Process - Physician - Fraser Health Authority

Patient Empowermentin Depression• Self-Management has been considered paramount in the management of chronicdiseases such as diabetes, arthritis and congestive heart failure.• It is now being incorporated into the care of Major Depression, which is beingrecognized as a chronic disease.• Self-Management focuses on the impact patients can have when they take an activerole in their health.• Self-Management is a collaboration of patients with their doctors and other healthcare providers around their health problems.• The goal of self-management is to help patients become educated regarding theirdisease, particular problems of their disease, what to expect from their treatment,and what questions to ask about their care.• Patients are involved in setting the priorities of their treatment, and establishing thegoals of their care.• In this manual we have expanded the scope and de nition of self-management toinclude teaching skills to help patients take a more active stance in their treatment.• Our intention is to assist patients in realizing that they can manage their symptomsand actually are able to change the way they behave, think and feel.• The intent of this manual is to help health care providers empower people withdepression by involving them in learning the skills to manage and/or change theirdepressive symptoms.• We have included assessment tools, educational handouts about depression,and many easy to use activation, cognitive-behavioural, relaxation andlifestyle interventions.CBIS MANUAL | MAY 2009INTRODUCTION | 210