Mental Health Patients Don’t Get Enough Wellness Advice, Researcher Says

Lisa Franchi February 26, 2015

Lifestyle change is highly recommended to people diagnosed with physical health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. But it is inevitable too for those with mental health disorders. Nonetheless, it appears that care providers fail to provide dietary and exercise advice to patients, especially to the mentally ill.

This is according to the new study carried out by University of Illinois researchers. Their findings revealed that more than half of patients with symptoms of mental illness, and nearly one-third of those who also had diabetes, failed to receive appropriate health education.

Although exercise and dietary recommendations have been a mainstay of diabetic care, researchers say those with mental illness can also benefit from a wellness lifestyle. Appropriate amounts of physical activity and healthy dietary choices can improve the quality of life and prevent debilitating health problems for diabetics and for those with mental illness. And healthcare providers should not miss the opportunity to provide patients with lifestyle advice, they note.

“It is important that providers counsel people in this population as early as possible about exercise and nutritional changes that reduce the risks associated with diabetes — before risk factors such as hypertension and high cholesterol manifest,” said Xiang, a doctoral candidate in social work and one of the study researchers.

They argued that people with mental illness are at a high risk of health problems like heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol which can all be prevented through proper lifestyle modifications.

“Given the elevated risk for diabetes among individuals with symptoms of psychological distress, even greater numbers of clinicians in the study sample should have been providing lifestyle counselling,” Xiang said.

He added that because mental health patients tend to utilise healthcare services more often, clinicians have increased opportunities to educate patients about the benefits of a healthy diet and physical activity.

The study was published in the journal Diabetes Educator.

Source of this article: Wellness Advice Often Lacking for Mentally Ill