Social Policy and Ethics in Mental Health Nursing - Coursework Example

Social Policy and Ethics in Mental Health Nursing Introduction Mental health: The term mental illness is used to describe a person’s mental state that makes him not to recognize his capability of functioning in a particular sect of his life; this is basically leads to poorer physical health making this person to have less contact with the community at large including the legal systems. According to research done in various studies, it is found that this mental illness is prone to young people whose age range between, eighteen to twenty four years, it basically affects the performance of the affected person either at school, work or in social activities. Social Policy Social policy is defined as the means or ways of ensuring and maintaining a safer and better living conditions for various individuals who are affected in a society. We therefore find that this policy affected by a number of factors thus hindering the maintenance of welfare and the needs of the individuals affected by the mental health illnesses. Practically working as a mental health nurse I have actually met with a patient suffering from a Anxiety which is regarded as a psychological disorder that makes a person some times to feel anxious with no noticeable cause I therefore argue that such a mental disorder sometimes is accompanied by uncomfortable feelings of which it is difficult to stop such feelings once it occurs. (Gupta, 2000) An individual with anxiety disorder may suffer from irregular bouts that are reported to be severe and in many occasions results to frightening and immobilizing the individual diagnosed with it. Anxiety disorder is the most common disorder associated with human beings and usually it is associated with psychological health disorders (Alcock, 2003) Social stigma has also contributed to those affected to be unable to get proper treatment in that those affected may fear to go to medical doctors or counsellors for help and thus they end up suffering for a long time. Sometimes the reason for lack of proper treatment may be that of those attacked particularly those diagnosed with major depression may not have the opportunity to see medical doctors since they may be severely affected that they cannot do anything. The other reason of lack of proper treatment is that of many indications of depression disorders being misdiagnosed as physical tribulations that can be solved easily which may not be true. Also lack of containing depression disorders may have been aggravated by curing the person’s indications instead of the fundamental cause of the depression. (Alcock, 2003) Psychotherapy as a Social Policy in Mental Health Nursing From this experience I therefore find out that anxiety disorder can be treated in different ways but it has been recommended that the best way is utilization of a method that integrates both cognitive and behavioural involvements and commonly preferred method depends heavily on the harshness of the disorder. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) Psychotherapy involves psychological management of individuals attacked by depression in deferent ways. The first step in this depression treatment is supportive counselling which is aimed at reducing the pain associated with depression thus in the process dealing with the feelings of despairs that go along with depression. Cognitive way of therapy can also be used whereby it gives the affected person an opportunity to be optimistic and create reality in his/her prospects and thus reduction of depression. Cognitive therapy aid the dejected individual to be acquainted with life tribulations which are decisive and those that are of no importance which help him/her to come up with positive life objectives. Also problem solving therapy technique can be applied whereby the cause of depression is identified then it is solved to avoid further damage to the individual affected. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) The other treatment method is that of self help method which implies individuals and organizations living with the affected persons trying to assist them and they should first lean to tolerate and accept the behavior of those patients. Such self help method is that of mindfulness which emphasizes on containing stress and a condition known as Yoga. Implications of the psychotherapy on the patient suffering from Anxiety Through my handling of the patient with the anxiety illness through the application of psychotherapy as a social policy I find recommend that Counselling is regarded as an essential factor in dealing with people who have been affected by these psychological disorders. This practice is usually used in helping this people to handle issues which are found to be causing factors of the psychological disorders. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) Occasionally, this practice requires skilled professionals who can deal with issues ranging from education, marriage, individuals and families. To do this the practitioner are therefore required to have the following in their practices in order to understand the person’s problems. The counsellor should have good listening skills, empathy, and be genuine which will require the practitioner to tell the truth even if the subject matter is not that good to the patient. Therefore one is required to bring out the truth in a way that the patient will be able to handle and understand his situation; the counsellor should give unconditional positive regard and also should have concreteness in providing any information about the psychological disorder. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) In this case of mental disorders, we find that many counsellors indulge in a number of activities that usually assist the sick person to come back to the normal status. The following are the methods that are used by counsellors in order to resolve such issues; Therapeutic relationship; under this we find that a better relationship between the client and the counsellor is established. (Moynihan, 2003) The client is therefore required to build trust and safety on the counsellor although sometimes it is argued that the patients finds it hard to build trust on the counsellor thus they end up not giving full information about the causative factor of the illness. (Gupta, 2000)According to the counselling practices safety is considered as a leading factor to a safety therapeutic trauma work. In this case the patient may be found to be having a number of characteristics that may hinder him from building trust and safety on the counsellor. These factors may include personality temperament. We may also find that when the patient is found to have undergone a number of traumas, the chances of him or her building his trust on the counsellor are always high. (Moynihan, 2003) The other method that I used in counselling is the Dialectical Behavior Therapy which has an objective of dealing with individuals who are known to be suffering from the personality disorders. This therapy indicates that individuals are always found to be responding to the emotional stimulation not normally; this may come up as a result of biological factors and also the way the individual was brought up. This therapy is usually carried out in two forms; that is the weekly psychotherapist that involves the addressing issues that are said to have affected the individual during the week and also coming up with the best resolutions for such factors leading to psychological disorders. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) The second form is the group therapy which is directed towards the handling of the interpersonal skills, the regulation of emotions and also enabling the individual to accept and also tolerate the disorder. The importance of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy is that it helps the individuals found to be suffering from the personality disorders to response to such conditions positively and also bringing up a number of characteristics including that of self-esteem, having and looking for more goals in life and also learning of new methods of behaving. (Alliger, 2002) Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing; this method is usually offered by counselling in ensuring that the traumatic and psychological experiences are remembered by the patient. In this case we find that the counsellor does this by asking the patient to follow the therapist’s finger in the left right eye movements that is usually done in a rhythmic manner, and by doing this the individual suffering from the psychological disorder is therefore asked to be thinking of the traumatic experience undertaken in the process of being attacked by the disorder. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) This therapy is believed to be leading to reduced cases of the appearance of the traumatizing images to the patient. Many argue that this therapy method provides no control, pre and post treatment assessments Family therapy is regarded as the best method used of helping people who suffer from psychological traumas. This is because many dysfunctions such as traumas resulting form drug abuse, child abuse and other family matters are easily handled by using the patients’ family members who produce a number of information such as personal characteristics that may help the counsellor in handling the person affected by the disorders. This is a treatment that may be used by many counsellors and that they are advised to pertake this therapy with regards to carrying a number of methods used in counselling. (Alliger, 2002) One of them is the supportive method of counselling which is applied in the counselling with an objective of relieving pain caused by depression on the individual and also by doing this the patient is also allowed to recognize himself as an important member of the society. Most of the disorders make individual face loneliness and discriminated from the rest of the people in the society thus such technique is important. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) The second method that I applied is the cognitive therapy; this is a method used to make the patient recognize himself with the social problems he is facing in the society whereby the counsellors are put in a position of teaching them on how to recognize minor and major problems that may lead to the occurrence of the psychological disorders. (Sampson, 2002)The third method is the behavioural therapy; this is a type of counselling that specializes in the creation of changes in the individuals’ personal life whereby the person is always at a risk of being attacked with psychological disorders. This method is found to be working hand in hand with behavioural therapy which brings an establishment of the skills that may be applied in the solving of such problems. (Sampson, 2002) In many cases we find that the counsellors, prefer this method since it creates a distinction between external problems and internal changes to be made by the person, the internal changes are meant to help in the assessment of the problems the person is facing, this is usually done by self-evaluation, including the evaluation of other people surrounding the sick person and the expectations of the person in his life. External changes are usually used in the handling of the existing problems by the use of various management skills including, communication, life management and those required to develop a better relationship with those who are not affected by the disorders. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) Exposure in counselling plays a major role in helping the people with such disorders; it is usually identified in two forms, one being exposure to the feared solutions which is a method that involves tackling repeatedly a situation that is said to be causing a particular disorder every time it indicates its reappearing. This is found to be making the person suffering to get used to such a problem until it doesn’t cause more traumas. (Alliger, 2002) The second form is the exposure role plays which is said to be a bit similar to that of the exposure to feared situations. The only difference is that this practice is done on a simulative basis; that is one can repeatedly do the activity which is similar to what is causing the disorder. A good example of this is that when an individual suffering from anxiety always finds it difficult to communicate with his employer, he can therefore try to avoid this problem by trying to talk to someone who is senior to him in the working place and after sometime we find that he will be able to overcome this fear of facing his employer. (Sampson, 2002) This social policy is actually found in many health organizations is found to be affected by many factors which include the following. ETHICS Ethics is defined as the norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about the conduct of the personnel in any organization and in this case the conduct of the doctors in relation with their patients. The goal of medical ethics in the mental health nursing is to ensure the safety of the patients with mental illnesses whereby it is guaranteed to avoid suffering the consequences from the unscrupulous medical practices. (Black, 2005) In this case we find that health disparities are well acknowledged in Medical ethics deals with study of judgments and moral values as they are related to the medical field. In medical ethics, there are various expectations on medical practitioners, that is, nurses, executives doctors among other people. (Warren, 2005) This can be traced back to the various guidelines on the mental health nursing whereby the following are some of the important values in relation to medical ethics. (Black, 2005) Dignity- every patient and the doctor has a right to dignity Justice- this is in relation to the distribution of health resources that are scarce and in relation to who is gets a specific treatment. Non-maleficence-involves doing no harm Autonomy- the right of the patient choosing or refusing a form of treatment Beneficence- Involves action of a medical practitioner done to the patient’s best interest Honesty and truthfulness- this is whereby a person has an informed consent All these are important aspects in the healthcare industry and they actually provide a framework that is useful in understanding the various conflicts in this industry. Looking at the healthcare industry in America, there are various unethical practices in line with the values indicated above. (Warren, 2005) Confidentiality Having worked as a mental health nurse I find that one of the areas as to where there has been unethical practice among the doctors in many organizations is that which is in line with confidentiality. Many doctors lack the value of confidentiality any more. Research carried out shows that patients claim that this value has greatly declined among medical practitioners. It is obvious that when patients are examined by doctors they give very confidential information concerning their health. (Black, 2005) It has been noted that nurses no longer keep the patient’s information confidential. Doctors are sharing such information with family members and also colleagues at work. It has been noted that such confidential information is shared with the patient’s relatives in case doctors know them. This has caused problems for the patients in relation to how they are viewed in the society. This principle of confidentiality has greatly declined amongst health organizations. (Sampson, 2002) Studies reveal that doctors are simply after money, especially the private doctors dealing with mental health problems. For instance research carried out among many private doctors in United States shows that when patients with mental illnesses go for clinics, doctors actually feign that the patients have complications and so they cannot have normal treatments as compared to other patients. These doctors go ahead to refer patients to attend their mental health hospitals because they claim that they have the patient’s medical history and therefore are in a position to handle the medical cases better. (Warren, 2005) Just because the patient’s families are ignorant they follow the doctor’s instructions to the later. This is just to ensure that they get more money from patients at the expense of the patient’s health. In this case the concern is not on good care and health of patients but it is about getting more money. This is quite unethical especially in the medical field. (Strunk, and Gabel, 2002) Drug prescriptions This is one of the areas where there is unethical practice in the mental healthcare sector in many nations whereby we find that the medical practitioners are prone to prescribing expensive drugs for the patients when they know very well that the health problem can be cured using lesser expensive drugs. (Warren, 2005) These drugs are stocked in their hospitals and are sold quite expensively. Some of the expensive drugs end up destroying the patient’s immunity. This is not the concern of doctors and nurses but it is all about getting money from patients. Over-medication results from patients using more drugs than those required to heal there particular diseases. According to research conducted by IMS Health in the year 2006 worldwide spending was estimated to be over six hundred billion dollars although there were reports suggesting that there was slow expansion in some parts of Europe and also North America. (Moynihan, 2003) Investigation shows that patient sensitivity of over-prescription may be significant in several approaches. For example, patients might be accurate on the suppositions that they make. (Black, 2005) Also patients using a lot of prescriptions might be less advocators of their remedial course of therapy. Also patient’s feelings regarding the quantity of their prescription may echo the existence of unfavourable medical drug effects, comprising indications not acknowledged as connected to prescription by both the medical doctor and patient. It is also worth noting that it may be probable that patient sensitivity of over-prescription can be a demonstration of a condition known as psychoneurosis thus resulting to numerous health complications of patients. (Moynihan, 2003) Check ups It is very unethical for doctors and medical executives to keep on referring patients to have check ups even when they know that it is unnecessary. This is what is happening in many health organizations. It is done not that medical practitioners are really interested in the health of the patients, but it is carried out so that there is continual flow of income. In fact 93.1% of medical practitioners are found to be just opportunists. They ensure that they recommend patients to have check ups even when it is not necessary. Because patients are ignorant of this scheme they attend the check ups religiously not knowing that its all about their money and not their health as posed. That is why healthcare industry is referred to as a sick industry. (Black, 2005) Patient’s well being This should be the primary concern in the healthcare system where the well being of the patient and not the expenses that are involved. Shareholders in healthcare business need to understand that this is not a business like any other. (Dorschner, 2003) That is they need not to focus on how much is generated but rather on how well the services are provided. This issue can be better balanced among shareholders by educating them on the imperative issues in healthcare industry which is seeing patients get better and not the amount of profits gained from therein. (Gupta, 2000) Before the price of services is decided in healthcare there needs to be consultation among shareholders so that there is approval of policies. The policies enacted have to be sensitive to the patients’ pockets. When policies are well placed it will help hinder exploitation of patients in relation to the amount that they pay. (Dorschner, 2003) Law and Regulations Regulations in healthcare are essential as they will help to protect the public against unethical practices from medical practitioners. The following regulations need to be put in place; the procedures for ensuring that the health professionals’ conduct doesn’t pose a threat to patients have to be strengthened. (Lewis and Clarke 2000) They have to focus more on creation of effective operation procedures among medical professionals. There also needs to be ensuring the standards that are required for a beginner in the healthcare industry have to be common all over the health organizations. (Lewis and Clarke 2000) There has to be common legal requirements for individuals getting registration to become medical practitioners in any nation. When the regulations are put in place, revalidation of all the professionals is important. (Gupta, 2000)The regulatory body has to be in charge of standard setting so that individuals have to maintain these standards in order to remain on the register. Data has to be carried out often on how medical professionals are carrying out their work. That is in relation to the treatments given to patients and the amount of money that they are charging them. (Lewis and Clarke 2000) Doctors need to know that patient privacy is supreme and there should be no medical data or recognizing information is conveyed to a third person with no articulate authorization of the patient. (Black, 2005) In order to guarantee that information is amassed and conveyed safely and carefully, certain hardware and scientific explanations that congregate worldwide principles have been put into practice. Such proceedings or reports are kept and interpret from innermost computer networks gifted with the utmost principles and values of physical and computerized information safekeeping. (Black, 2005) Medical data of patients should not be delivered by electronic mail or kept on secondary computers that can be accessed by anyone. The patient has power to right of entry to data to view this medical documentation. Medical doctors should therefore comply with the requirements of other appropriate global privacy regulations. (Gupta, 2000) The huge majority of our moral preferences should be presenting in a simpler manner by adhering to the regulation presented by universal moral principles e.g. individual and proficient standards, guidelines, or set of laws. Always with such alternatives the patients will have little worries and slight perplexity. (Warren, 2005) However, it is also important to note that some options may be cumbersome to implement whereby such options may leave the patient to think if the doctors have been doing what they are supposed to do so. (Strunk, and Gabel, 2002) Doctors therefore ought to learn and be familiar with morally complicated alternatives in order to carry out their duties effectively. There exist many morally complicated options that arise frequently and doctors should be aware on how to deal with such options. (Strunk, and Gabel, 2002) Conclusion Psychological disorders in some other instances can be very severe and during such chronic stages it is usually debilitating which results to inability of an individual affected to perform the usual routine practices for example household matters effectively and efficiently. There are also specific signs of these disorders and include extreme anxiety and being anxious that occurs to an individual for a period up to around twenty four weeks. The key symptoms of anxiety and worry which are the main cause of psychological disorders may comprise getting easy exhaustion, restlessness, poor concentration, being temperamental and sleep disorders. Such worries and anxiety causes major stress and may cause bad image in the societal aspect as well as in the work-related environment contexts and other significant parts of operation in an individual’s daily life. We can also deduce that such turbulences caused by psychological disorders are not related however to other psychological causes such as drug abuse or medical conditions that might be related to this kind of anxiety. Counselling plays a key role in treatment of psychological disorders and patients with such disorders should be subjected to such programs in order to aid them to recover slowly from such attacks which may affect their lives. Counselling programs designed should be well formulated to address all the problems that the patients with such disorders are facing in the society in order to avoid the repeat of the attacks. These counselling services should be made easier in terms of getting access to it for example building counselling centers in all parts of the county. The relevant authorities should also chip in and offer the counselling services for free or at affordable rates to the members of the society. Through my application of all the social policy that is always recommended to be used in nursing a mentally ill individual I therefore find that it has provided me with excellent skills and also it has made me be recognised as the best medical practitioner in the implementation of the above mentioned social policy in the health organisation in my society. (Gupta, 2000) Read More

The other reason of lack of proper treatment is that of many indications of depression disorders being misdiagnosed as physical tribulations that can be solved easily which may not be true. Also lack of containing depression disorders may have been aggravated by curing the person’s indications instead of the fundamental cause of the depression. (Alcock, 2003) Psychotherapy as a Social Policy in Mental Health Nursing From this experience I therefore find out that anxiety disorder can be treated in different ways but it has been recommended that the best way is utilization of a method that integrates both cognitive and behavioural involvements and commonly preferred method depends heavily on the harshness of the disorder.

(Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) Psychotherapy involves psychological management of individuals attacked by depression in deferent ways. The first step in this depression treatment is supportive counselling which is aimed at reducing the pain associated with depression thus in the process dealing with the feelings of despairs that go along with depression. Cognitive way of therapy can also be used whereby it gives the affected person an opportunity to be optimistic and create reality in his/her prospects and thus reduction of depression.

Cognitive therapy aid the dejected individual to be acquainted with life tribulations which are decisive and those that are of no importance which help him/her to come up with positive life objectives. Also problem solving therapy technique can be applied whereby the cause of depression is identified then it is solved to avoid further damage to the individual affected. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) The other treatment method is that of self help method which implies individuals and organizations living with the affected persons trying to assist them and they should first lean to tolerate and accept the behavior of those patients.

Such self help method is that of mindfulness which emphasizes on containing stress and a condition known as Yoga. Implications of the psychotherapy on the patient suffering from Anxiety Through my handling of the patient with the anxiety illness through the application of psychotherapy as a social policy I find recommend that Counselling is regarded as an essential factor in dealing with people who have been affected by these psychological disorders. This practice is usually used in helping this people to handle issues which are found to be causing factors of the psychological disorders.

(Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) Occasionally, this practice requires skilled professionals who can deal with issues ranging from education, marriage, individuals and families. To do this the practitioner are therefore required to have the following in their practices in order to understand the person’s problems. The counsellor should have good listening skills, empathy, and be genuine which will require the practitioner to tell the truth even if the subject matter is not that good to the patient.

Therefore one is required to bring out the truth in a way that the patient will be able to handle and understand his situation; the counsellor should give unconditional positive regard and also should have concreteness in providing any information about the psychological disorder. (Pilgrim and Rogers 2005) In this case of mental disorders, we find that many counsellors indulge in a number of activities that usually assist the sick person to come back to the normal status. The following are the methods that are used by counsellors in order to resolve such issues; Therapeutic relationship; under this we find that a better relationship between the client and the counsellor is established.

(Moynihan, 2003) The client is therefore required to build trust and safety on the counsellor although sometimes it is argued that the patients finds it hard to build trust on the counsellor thus they end up not giving full information about the causative factor of the illness. (Gupta, 2000)According to the counselling practices safety is considered as a leading factor to a safety therapeutic trauma work.

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