When to the specialist in mental disorders?

Mental complaints: Turn on after one month at the latest

08/13/2014

If mental illnesses such as depressive moods do not subside within two to four weeks, sufferers should seek professional help and consult a specialist. Prolonged symptoms could indicate a serious mental illness.

Entitled to psychotherapeutic treatment
People whose mental disorders such as depressive moods do not subside within two to four weeks, should consult a specialist. Such longer-lasting symptoms may indicate a serious mental illness. This, according to a message from the news agency dpa, drew the attention of the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN) in Berlin. According to this law, insured persons would be entitled to psychotherapeutic treatment if the mental disorder has a so-called illness value.

Certain procedures are recognized by funds
Among other things, these diseases include depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders and psychosis. Certain psychotherapeutic procedures are recognized by statutory health insurance funds for treatment. Thus, the costs for a behavioral therapy, a deep psychology-based psychotherapy and an analytical psychotherapy are reimbursed by the health insurance. According to the DGPPN, in many cases the symptoms improved significantly after 25 to 50 hours of therapy.

Timely professional help
Experts from the Deutsche Depression Aid Foundation emphasized years ago that professional help should be sought in good time for mental health problems. They recommend that you seek medical help for alarms such as chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, mood swings, and listlessness. In addition to the feeling of overloading and hopelessness, depressive symptoms may also be accompanied by physical symptoms such as ringing of the ears or ear noises, headaches or back pain, which in turn can also be the result of a depressive illness. Patients are advised to describe their physical and mental symptoms to the doctor or therapist in any case. (Ad)