Psychology Works
3754 Georgetown Street
Houston, Texas
77005

(713) 665-7934
Fax: (713) 660-7443
E-mail:
diddel@
psychologyworks
.com

About Psychology Works

MISSION STATEMENT: Improving Life for the Chronically Ill

 Psychology Works is a 501(c)(3), Texas Non-Profit Corporation dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with disabling chronic disease and their families, by reducing the emotional, social and vocational impact of their illness.  Psychology Works accomplishes this objective by developing educational programs tailored to specific groups of patients, then collaborating with other organizations to present these programs and train their staff members or volunteers to continue the programs independently.  Psychology Works also pursues our mission by raising awareness of the psychosocial needs of medical patients among physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and mental health professionals.

Rationale & Purpose. Experts in the field of health psychology agree that the emotional and social needs of patients with chronic medical conditions are not adequately met by the current medical system.  The average time physicians spend with their patients is less than 10 minutes.  Emotional needs are often last on the list, and frequently do not get addressed.  While depression is common among those with chronic diseases, like M.S., lupus, Parkinson's Disease, heart disease and AIDS, many insurance policies do not cover treatment for it, or do not cover it at the same rate as medical complaints.  Chronic disease often results in disability and underemployment, so many patients are unable to afford treatment for mental health complaints associated with their illness.   When they do seek a mental health professional, it's difficult to find one who understands their problems, since fewer than 11% of mental health practitioners are trained to recognize and treat problems associated with medical disorders.  One solution to this problem is to provide free or inexpensive group education for patients wishing to learn about how to cope effectively with their health challenges.   Another solution is to improve the skills and understanding of large numbers of general practitioners of psychotherapy, making them familiar with issues in specific medical populations.  Meeting the needs of these patients can also be served by educating nurses and other allied health professionals to recognize and manage emotional and behavioral problems of medical patients in their care.

Benefits. Psychology Works' programs help to:

1. Enable better quality of life and functioning in individuals with chronic disease and their families by:  (a) improving their understanding of the psychosocial impact of  chronic disease and disability, (b) providing strategies for coping with disability, depression and other emotional complications of illness, (c) improving overall functioning psychologically, socially and vocationally.
2. Raise awareness among mental health practitioners who do not specialize in health psychology of basic issues in treating patients with medical disease and to enable them to manage symptomatic complaints in their patients  whose primary diagnosis is an Axis III medical disorder.
3. Raise awareness among physicians, nurses, physical therapists and other allied health professionals to improve their understanding of psychosocial issues common in chronic illness and provide them with strategies for meeting those needs within the scope of their professional work.