Management of Depression: - Case Study Example

INTRODUCTION User perspective module assessment is an appraisal of the problem under discussion i.e. management of depression for 'David' so as to come up with opinions, suggestions and conclusions that will provide remedial measures to the problems encountered by David. The main intention for this assessment module is to stabilize the psychological state of David and help him cope with depression as he tries to get rid of it. This will greatly facilitate his recuperation initiatives and at the same time it will also help him to understand the challenges of parenting alone, educate him on the importance of flexibility of a parent when taking the necessary tasks of parenting in the absence of the former parent, the well-being of the children in relation to perceived irresponsibility by the other parent and how children are handled during contact visits. Further it will help him undertake measures to help in rehabilitating his father who is an alcoholic so that he can reform and shun his drinking habits. (Veronica, 2001) The purpose of the appraisal is to help David understand that his predicament can be over and he can be able to get through the tough times he is undergoing. It will also assist David in appreciating himself, accepting his current situations hence taking appropriate measurer to help solve them, assist him in understanding that sharing his problems with others is a healthy more which he should adopt by sharing his worries with some one he can trust, balance work and recreation, avoid reliance on things such as drugs and alcohol, accept his duties of care giving and parenting alone and help him manage his time effectively. ENQUIRY BASED LEARNING (EBL) PROCESS Gough, N. (1992) Defines Enquiry based learning as a learner-centered approach that puts more emphasizes on higher order thinking skills. This occurs in several ways which assist the students to gain academic independence when it comes to self study. Some of them are problem solving, discovery methods, critical and creative activities e.t.c. all these takes place in the entire community including the classroom level. The learners are expected to arrive at solid conclusions regarding the self processed data on the question under discussion since the study is entirely self-centered. This is usually done in groups. For example, a group of fifteen students can gang up to discuss very practical oriented scenarios for instance they can discuss ways to help intellectually challenged students who are there in the society, they can also take a case of wife beating research on it and arrive at possible solution to the said vice, they can also take an individual in their midst research on drug abuse and arrive at comprehensive findings e.t.c. In our case we shall organize the fifteen of us(students) hold a small meeting whereby we will table the whole scenario of David so that it can be discussed amongst ourselves through personal research and own contributions. This will be a full research incorporating the collection of all the best research materials interpreting them and finally coming up with quality researched work. Our learning issues will basically dwell on the issues affecting the troubled David as to our scenario. Every member of our group is supposed to investigate matters in the scenario by fully researching on it after which we shall hold another discussion session and compare our researched work and later combine it for reliable results. To get the required resources Students will visit well stocked libraries which offer all sorts of learning books, journals, magazines, internet facilities among others. Enquiry based learning process is used to help the learners in developing relevant skills on how to successfully handle issues in their future, it helps them assess various scenarios, research on them thereby by acquiring vast knowledge to tackle such matters which counts greatly in their overall cognitive development. In the above case the process will help us to go through the clinical and theoretical measures on how to eradicate David's predicaments. MANAGEMENT OF DEPRESSION FOR DAVID ROBINSON Clinical depression is an emotional physical and cognitive state that is intense and long lasting with more negative effects on an individual's day-to-day life (Steve, 1999). Unlike grief whose emotions are healthy and functional depressions, depressive feelings are not healthy and functional. Instead of providing people with new avenues for growth and development, it makes us lack the meaning of life thereby inhibiting our personals growth a thing witnessed in those people suffering depression, they never make a step forward and are always being agitated, upset and irritated with those people around them. (Steve, 1999) To help manage David's depression the first step will be making him understand what depression is and urge him never to feel ashamed or guilty about it because it is not permanent and there are quite a number of psychological and pharmacological treatments, which are generally affordable. To help David manage depression we have organised ourselves in a group of fifteen students, conducted an intensive and thorough research pertaining to depression management and here were the findings; Through our research work we have established David's depression is caused by many factors among them being divorce from wife, his ailing son, the fact that he is living in his parents home, his alcoholic father, Sarah living with Emily in the marital home with Sarah having anew partner and the fact that James is admitted to the accident and emergency department of the local hospital. All these bombard the mind of David with thoughts that one endless culminating into depression. (Steve, 1999) Information gathered reveals that depressed people are often unable to complete their tasks and never enjoys activities they previously enjoyed. There is evidence to show that increasing activity levels and actively participating in pleasurable experience like joining the social groups can help reduce depressive symptoms. With this David should join the community around him and participate in communal activities. He should focus on the positive things remembering that as he recovers he will experience increased enjoyment. He should make sure that he gets enough sleep and at the same time avoid sleeping during the day or taking naps in the early morning. David should allow other peoples behaviour to affect his ability to maintain a relatively stable emotional and physical condition. (Steve, 1999) On the other side of divorce we will help him deconstruct negative images of the wife replacing them with positive images as this will free the son to construct and hold to his own relationship with the other parent after divorce. Again he should not rush in marrying another wife until his psychological state stabilizes; this is because trying to engage with another woman to be his wife will greatly disrupt his state of mind and although the move might give him some comfort it may eventually work against his recuperation state. Since changing thinking patterns and reducing worry is not as easy as it may seem, David may often require the assistance of a mental health professional who will guide him with helpful suggestions on how to reduce negative thinking and control worry. This he can do by visiting the many mental health professionals around him and disclose his progress to them so as to be adequately assisted. Studies conducted in United States and Australia have shown that in the short term children from divorcing families experience more difficulties at school, have increased health problems including a range of psychosomatic problems, negative self image and how self esteem. To counter this David will understand the well-being of his children in relation to perceived irresponsibility by the other parent and how children are handled during contact visits making sure that his behaviour is not intertwined with coupledom. Along this, he will be able to reduce depression. The assessment will help him avoid excessively discussing negative thoughts and feelings with friends, colleagues and family members since discussing the negative thoughts will impact negatively on his recuperation. (Veronica, 2001) It will assist him in making a point of educating and updating those people that we trust about the progress and what he is going through, this includes helping them understand that whenever he appears agitated it is not that he is unhappy with them but it is simply a normal part of depression which shows some form of recovery. He should keep appreciating their support and providing them with a feedback on how they can best serve him. (Fisch, 2004) He should try to come up with activities that will fill up his free time in a day these may include regular exercises, games, social meetings/ discussions, attending religions events etc. These activities will occupy his mind such that he won't be tempted to engage in thoughts that might worsen his conditions since there is known evidence that increasing activity levels and participating in pleasurable experiences can help reduce depressive symptoms. To increase theses pleasurable activities and also the sense of accomplishing his experience David can start by making a list of activities that he may need to complete as well as some that he may find enjoyable. He should plan activity schedules each and every day so as to gain a sense of achievement after completing these activities. David can as well try the psychological and pharmacological treatments, which are generally available and affordable .we have two forms of treatment i.e. psychological and antidepressant treatments, the two treatments can be combined in order to get better and quicker results. Psychological treatment is deeply discussed above and seeks to provide a very supportive and encouraging environment that will assist David in going through his difficulties. Psychologists will always provide the depressed persons with skills and strategies that will assist them in changing their thinking patterns and behaviours which may contribute to depression. It provides the patient with well structured and specialized therapies which have been found to be much more effective that the general counselling. On the other hand, antidepressant medications are the drugs that help maintain the brain's chemical balance thus keeping depression at bay. References Booth, A. (2000): Exceeding expectations, Christchurch, New Zealand Booth, A. (2006): Persuasive Evidence. Evidence Based Library and Information practice Eldredge, J.D. (2000) Evidence-based librarianship, Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. Fisch, M. (2004): Treatment of depression in cancer, Palgrave, New York Gough, N. (1992) Blueprints for Greening Schools, Gould League, Melbourne. Jennie, L. (2000): Mastering counselling skills, Houndmills, London Malcolm, P. (1997): Modern social work theory, Palgrave, New York Steve, M. (1996): Helping relationships in mental health, Norwich, U.S.A Steve, S. (1999): Counselling older people, Arnold, London. Veronica, C. (2001) Management in social work, Palgrave, New York Whooley, M. (2006): Depression and cardiovascular diseases, Palgrave, New York Read More