The New England Journal of Medicine ran a series of articles on the relationship between patients and doctors.

One hopeful thought was that the choice of treatments for an individual patient should take into account what that patient prefers. The idea is that the doctor brings medical training and experience and patients bring their values and priorities to the table. Then they jointly choose the treatment that suits that patient best.

This approach is called "shared decision-making."

How can you argue with that?

Healthcare studies can be dangerous to your health. Sometimes, researchers draw conclusions that are very misleading. Then people working to make healthcare better may go down the wrong path.

I saw evidence of this mistake nearly 20 years ago - and as recently as this year.

For example, a number of years ago a textbook about how to get managed care to work started out with the correct facts but drew some misguided conclusions. It said, "Most consumers purchase healthcare services on the assumption that the quality of care is essentially the same."

This is the sixth in a six-part series of articles about how to get better results from mental health care.

Many steps to take to get good mental health care are similar to steps to take to get good health care for other conditions:

• Know what you are trying to accomplish.

• Ask questions - about your diagnosis, about any tests, about any treatments, about side effects.

• Remember that you have a right to have a say.

• Remember whose life is at stake.

This is the fifth in a six-part series that explores challenges people face when they seek treatment for mental health issues. This article explores reasons for problems with care and the sixth discusses how to help yourself and loved ones to get care that works.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) "One in four adults -- approximately 57.7 million Americans -- experience a mental health disorder in a given year ... (including) one in 10 children."

This is the fourth in a six-part series that explores challenges people face when they seek treatment for mental health issues. The final two articles in the series explore reasons for problems with care and how to help yourself and loved ones get care that works.

This is the third in a six-part series that explores challenges people face when they seek treatment for mental health issues. The final two articles in the series explore reasons for problems with care and how to help yourself and loved ones to get care that works.

When you see Danielle in action, you'd never believe that her medical records take up two drawers of a filing cabinet. A nationally ranked athlete as a young adult, two decades later she runs her own PR firm and acts as a spokesperson for several large businesses and nonprofits.

This is the second in a six-part series that explores challenges people face when they seek treatment for mental health issues. The final two articles in the series will explore reasons for problems with care, and how to help yourself and loved ones to get care that works.

This is the first in a six-part series that explores challenges people face when they seek treatment for mental health issues. The final two articles in the series will explore reasons for problems with care and how to help yourself and loved ones to get care that works.

Guadalupe, age 64, was 5'2" tall and weighed 145 pounds. She fussed over her weight as she drove to the doctor's office. She sighed, knowing that he would tell her to lose weight. "I can do this," she said to herself. "Maybe WeightWatchers - it worked for me once before."

She had struggled with her weight for decades. But now, it was really interfering with her life. If she got down on the floor with her grandchildren, she had trouble getting up because of the pain in her knees - which she didn't have when she weighed 10-15 pounds less.

When Heather was 35, she married a man she'd been dating for four years who already had three children. From very early on in their relationship, they had discussed whether they wanted more children, and consistently agreed that the three he already had were enough. Unless Heather accidentally got pregnant, they would not be having any more.

Two years after they married, the results of a routine Pap smear revealed that Heather had abnormal cells in her cervix that could become cancerous.