CONCEPT AND DEFINITION - PSR

CONCEPT AND DEFINITION

Persons suffering from emotional and mental illness (acute, chronic or sub-acute) are rehabilitated using Psychological, Behavioral, Social, Medical and Occupational methods.

Psychiatric rehabilitation emphasizes continues and indefinite treatment of life long disorders for the maintenance of symptoms control, prevention or reduction of relapses and optimization of performance by the chronically ill patients in social, vocational education and familiar roles with least amount of support necessary for the helping professions.

Psychiatric rehabilitation is defined as the activity of a set of specialist services. Rehabilitation has been defined by the World Health Organization as the application of measures aimed at reducing the impact of disabling and handicapping conditions and enabling disabled people to achieve social integration (World Health Organization, 1980). Implicit in this definition are two components. First, an active process through which a person adapts or acquires the skills needed to mitigate the constraints of disease, and second, an acknowledgement that there may also need to be changes in the environment, including the attitudes of non-disabled people, if optimal social integration is to be achieved.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation, also known as Psychosocial Rehabilitation, is the process of restoration of community functioning and wellbeing of an individual who has a psychiatric disability. It is a process which helps the individuals to find alternatives for hospitalization, emphasizes continues and indefinite treatment of the life long disorder for the maintenance of symptoms, control prevention or reduction of relapses and optimization of performance by the chronically ill patients in social vocational education and familiar roles with least amount of support necessary for the helping professions.

Rehabilitation involves ‘improving the psychiatrically disturbed person’s capabilities and competence’ by bringing about ‘behavioral improvement in their environment of need’. It is helping the individual adapt to their deficits in personal skills by ‘making best use of his residual abilities in order to function in as normal environment as possible’.

Rehabilitation is a helping process where in the client is motivated and encouraged to develop his lost skills and develop on his residual skills so as to become a functional member of the society. Rehabilitation work seeks to effect changes in a person's environment and in a person's ability to deal with their environment, so as to facilitate improvement in symptoms or personal distress. These services often combine pharmacologic treatment, independent living and social skills training, psychological support to clients and their families, housing, vocational rehabilitation, social support and network enhancement, and access to leisure activities.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) can be described as consisting of eight main areas of work: Psychiatric (symptom management); Social (relationships, family, boundaries, communications & community integration); Vocational and or Educational (coping skills, motivation); Basic Living Skills (hygiene, meals, safety, planning, chores); Financial (budgets); Community and or Legal (resources); Health and or Medical (maintain consistency of care); and Housing (safe environments).