+PATIENTS MAY ALSO PARTICIPATE IN BEHAVIOURAL MODIFICATION PROGRAMMES WHERE REINFORCEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS ARE ACTIVELY EMPLOYED TO CORRECT THE IR MALADJUSTED BEHAVIOURS, MISS NG ADDED.
WHERE NECESSARY, THEY MAY ALSO BE REFERRED TO ANY OF THE PSYCHIATRIC CENTRES AND HOSPITALS RUN BY THE MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOR IN-PATIENT TREATMENT OR OUT-PATIENT PSYCHIATRIC SERVICE.
PATIENTS UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE AND SUSPECTED OF SUFFERING FROM MULTIPLE HANDICAP ARE REFERRED TO THE ARRAN STREET CHILD ASSESSMENT CLINIC RUN BY THE MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOR A MORE COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT AND NECESSARY FOLLOW-UP SERVICES.
APART FROM SEEING THEIR PATIENTS IN THEIR OFFICES, CPU PSYCHOLOGISTS PAY REGULAR VISITS TO BOYS AND GIRLS' HOMES, CHILD CARE CENTRES AND NURSERIES RUN BY THE SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT.
THIS IS WHERE SOME OF THE CASES OF ABANDONED, NEGLECTED AND ABUSED CHILDREN ARE FOUND, WITH THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL SCARS THAT ARE IN MOST URGENT NEED OF EARLY INTERVENTION.
A STUDY IN 1981 ON THE DEMAND FOR CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING JOINTLY UNDERTAKEN BY THE SWD AND THE HONG KONG COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE SHOWED THAT ABOUT 10 000 PERSONS NEED PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING EACH YEAR IN HONG KONG.
THIS GAP BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO NEEDED HELP AND THOSE WHO ACTUALLY SOUGHT HELP MAY PARTLY BE DUE TO THE CUSTOMARY CHINESE AVERSION TO +HAVE ONE'S HEAD EXAMINED+, OR AN HONEST IGNORANCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS.
+THESE SYMPTOMS CAN BE AN IRRATIONAL FEAR, DIFFICULTY IN LEARNING, A TENDENCY TO LOSE ONE'S TEMPER AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION AND EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY, SHE SAID.
SHE ALSO SAID IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO ASSESS THE FULL RECOVERY RATE OF MENTAL PATIENTS AS THERE IS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY FOR RELAPSE. BUT HALF OF THE TREATMENT CASES HANDLED BY HER UNIT LAST YEAR WERE TERMINATED BY AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE PSYCHOLOGIST AND THE PATIENT, ON THE GROUND THAT THE PATIENT NEEDED NO FURTHER HELP AT THE TIME OF TERMINATION.
+OUR AIM IS TO ENHANCE OUR PATIENTS' COPING ABILITY AND PERSONAL GROWTH AND RE-INTEGRATE THEM INTO THE SOCIETY, MISS NG ADDED.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH, HOWEVER, IS NO RECENT DISCOVERY. MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, THE ROMAN STATESMAN AND SCHOLAR, OBSERVED SOME 2 000 YEARS AGO: THE DISEASES OF THE MIND ARÉ MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN THOSE OF THE BODY.→
THE NEED FOR MORE PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING SERVICES IS RECOGNISED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND A FOURTH CPU CENTRE WILL BE OPENED IN YAU MA TEI LATER THIS YEAR, ADDING TO THE EXISTING THREE IN SAN PO KONG, TSUEN WAN AND CAUSEWAY BAY.
THE NORMAL PROCEDURE IN APPLYING FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING IS TO APPROACH THE NEAREST DISTRICT FAMILY SERVICE CENTRE OF THE SWD WHOSE COUNSELLORS ARE TRAINED TO DETERMINE THE NEED FOR REFERRAL AND MAKE THE NECESSARY APPOINTMENTS.
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