Medicalizing Versus Psychologizing Illness †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Medicalizing Versus Psychologizing Illness. Answer: Introduction: Mental health can be defined as the state of well being where the individual has the capability to realize his or her own abilities. He or she should be capable to cope with the normal stresses of life and can work productively which would help him to contribute to his or her own community. Any kind of mental illness can be recognized as the condition here an affected individual will have impairment in his cognitive as well as relational abilities (Angerman Matschinger, 2003). The disorders may result from developmental, biological and also psychosocial factors which can be managed with the help of different evidence based approaches which are comparable to any kind of physical diseases (Evans, Nizette OBrien, 2017). The following essay will mainly portray the knowledge that I have gathered the experiences I have gone through and the different skills I have gathered in my profession. Values, attitudes and beliefs about mental health and mental illness and roles of nurses: The main values that I possess as a a mental care nurse are the feeling of empathy and compassion towards the patient. I should follow the principle of autonomy and dignity where the wishes of the patients should be given prior importance than anything else (Cox, 2013). Moreover I should also follow the principle of justice, beneficence and non maleficence to stay away from legal obligations. I have always tried to develop therapeutic relationship with my patient so that I can provide a person centered care to this as evidences suggest that this strategy have more fruitful effect in patients recovery than traditional application of interventions. Mental ill patients often require more time and dedication of the nurses as the therapy provided to them requires much more time than any interventions given to patients suffering from physical disorders (National survey of mental health and wellbeing, 2007). Hence I need patience and provide my best skills and knowledge to cure them mentall y by proper medication and also counseling techniques. I have always been very particular about my patients health and under no condition neglected any symptoms shown by them or had taken them for granted. I believe mental health nursing requires more determination, strength to critically analyses situation and establish a proper treatment plan and be compassionate towards them so that they can feel the sense of being loved, cared for, and understood. Concept of personal recovery and clinical recovery: As a mental health nurse, I have learnt that it is more important for the patient to develop internally and personally than clinically. By this statement, it means that I should pay more importance in keeping the person happy and help him to feel contempt with life. Only looking after clinical symptoms are not enough. If I get a dementia patient who have several symptoms like memory loss, improper speech, aggression, suffer development of low feelings and many others I would try to cure all her symptoms but first I will try to strike a good conversation and a proper therapeutic relationship with him so that he can rely on me and make me his friend. This will make my treatment easy and this will help him in recovering personally as well as clinically. One of the most important factors that often remain associated with mental illness is stigma. I have noticed that two type of stigma affect health of individuals. One is the social stigmas which are exhibited by people of the society comprising of prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behaviors towards the patient (Pattyn et al., 2013). Another is the self stigma that patients experience due to the perceptions of discrimination and their feeling of shame leading to poorer treatment outcomes. Often these feelings make the people withdraw himself from the society and thus he loses social connectedness affecting his quality of life (Happell and Gaskell, 2013). These have serious effect on the treatment plan making the recovery period longer and large number of patient stays. Culturaly safe mental health nursing services: I have also learnt through evidence based studies that nurses who portray culturally safe treatment interventions are more successful than nurses who are not culturally competent. Providing intervention in a culturally competent manner with showing respect to patients cultural preferences make them feel accepted in the healthcare systems which have positive effects on their mind (Laschinger et al., 2013). As a result it becomes easier for them to develop their trust in us and work accordingly to our advices. One good example was the example provided by our mentor on aboriginal patient who visited a centre with symptoms of mood disorders. As their cultural norms do not allow direct looking in their eyes, the nurse should work accordingly which would satisfy him. This skill must be developed by me to become successful in my profession. It is very important for the nurse to know that the patient thinks of himself or herself before planning out any treatment intervention. I try to critically analyze the patients different activities so that I can develop an idea about what the patient thinks about himself, his condition, the reason he feels himself to be in that situation and others. All these help the nurse to understand the correct strategies which will help him to overcome his presence feelings, in his way, knowing about the patients history and his present condition will help me to reach a conclusion and develop treatment plan which will bring best benefits (Stuart, 2014). In doing so, I also need to reflect on myself and my personal traits which create barriers in dedicating my best forms to the patients. I should try to develop those traits towards betterments so that I can also develop the best therapeutic relationship. In long rum, I have worked over my communication skills which had helped me to in my profes sion. Importance of a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment and use of assessment tools: Another important thing that I have identified to be important in treatment of mentally ill patients is developing a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment. Previously, the old traditional biomedical model of treatment has been criticized by researchers (Townsend, 2014). I have noticed that also developing interventions after assessing not only their physical condition but also their social and psychological backgrounds help me in understanding the main cause of their ailments. Hence, there is less chance of reoccurring of the symptoms as we provide interventions in the three genres equally proving an overall treatment. Some of the assessment procedures like Mental State Examination (MSE), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Maslows Hierarchy of Needs are found to be helpful tools in assessing the cognitive power of the patients. With help of the results obtained from such assessment procedures and with the help of the skills and knowledge I have gathered over the years along with my mindfulness and self awareness, I have successfully delivered care to all my patients. Conclusion: The profession of mental health nurse is rewarding, as one provides care that helps people to come back in their normal regular lives. However the pathway of treatment is not always easy as it has many challenges. Nurses need to critically analyze the patients; symptoms and undergo a biopsychosocial assessment with the help of important tools to develop an idea of the condition. Striking a proper relationship and gradually helping the patient to recover from his symptoms with evidence based treatments and empathy and compassion are important. The nurse however should be culturally competent so that he or she can provide the best care. I also follow the principles of justice, autonomy, benefice and non maleficence so that I can give the best care to my patients. References: 100 Ways to Support Recovery. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rethink.org/about-us/commissioning-us/100-ways-to-support-recovery Angermeyer, M. C., Matschinger, H. (2003). The stigma of mental illness: effects of labelling on public attitudes towards people with mental disorder. Acta PsychiatricaScandinavica, 108(4), 304309. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0447.2003.00150.x Cox, L. (2013a). Cultural Safety in Introducing mental health nursing: a service user-oriented approach (2nd edition). Sydney: Allen Unwin. Evans, K., Nizette, D., O'Brien, A. J. (2017). Psychiatric and mental health nursing (4th ed.). Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier Australia. Happell, B. and Gaskin, C.J., 2013. The attitudes of undergraduate nursing students towards mental health nursing: a systematic review.Journal of Clinical Nursing,22(1-2), pp.148-158. Laschinger, H. K., Wong, C., Regan, S., Young-Ritchie, C., Bushell, P. (2013). Workplace incivility and new graduate nurses mental health: The protective role of resiliency.Journal of Nursing Administration,43(7/8), 415-421. National survey of mental health and wellbeing: summary of results, 2007. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/4326.0~2007~Appendix~Comparison+between+1997+and+2007+(Appendix)?OpenDocument Pattyn, E., Verhaeghe, M., Sercu, C., Bracke, P. (2013). Medicalizing versus psychologizing mental illness: what are the implications for help seeking and stigma? A general population study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48(10), 16371645. doi:10.1007/s00127-013-0671-5 Stuart, G. W. (2014).Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. Townsend, M. C. (2014).Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice. FA Davis.