MENTAL ILLNESS AND NURSING CARE

QUESTION

Your essay framework will include:

A search strategy utilized. This must be a combination of journals, websites and texts.

Structure: All essays should be made up of an Introduction, Body, including relevant references throughout, and a Conclusion which summarizes what you have discussed throughout.

Length should be no more than the required words indicated in the assessment guide in total + or -10%.

Presentation: In accordance with the University standards set out in the guidelines.

References sources of information must be acknowledged at all times, using the APA guidelines.

A minimum of seven references should be used in the framework. Assessment Task 1

Full Assignment Title Assignment (choose one of the following topics)

Task: 1. Looking after a person’s mental health is an integral part of any nursing care situation. Discuss this issue reflecting on experiences (personal or nursing) you may have had and what might be done to enhance/improve/stop the stigmatised position which currently appears to occur. Use text and journal articles in support.

2. Select a mental illness and discuss the nursing care you might give which will start the client on their road to recovery. In this discussion give some thoughts to family, stigma, your relationship (and its importance) with the client/family, your role within the multidisciplinary team and care you think needs to be offered based on the diagnosis.

Length: Approximately 2,200 words.

SOLUTION

MENTAL ILLNESS AND NURSING CARE

Introduction:

The world is changing faster and the life style of people has also changed a lot. People have become busier and the competitive world has made them to work harder. Also in order to earn money and enjoy their life they actually work so hard that they forget to enjoy their life. The greed and unwanted needs have made people life highly different from what it was 100 years ago. Even though a large number of technologies have entered the world and made people life easier but it has also bought lot of problems in the life of the people. And one of the most important problems is seen in the health of the people (Monahan & Steadman, 1996).

With the advancement in the technologies lot of diseases has been cured and even those diseases which earlier was considered to be incurable has also been treated properly. Improvements in medical science have eradicated disease like Small Pox and Polio to a large extent. But still the question arise “Are we completely free from Diseases or Illness today?” In order to answer this question we need to first understand the meaning of illness. Illness is defined as a state in which person is not healthy and is not able to perform the basic day to day work. Illness can be physical as well as mental. In both the situation the person is unable to perform basic activities of life. In today’s world even if technologies and inventions have cured lot of diseases but the hectic life style of the people have also lead to rise in various new type of diseases that are causing physical as well as mental illness (Stein & Philips, 2010). In this paper as we will be discussing about mental illness so our focus from now on will be on mental illness.

Mental Illness:

A psychological pattern which is reflected in form of behaviour and causes disability and distress in a person is known as Mental Illness. Mental Illness is also known as mental disorder. Mental Illness can be caused due to many reasons but being associated with brains and nervous system it is usually difficult to detect the actual reason behind the illness and also find out the cure (Harris & Barraclough, 1998). Cure have been found for many mental illness but still there are large number of mental illness which has no cure and the person is treated with therapies rather than medicines. In some cases the therapies proves successful whereas in other cases it does not have any success. In comparison to the earlier time mental illness is found quite high in today’s generation and according to the scientists it is due to the life style of the people. Some mental illness can be from birth and these are either due to genetic factors or due to some environmental disorders like the Atom bomb dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki had such worse effect that till date children born there shows some kind of mental disformalities. Similarly any kind of accident during pregnancy can also affect the child brain and mental illness can be developed (Kirov & Miller, 2012). On the other hand there are other types of mental illness which develop during life time of a person and the main reasons behind such mental illness are like stress, disturbed life style, some horrible incidents etc. Overall in mental illness more than medicines the psychological counselling and the will power of the patient matters a lot and this make the case difficult to solve. Some of the most well known mental illness which develops during the life time and not due to birth is like Anxiety disorder, Cognitive Disorder, Schizophrenia, Depersonalization Disorder, Gender Identity Disorder, Phobia, Enuresis, Hypomania Episode, Huntington’s disease, Kleptomania, Nightmare Disorder etc. There must be more that hundred such disorders which has been explained by the medical fraternity. All these disorders are related some of the personal life incidents and causes. It could be either stress related to some incidents or some emotional stress. Some kind of fears or any kind of tortures and so on. In order to treat this kind of mental disorder it is very much necessary to first understand the cause behind it and then the therapy treatments can be done accordingly (Stein & Philips, 2010). In this paper we are going to discuss on a mental disorder known as Schizophrenia and we are also going to discuss the various nursing methods that can help the patient in recovering from this disorder.

Mental Illness: Schizophrenia

One of the most well known and dreadful mental disorder in the medical science is Schizophrenia. The mental disorder is associated with some severe emotional stress because of which the patient shows one or more of the symptoms like “Disorganized speech and thinking, hallucinations, delusions and paranoid behaviour”. With the increase in the intensity of the disease the patient begin to show dysfunctionality in the social and professional field. Slowly the patient completely get mentally disturbed and required asylum (Folsom & Jeste, 2002). It is believed that Schizophrenia can occur at any age but basically it develops in adulthood and with age it goes on increasing. In some rare cases the children are also fund to develop this disorder. Currently it has been estimated that around 0.3 to 0.7% of the people suffer from Schizophrenia. The disorders in many cases make the person highly stubborn and along with the disease the patient also develop other disorders like anxiety and depression. As a result of the depression the patient also denies having medicines and treatment. These slowly make the person weak and the anxiety and depression make the patient physically unwell. In many cases the patients due to Schizophrenia develops other kind of physical amenities that ultimately lead to death of the person (Mc Grath, 2003). Many times the Schizophrenia patients under extreme emotional pressure also commit suicide.

The symptoms of Schizophrenia as said above include hallucination in which the patient see people or hear voices which does not exist in real. Sometimes the patient sees some people who are known to the patient and the family and in most cases they see people of hear voices who are unknown and develop a strong relationship with the patient. As a result it gets difficult for others to make the patient realize that it is just a hallucination. In other cases the patient shows disorganization in speech and writing and sometimes the words which the patient write is difficult to understand. The biggest issue in such situation is that family members and other relatives do not understand the patient and this disbelieve make the patients depressed and in many cases also violent (Compton & Esterberg, 2008). Many cases have been seen in case of Schizophrenia where patient gets highly violent and may hurt him or others. At such cases in the asylum the patients are kept in jail or by tying their hands to chains. Many times the human rights people criticize the act and think it to be in human but the medical fraternities believe that they need to do it in order to protect the patient from committing suicide or hurting others. Again many Schizophrenia patient shows multiple symptoms like along with hallucination or delusion they also shows anxiety, fear and depression. All these situations exarregate the condition more and it becomes more difficult to treat the patient.

The symptoms of the Schizophrenia patient can be both positive as well as negative. But positive symptoms are not much seen or long lasted because once the patient realize that the things happening with him are unreal to others then the reverse action starts. In schizophrenia the doctor believes it is more on the patient will that can make the patient normal (Compton & Esterberg, 2008).

Schizophrenia is caused due to various causes like genetics, environment, some misuse substances and also due to developmental factors. In case of Genetic factors it is like the patient develop from the first degree relative and the occurrence is also quite high which approximately 6.4%. It is difficult to treat a patient with genetic factors. In environment factor some kind of stress, any crimes like rape, sexual abuse etc are the cause in which the patient gets isolated and thus develop a different world (Gilmore, 2010). Similarly for misuse substance include excessive addiction to alcohols or drugs and development factors include cases like any accidents or operation in which the post traumatic situation develops Schizophrenia in the patient. Depending on the cause of the disease the treatments also varies and so it becomes very important to know the cause.

The Nursing Process:

As discussed earlier any kind of mental disorder more than medicines needs therapy and proper nursing in order to get treated or at least recover to some extent. In case of Schizophrenia a lot depends on proper nursing and caring. When a Schizophrenia patient is admitted in the asylum more than physicians and the medicines it is the love and caring of the other health care workers especially nurses that can help in the recovery of the patient. The asylum thus takes great care in providing proper nursing conditions to these patients (Gournay, 2000). Some of the nursing conditions that can ensure the recovery of the patient are:

Making Friendship: It is highly essential to gain the confidence of the patient and make the patient gain trust on the health care workers so that the patient can be made ready to undergo various treatments. The main problem that is seen with the Schizophrenia patient is that as other do not believe their world hence they start distrusting others and so they feel that even their closed ones might be their enemies and try to kill them by giving some medicines and so they get stubborn. At the asylums in order to start the treatments the physician should make the patient realize that they believe they have a separate world which is definitely real (Dearing, 2011). This will make the patient develop friendship and they will also share their problems.

Communication: Most of the patients of the Schizophrenia develop the disorder due to some issues in their personal life which may be something related to past or present. In some cases it has been found a person who has been sexually abused in childhood develop the disorder in adulthood. Similarly any kind of traumatic incidents like accidents, losing of a close one, rape etc can also make a person develop delusions. It is highly essential to understand all the incidents even minor to minor incidents that have occurred with the patient in his lifetime and so a friendly nature is needed so that the patient can reveal all the truth (Compton & Esteberg, 2008).

Counselling: Once the matter is known then the health care workers especially the psychiatrists need to counsel the person. First the fear or the trauma that is there in the person mind is need to be removed and for this the patient has to be assured that past is gone and in future there is no danger. At the same time the patient mind should be diverted by making him involve in meditations, games and other activities. He should be provided with a happy environment so that he slowly gets diverted from that fake world. At this stage even the support of the family is also needed. The asylum should even counsel the family and ask them to meet the patient regularly so that he does not feel rejected and depressed (Gilmore, 2010). The family should not criticize his fake world rather they should try to show him that the real world is more beautiful and the real people around him are more caring. They should ensure to spend time with him on daily basis. Along with this the quite environment, friendship with other patients and regular motivational and inspirational classes will make the patient gain the will power to treat himself.

Medications: Medication is also one of the important parts of nursing and making the patient move in the path of recovery. For Schizophrenia patients in order to prevent hallucination and delusion the patient need proper sleep and health and that is the main things supplemented in the medicines. Once the patients understand that he is suffering from a disease and he needs to cure it then he will definitely go for the medications and thus maintain a proper condition (Dearing, 2011). It is essential for the health care workers to check that medications are being consumed properly.

Along with these there are various other nursing methods that can ensure recovery of the Schizophrenia Patient.

Conclusion:

The mentally disorder people are similar to normal human beings and it is just some incidents that leaves a life term marks in their life. So, it is very essential to treat these people with extra care and love (Gournay, 2000). It is only through support and love they can gain back their normal life. One of the best examples of Schizophrenia is of the Noble Laureate Jhon Forbes Nash Jr. He with his will power made himself realized that he is Schizophrenic and without medicines he treated himself. Education, support of his family and support of his friends made him regain his consciousness and also prove himself a genius in the field of economics by giving the famous Nash Theory.

Love has the power to treat even difficult disease and bring miracles. So it is our duty to ensure that any kind of mentally disorder people are cared and respected (Kirov & Miller, 2012).

References:

1. Compton, M.T. and Esterberg, M.L. (2008). “Causes of Schizophrenia Reported by Urban African American Lay Community Members”. Journal of Comprehensive Psychiatry, Vol 49, 1, pp; 87-93.
2. Dearing, K. (2011). “Treatment Compliance for Patients with Schizophrenia: The Nurse’s Role”. International Nursing Library, Virginia Henderson,
3. Folsom, D. and Jeste, D.V. (2002). “Schizophrenia in Homeless Persons: a schematic review of literature”. Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 105, pp; 404-413.
4. Gilmore, J.H. (2010). “Understanding what causes Schizophrenia: A Developmental Perspective”. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 167, pp; 8-10.
5. Gournay, K. (2000). “Role of Community Psychiatry Nurse in the Management of Schizophrenia”. Journal of Advances in Psychiatry Treatment, Vol 6, pp; 243-249.
6. Harris, E.C. and Barraclough, B. (1998). “Excess Mortality of Mental Disorder”. The British Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 173, pp; 11-53.
7. Kirov, G. And Miller, G. (2012). “Mental Disorder and creativity”. The British Journal of Psychiatry,Vol 200, pp; 347.
8. McGrath, J.J. (2003). “The epidemiology of schizophrenia”. PhD Thesis, School of Medicine/Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research, The University of Queensland.
9. Monahan, J. and Steadman, H.J. “Violence & Mental Disorder”. University of Chicago Press.
10. Stein, D.J. and Philips, K.A. (2010). “What is a mental/Psychiatry Disorder?” Cambridge University Press, Vol 40, 11, pp; 1759-65.

 LB73

But you can order it from our service and receive complete high-quality custom paper.  Our service offers Nursing  essay sample that was written by professional writer. If you like one, you have an opportunity to buy a similar paper. Any of the academic papers will be written from scratch, according to all customers’ specifications, expectations and highest standards.”