On the Importance of Mental Health Check-Ups for Palliative Care Clinicians

by Polly ChesterAs silly as this may sound to people who have never experienced a mental health issue, when one is used to a dystopian inner world, feeling happy for a consistent period of time can be a bit of a worry. For those of us who ’ve had mental health concerns in the past and a baseline mental state that just allows us to lurch through life in a state of veritable chaos, calm and pleasant periods of time are a source of anxiety because we wonder if the next mental health calamity is just around the corner. One might consid er psychological temperature-taking should be done just like going to your general practitioner (GP) once a year for a physical exam. However, just as many avoid the GP for fear of finding physical health problems, the same fear may prevent us from considering mental health check-ups.Recently, I decided to treat myself to a mental health check-up because I felt like I ’d been avoiding it. Since my mother died from aggressive metastatic small cell lung cancer last year, I threw myself back into life as best I could; maybe a bit harder than I’d meant to. I didn’t just go back to my previous teaching and lecturing three weeks after my mum’s death, in additi on, exactly six months after that day, I also started a new clinical role – specialist palliative care social work in a local hospital. Advice from relatives and friends rang in my ears: “Be careful and make sure you access mental health support - I found that I threw myself into too ...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: chester grief mental health The profession Source Type: blogs