Mental health problems across the life span - Essay Example

Auditory hallucinations had been another symptom. The voices of her classmates and acquaintances at school kept repeatedly coming back to her. She remembered the incident where she indulged in a ‘buying spree’ for clothes which did not suit her, after thumbing through fashion catalogues. The clothes had been a size larger. That incident could have been due to the feeling of inflated self esteem which characterizes the depression in bipolar disorder. Developing therapeutic skills through the tools of psychiatric nursing, which are ‘listening, watching and being present is the essence of nursing care in psychiatry.

(Frisch, 2002). Pamela was observed well. She behaved differently each day. Sometimes she would be looking with-drawn and would appear as if looking through me. My morning greetings would not elicit any response. She needed some coaxing to begin her morning ablutions beginning from brushing her teeth. Fatigue and drowsiness appeared to stop her from even getting up from bed on some days. There was a difficulty to get her to consume her medications too (Mitchell, 2006, p. 567). The reluctance to take them on certain days would be changed to an attitude of compliance depending on whether the care-giver on that day was empathetic or not.

She was gloomy at times and completely preoccupied. It was difficult to understand that a gay and energetic young girl had become a miserable withdrawn personality in the words of her mother. Her friends were calling frequently to find out about her. They would have liked to visit but they may not have seen a friend they knew. The mother thereby discouraged the friends. Rehabilitation therapy had been instituted in the center for all inpatients. Pamela had not consented to the psychotherapy treatment in the institution.

Problems still existed for her. She was extremely distressed the other day when she was asked to have her lunch. Her reason was that her classmates were speaking to her and they had not