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Where is the line for you as far as clearing up inaccurate information? Is there a line?

Am I the only one who thinks about this stuff?

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i always see the "i am a mental health professional" and i presumed this meant they are licensed. To me, that exam means a lot, it means you are able to meet state requirements to practice but more so you have CMEs or continuing education you are required to maintain every year. I presume licensed therapists etc are required to maintain continuing education even if they aren't medical doctors, yes?

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ORIGINAL: sirsholly

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Where is the line for you as far as clearing up inaccurate information? Is there a line?

Am I the only one who thinks about this stuff?

i think about it all the time.

As far as clearing up the inaccurate info...i will attempt to clear inaccuracies in the event it is directly harmful. If there is a situation that i think is very dangerous i take it off the boards and to a c-mail.

I'm with you on this holly. I do the same thing. (great minds!)

You know as well as i do Sunny that the internet is a difficult medium for communication. Mental health professionals are visual a lot of the time (i am highly so) and i find it nearly impossible to have confidence in an assessment with no visualization.


I agree although there are some things people say and the way they respond that I think we can infer somewhat. While a diagnosis might not be in order, there are certain patterns that can be obvious. It certainly colors the writing. I like to think I can see that color - if not right away, eventually.

For me, I would get into... I don't know what to call it except "the zone" where I was so in tune with what was happening - it was like how I've read artists and athletes work - they get so amazingly focused and almost in a trance. Particularly in a group setting, family therapy, that kind of thing, I'd just get really in the moment... like my senses hummed or something. It was about being totally and fully present. I will say... I kind of miss that. But teaching allows me to get in that mindset somewhat when I have smaller classes. The larger ones - not so easy.

Anyway, I'm about to watch the end of The Way We Were (there was a doomed relationship).

Best,
sunshine

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ORIGINAL: barelynangel

There is a difference yes between encouraging and requiring yes?  Licensed professionals are required to maintain their continuing education or they lose their license, yes?  What about people who are part of the field but as a patient rather than a working person?

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I see people post on boards like these who are patients who know a hell of a lot more about their illness etc than most general pratitioners.

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YEs i am a license advocate because this field is becoming way to involved and deep for people to just be "encouraged" to contining education and such. 

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Are unlicensed therapists supervised by a licensed one sorta like a physcian assistant?

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Is there a way to review unlicensed therapists or a data base that maintains who they are, complaints, need for review because of patient complaints etc? 

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ORIGINAL: barelynangel

there are different rules in different states. I was required to attend a certain amt of continuing education classes of my choice in my field per assigned period by the hospital where i worked, and these hours far exceeded the amt mandated by the state.

***************  Yes one day i will get my puter fixed wherein i can quote again.


Holly, are you required by the State also?   Yes i can see a hospital doing so to protect its ass legally.  In Med Mal cases everything gets called into question about the doctor/nurse/physican assistant and in med mal cases they bloody well list EVERY who ever spoke to the patient on the complaint.  But to me it also benefits the hospital and its patients and staff.  (sorry my first focus is usually law reasons lol).

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What i guess i am saying is medicine (and i consider mental health a medical area) there are two sides to every reasoning, every procedure, every idea or what will work etc. Isn't mental health the same?

Can maybe the OP or others give us some idea on how you determine what is accurate and what isn't? grins cause if its anything like law -- its simply a matter of personal decision of what to use in certain matters.

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ORIGINAL: sunshinemiss

The internet has created a whole new world of information - accurate and not.

Ain't that the truth.  We've become a group of Wikipedia experts.  I take what I find on the internet, and CM in particular, with a grain of salt.  There have been many threads, usually diet or health related ones, that will have inaccurate info.  The most recent one was on the Ask a Master forum where a person told the OP, who wanted to bruise but couldn't, to take a regiment of baby asprin for a certain number of days to thin the blood.  While baby asprin does thin the blood, it can cause other complications depending on the patient's medicial history.  Incomplete information is just as dangerous as inaccurate.

Where is the line for you as far as clearing up inaccurate information?

There have been times I've posted correct information, along with the appropriate links, when the inaccuracy was blatant.  Most of the time, though, I leave it to the reader to use their own brain power.

Is there a line?

My personal line depends on how involved I want to become with the online discussion (We're talking online, right?)  I don't see it as a duty to correct people, even when it is blatant and I may have some expertise in that particular area.  
To be honest, in the past, I have tried that approach and it backfired in my face because people called into question my personal/professional experience.  I don't feel the need to justify myself and my career choice/certification with online strangers.  In order to maintain my privacy, which I value more than my need to post information, I have chosen to avoid certain discussions.

Am I the only one who thinks about this stuff?

No, you're not.  Again, I guess it depends on how involved you want to be with the topic at hand.

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ORIGINAL: kdsub

I know nothing of the mental health profession but I would think it takes more than a few lines of text in a chat room to determine the need for intervention in another’s life.

In fact I can see where this over the internet psychoanalyzing could be harmful to fragile minds.

Too often people think they have the right to determine who is mentally ill and who needs professional help. There are many functioning, happy, healthy, people with mental illnesses and it is none of my business if the get treatment or not.

I am all for a well worded private message of concern but that is as far as it should go in this public arena.

Please understand this is not a personal attack I understand and respect your concern for your fellow man... It is just an opinion.

Butch

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the internet is a difficult medium for communication. Mental health professionals are visual a lot of the time (i am highly so) and i find it nearly impossible to have confidence in an assessment with no visualization.