Status: 07/16/2023 5:11 p.m
The early detection outpatient clinic at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) in Lübeck is the first point of contact for young people affected. If necessary, paths to psychotherapy are quickly cleared.
Hardly anyone runs 100% smoothly all the time. Most people experience occasional problems concentrating, mood swings, and trouble sleeping. However, such symptoms could also be signs of mental illness. Most mental illnesses develop in adolescence or young adulthood.
Don’t wait for years, act early
The earlier they are diagnosed, the better they can be treated, says Professor Stefan Borgwardt, head of the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the UKSH: “It’s tragic if we wait for years – of course we always see the cases.”
Instead, identify early and treat quickly – that is the goal of the early detection outpatient clinic BEATS (Baltic Early Treatment Service). To this end, the UKSH cooperates with the Lübeck child and adolescent psychiatric clinic “Junges Leben” of the Diakonie Nord Nord Ost.
Counseling also for relatives and friends
There is an appointment at the outpatient clinic within one to two weeks – for young people between 15 and 35 whose mental problems have recently occurred and have not yet been diagnosed. These can be depressive symptoms such as depression and listlessness, but also fears, impaired perception, addiction problems – or supposedly banal complaints such as sleep and concentration problems or the feeling of wanting to withdraw more and more. The early detection clinic is also there for friends and relatives.
AUDIO: How the early detection clinic helps with mental illness (3 min)
If necessary, fast therapy offers
The outpatient clinic has been around for about a year. Since then, according to Stefan Borgwardt, the team has advised around 40 to 50 young people and young adults. Most of them needed therapeutic help. The patients were offered outpatient psychotherapy, places in the day clinic or in psychiatry – without long waiting times.
Prof. Stefan Borgwardt, Head of the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the UKSH Lübeck, hopes that soon more young people with mental health problems will turn to the early detection outpatient clinic.
Sometimes, however, it also comes out during the discussions that the problems of those affected are not worrying or that they can help themselves – for example with better sleep routines, more sport and time off.
Ambulance still has free capacity
The contact point of the UKSH also offers its advice on the campus in Kiel. The big run on the offer did not materialize in the first year, says Stefan Borgwardt. He knows that since Corona there have been many young people who are still not doing well. “I think a lot of people have already graduated because they know it’s difficult to get a treatment place,” he suspects. The head of the clinic hopes that more people with their mental health problems will come by in the future – the early detection clinic still has capacity.
Further information
Anyone who is mentally ill and seeks professional help needs perseverance. The chamber of therapists calls on politicians and health insurance companies to take action. more
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Persevere or go to therapy? Many students are afraid: Can treatment ruin their careers? more
Talking about depression helps to better understand the disease – with those affected, relatives and experts, as in this podcast. more
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NDR 1 Wave North | News for Schleswig-Holstein | 07/16/2023 | 09:00 a.m