are trained to deny, especially in front of their patients, in the hope that such discussion may improve the lives of current generations of physicians and prevent further suffering in future generations.

Fictional, but thorough and realistic, case studies are at the heart of Physician Well-Being. One per chapter, they allow readers to get inside the minds of physicians and understand their lives and stressors, from long hours and staff shortages to onerous administrative demands.

For although physicians tend to live, on average, 2 years longer than nonphysicians in the general population, when it comes to mental health, the situation is more dire: 10--15 years after entering medical school, the average physician has twice the level of burnout of the average professional nonphysician. Suicide rates among physicians are 1.4 and 2 times higher than in the general population for men and women, respectively. Abuse of prescribed drugs is also higher than in community control subjects.

Physician Well-Being argues that the major reasons for physician distress are organizational and systemic and focuses on solutions that work, maintaining that changes in the culture and process of medicine aren''t just possible, they''re essential -- not only for improving the well-being of health care providers but also for patient care and safety.

The volume''s opening chapter examines the current culture of medicine and the unintended drawbacks of professionalism. Subsequent chapters delve into • Scenarios in a large health system and multidisciplinary clinic, focusing on solutions that work in current typical health care environments• Solutions needed to improve the onboarding of physicians in the early years of their career, starting in pre-med programs• Finding meaning in medicine and navigating the challenges of medical marriages, focusing on solutions that range from alternative medical and nonclinical careers to the use of technology to work remotely and more efficiently Each chapter includes concise literature reviews that highlight the most salient points, as well as a detailed list of references for readers interested in further exploration. The insights in the book will be useful not only to physicians and medical students but to anyone with an interest in the culture of health care.

Bolstered by knowledge gleaned from the author''s own 30-year career as a psychiatrist, during which he has treated hundreds of physicians as patients, Physician Well-Being offers real-world solutions that serve to make health care systems more effective as the population ages and medical practice becomes ever more complicated.

This book introduces approaches that have the potential to transform the daily practice of psychiatrists and psychologists. This includes the asynchronous communication between mental health care providers and clients as well as the automation of assessment and therapy.

Speech and language are particularly interesting from the viewpoint of psychological assessment. For instance, depression may change the characteristics of voice in individuals and these changes can be detected by a special form of speech analysis. Computational screening methods that utilize speech and language can detect subtle changes and alert clinicians as well as individuals and caregivers.

The use of online technologies in mental health, however, poses ethical problems that will occupy concerned individuals, governments and the wider public for some time. Assuming that these ethical problems can be solved, it should be possible to diagnose and treat mental health disorders online (excluding the use of medication).

Speech and language are particularly interesting from the viewpoint of psychological assessment. For instance, depression may change the characteristics of voice in individuals and these changes can be detected by a special form of speech analysis. Computational screening methods that utilize speech and language can detect subtle changes and alert clinicians as well as individuals and caregivers.

The use of online technologies in mental health, however, poses ethical problems that will occupy concerned individuals, governments and the wider public for some time. Assuming that these ethical problems can be solved, it should be possible to diagnose and treat mental health disorders online (excluding the use of medication).