Assessment and Recovery from Mental Distress - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The common causes of mental illness and distress are chemical imbalances in the brain, stress and everyday problems, and exposure to severely distressing experiences such as loss of a relationship, job, death of a family member, sexual assault, killings, and violence, among others. However, some mental health experts claim that mental illness can also be inherited. There are different types of mental distress: anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, manic depressive distress, borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, and many more depending on gravity and description. People who suffered from these distresses were seen with various symptoms. The person could experience upset, feeling restless, sleeplessness, tremors, nightmares, extreme sadness or despair, loss of interest in doing anything, loss of appetite, irritability, impulsiveness, depression, inability to perform daily tasks, hopelessness, sense of guilt, extreme mood swings, feeling worthless, sense of guilt, extreme mood swings, violence, and suicidal tendencies (Borg and Kristianssen, 2004). Being mentally distressed is difficult. Some even deny they have such illness because of the prejudice and discrimination of people around them. But, having the illness is not anybody else’s fault or a sign of weakness and not something to be ashamed of (Mental Health Commission, 2007). It has been suggested that the treatment must not be delayed in order to prevent it into more severe stage. However, it has been found that conventional or traditional treatments had not been successful for many patients. If a person is seen with early stage symptoms of mental distress, it is not only a prompt treatment that must be provided to be able to recover the patient more quickly but the proper one and, there could be similar or different methods for every patient’s case. It should be noted, however, that early detection and treatment helps the patient to restore his/her respect, dignity, and confidence, and live a full, quality life (Borg and Kristianssen, 2004). Those mentally distressed can recover, provided they seek and provided the appropriate treatment and support. The treatment can be medication, therapy, support and counseling, lifestyle adjustment, support group meetings, and, provision of an inner strength that “…can come from any number of places, these former patients say: love, forgiveness, faith in God, a lifelong friendship,” (Carey, 2011, P 8). Discussion A. Mental Health Nursing Mental health nursing was described as “an ‘artistic’ interpersonal-relations tradition which emphasizes the centrality of nurses’ therapeutic relationships with ‘people’ ‘in distress’ and a ‘scientific’ tradition concerned with delivery of evidence-based interventions that can be applied to good effect by nurses to ‘patients’ suffering from ‘mental illness’,” (Norman and Ryrie, 2009, 1537). The task employs two different methods that are either integrated or complementary in order to deliver quality care to patients. It should be noted that one method is free and independent of any outlined procedure while the other is systematic and depends on evidence for its implementation. It should be also highlighted that a third factor is the “interpersonal relations” ...Download file to see next pagesRead More