Social and Behavioural Sciences for Nursing - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Various appropriate secondary sources will be used to interpret these experiences from social and behavioural science point of view. At age 18, John had been admitted into a psychiatric hospital thrice. Initially, he experienced lack of sleep and was confused holding paranoid beliefs and some grandiose. He saw familiar faces in the faces of strangers causing espionage traits. This made John believe that he was in danger of losing his free and spontaneous thinking ability. According to the mother, John exhibited poor concentration but was high in tension, fear and vigilance which Mueser and Jeste (2008), just as his psychiatrist, attribute to psychosomatic chest pains. Because of the history of psychosis in the family, the psychiatrist easily diagnosed schizophrenia in John. John’s mother recalled how the news was broken to them with the indication that their son would be under medication for the rest of his life traumatising them. These were John’s unique symptoms of a psychological disorder as each patient experiences unique symptoms and as such have unique ways of coping with the same (ed. Steel 2013). In the UK, Weinberger and Harrison (eds. 2011) document between 0.2% and 1% of people experiencing similar problems associated with schizophrenia at any particular time. These people occupy 8% of the hospital beds in Canada. The US has an even higher prevalence of the disorder standing at 1.2% of the total population, with the global data being even higher. Interestingly, one out of a hundred persons would be diagnosed with schizophrenia in their lifetime with diagnosis common in early adulthood at ages 18 to 25 for males and 25 to 30 and again at about 40 for females. The significance of prevalence of this disorder points out at the importance of understanding the perspective of the patient so as to be able to give a more client focussed approach in delivering health care to the community. In this case, John’s life journey informs an appropriate narrative to understand his illness from psychological, sociological and cultural perspectives. Social Perspective John was born into a poor family living in the inner city with the mother having four children each with different unknown fathers. This economic consideration provides a relationship between poverty and schizophrenia because ideally, schizophrenia, just as many other mental illnesses, affects people from poor backgrounds more than those from the more affluent areas. Clinard and Meier (2008) use the isolation theory to explain this phenomenon noting that poverty combined with social isolation would likely trigger psychosis among vulnerable individuals. Supporting this theory is Aneshensel and Phelan (eds. 2006) who postulate that social processes and arrangements form the basis of understanding the causes and consequences of mental illness. In fact, the tag of being mentally ill qualifies as a social transformation in itself. John being a child from a poor family thus explains his condition; an economic condition which was worsened by the expenses that arose from the care that John needed. After spending considerable time in the psychiatric hospital, John was integrated back to the society so as to assist him lead a normal life. This community care policy has benefitted John a great deal as it helped him appreciate himself as any other human. Even so, the community could not really embrace John back normally. Their perspective of the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More