At the heart of the care philosophy known as person-centered care, is the person who is receiving care, treatments or services. This individual is seen as the most important element in the process and should be considered a partner in care who will make decisions and choices about what he or she wishes and desires. Person-centered care involves treating the person with respect and dignity, individuality and is sensitive concerning culture, religion and gender. So, can this approach work for people who are diagnosed with severe forms of mental illness like bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia?
How Person-Centered Care Helps People with Severe Mental Illness
When used as a value-based approach or philosophy, person-centered care humanizes the individual and looks far past the diagnosis. It encourages staff to see the person as a capable agent who can participate in his or her own care and make decisions that will improve one’s quality of life. Staff learn to be more flexible with their roles and daily tasks, communicate with the individual and maintain a warm and therapeutic environment. In these ways and many others, the individual feels more in control of his or her life.
Important Elements When Caring for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness
Person-Centered Care is Proactive, Not Reactive
Staff take on a proactive and engaging role with their care recipients and in doing so spend less time reacting to acute situations or psychiatric emergencies. Keeping staff and patient interaction high is key and is seen as more collaborative, cooperative, flexible and supportive.
Seeing the Person, Not the Illness
Sometimes staff will get into the habit of treating their care recipients as if they were disorders and not people. While it may not be intentional, it’s easy to fall into this type of care routine. Person-centered care greatly values personhood over diagnosis and strives to overcome barriers to care and extinguish stigma associated with severe mental illnesses.
Shared Decision-Making
In traditional medical-directed care, doctors and nurses are in charge of their patient’s care and many decisions can be made absent of the patient him or herself. This is not the case with person-centered care, where instead, relationships are enhanced and valued between caregivers and recipients of care by making decisions about daily routines, care, treatment and medications together.
The Right Leadership and Staff
Person-centered care without humans to initiate and drive it is worthless. It takes compassionate and well-trained clinical leaders and care staff to bring person-centered values alive in a therapeutic environment where patients are people who come before tasks, and quality of life has more weight than passing medications on time or taking a break.
Customization of Care
Person-centered care is highly personalized and individualized care, and is the extreme opposite of cookie-cutter, one size-fits-all care. Care is based on the person’s capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Staff identify the person’s resources and work towards maximizing them for as much independence and autonomy as possible. This level of care makes the most out of everyday life.
Conversations Over Tasks
There is a big difference between asking a patient about their day, when they’d like to wake up and go to bed, or what they had for dinner yesterday and engaging the individual in a full-blown human conversation about what’s valuable and important in his or her life. Personal conversations open up possibilities concerning what the person wants, needs or desires. It is mainly non-clinical and emphasizes time spent with the person over medical or care tasks that need to be accomplished.
Positive Outcomes
It’s well-documented in the literature and it is common sense that providing this level of care and services to individuals who live with mental illness, dementia or frailty due to old age, can benefit in many ways. First and foremost, a person-centered approach lays the foundation for genuine relationships to develop between those who care and those who receive care. This quality enhances and encourages care recipients to engage more with others and to participate in the life of their environment.
Final Thoughts on Person-Centered Care and Severe Mental Illness
Person-centered care is nothing new and has been around in one way, shape or form since the mid-1960s. New life was breathed into it in the early 80’s as it was applied to older individuals and those diagnosed with dementia. It didn’t come to full fruition until the early 2000’s and is now being applied to many groups and populations, including individuals with severe mental illness, and for many good reasons. It treats people like people and engages them to be a part of the care process. They are treated with dignity and respect and in doing so, experience greater quality of care and life.