The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center (aka the UTHCPC, Harris County Psychiatric Center or HCPC is a psychiatric hospital in Harris County, Texas, that caters to the psychiatric and sometimes psychological needs of persons aged 3 and older, diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, dual diagnoses, anger, paranoia, schizoaffective disorder, personality disorders, adjustment disorders, and possibly more. The facility contains 11 patient units, including general psychiatry units as well as specialty units such as those dedicated to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and patients with dual diagnoses.
The facility takes patients regardless of their immigration status, race, gender, language, income, address, criminal record, whether they have a home or not, or their ability to pay for any services.
The facility provides diagnosis, limited psychotherapy, medication, referrals to MHMRA clinics where the patients can get free medication and see psychiatrists for free as well as other services.
A typical stay at the HCPC is from 7 to 10 work days, though some stay longer and in some rare cases some may stay for less than 3 days.
The HCPC accepts both voluntary and involuntary patients. The facility is for inpatients only. HCPC does not provide outpatient services, such as medication refills. Outpatients are referred to the NeuroPsychiatric Center at Ben Taub General Hospital, or to their nearest MHMRA clinic.
The facility offers church services on Sundays. On some days, it offers group therapy sessions, including recreation therapy, coping skills, depression support, and spirituality.
Staff include psychiatrists, psychologists, psych nurses, psych techs, and a chaplain.
A mental disorder, also called a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode. Many disorders have been described, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. Such disorders may be diagnosed by a mental health professional.
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, and mental health units, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders, such as major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialize only in short term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients. Others may specialize in the temporary or permanent care of residents who, as a result of a psychological disorder, require routine assistance, treatment, or a specialized and controlled environment. Patients are often admitted on a voluntary basis, but people whom psychiatrists believe may pose a significant danger to themselves or others may be subject to involuntary commitment. Psychiatric hospitals may also be referred to as psychiatric wards or units when they are a subunit of a regular hospital.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), formerly known as electroshock therapy, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in patients to provide relief from mental disorders.. Typically, 70 to 120 volts are applied externally to the patient's head resulting in approximately 800 milliamperes of direct current passed through the brain, for 100 milliseconds to 6 seconds duration, either from temple to temple or from front to back of one side of the head.
Paranoid schizophrenia is no longer used in the United States since the 2013 change in the DSM-V that classifies the range of symptoms of former sub-types all under "schizophrenia". Schizophrenia is defined as "a chronic mental disorder in which a person is withdrawn from reality". Prior to 2013 schizophrenia had been divided into subtypes based on the "predominant symptomatology at the time of evaluation". The subtypes were classified as: paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual type. However, they are not completely separate diagnoses, and cannot predict the progression of the mental illness.
Schizoaffective disorder is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal thought processes and an unstable mood. The diagnosis is made when the person has symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder—either bipolar disorder or depression—but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia or a mood disorder individually. The main criterion for the schizoaffective disorder diagnosis is the presence of psychotic symptoms for at least two weeks without any mood symptoms present. Schizoaffective disorder can often be misdiagnosed when the correct diagnosis may be psychotic depression, psychotic bipolar disorder, schizophreniform disorder, or schizophrenia. It is imperative for providers to accurately diagnose patients, as treatment and prognosis differs greatly for each of these diagnoses.
Edwin Fuller Torrey, is an American psychiatrist and schizophrenia researcher. He is Associate Director of Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI) and founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), a nonprofit organization whose principal activity is promoting the passage and implementation of outpatient commitment laws and civil commitment laws and standards in individual states that allow people diagnosed with mental illness to be forcibly committed and medicated easily throughout the United States.
Biological psychiatry or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics, epigenetics and physiology to investigate the biological bases of behavior and psychopathology. Biopsychiatry is that branch / speciality of medicine which deals with the study of biological function of the nervous system in mental disorders.
Partial hospitalization, also known as PHP, is a type of program used to treat mental illness and substance abuse. In partial hospitalization, the patient continues to reside at home, but commutes to a treatment center up to seven days a week. Partial hospitalization focuses on the overall treatment of the individual and is intended to avert or reduce in-patient hospitalization.
Schizophreniform disorder is a mental disorder diagnosed when symptoms of schizophrenia are present for a significant portion of the time at least a month, but signs of disturbance are not present for the full six months required for the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Mental disorders are classified as a psychological condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological and often social functioning of the individual. Individuals diagnosed with certain mental disorders can be unable to function normally in society. Mental disorders occasionally consist of a combination of affective, behavioral, cognitive and perceptual components. The acknowledgement and understanding of mental health conditions has changed over time and across cultures. There are still variations in the definition, classification, and treatment of mental disorders.
Bipolar disorder in children, or pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), is a mental disorder in children and adolescents that, like bipolar disorder (BD) in adults, is characterized by extreme changes in mood and behavior accompanying periods of depressed or irritable moods and periods of elevated moods called manic or hypomanic episodes. These shifts are sometimes quick, but usually are gradual. The average age of onset of PBD is unclear, but the risk increases with the onset of puberty. PBD is typically more severe and has a poorer prognosis than BD with onset in late-adolescence or adulthood.
Child and adolescent psychiatry or pediatric psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial factors that influence the development and course of these psychiatric disorders and treatment responses to various interventions.
Bipolar II disorder is a bipolar spectrum disorder characterized by at least one episode of hypomania and at least one episode of major depression. Diagnosis for bipolar II disorder requires that the individual must never have experienced a full manic episode. Otherwise, one manic episode meets the criteria for bipolar I disorder.
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
Services for mental health disorders provide treatment, support, or advocacy to people who have psychiatric illnesses. These may include medical, behavioral, social, and legal services.
Folie à deux, shared psychosis, or shared delusional disorder is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief and sometimes hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another. The same syndrome shared by more than two people may be called folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie en famille, or even folie à plusieurs.
The National Psychosis Unit is a national treatment centre for patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, in the United Kingdom. The unit is a tertiary referral centre in the National Health Service. It is located at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. It is closely affiliated to the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, and forms part of the Psychosis Clinical Academic Group of King's Health Partners.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychiatry:
Augustus John Rush is an internationally renowned psychiatrist. He is a Professor Emeritus in Duke-NUS Medical School at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. He has authored and edited more than 10 books, and over 600 scientific journal articles that are largely focused on the diagnosis and treatment of depressive and bipolar disorders.
Lori Altshuler was a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and held the Julia S. Gouw Endowed Chair for Mood Disorders. Dr. Altshuler was the Director of the UCLA Mood Disorders Research Program and the UCLA Women's Life Center, each being part of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.
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