Social Work: Working with Mental Health - Essay Example

Social Work: Working with Mental Health This journal reflects my understanding on the attitudes and views of mental illness and how one should cope with the status of critical issues on depression and suicides. I have chosen to write on this topic because I have experienced the pain of losing my dear ones who were unable to deal with certain crises in their lives and chose to the path to death. My husband, a businessman failed to cope up with his business concerns and decided to end his life at the age of 34 by hanging himself. My brother, who was in the middle of his divorce, was also killed in an accident at the age of 40. He was so disturbed with the crisis in his life that he drove his car into a stationary lorry. Both these men left behind their kids. The incident has left a deep scar in me and therefore I have decided to raise this topic in the journal by discussing the facts and figures related to the study of two important mental health conditional issues, viz. suicide and depression. I have chosen to write on the journal article on the aspects of mental health as because it is the reason that contribute to about 12-15% of the world’s total disability. Research and findings reveal that there is no conclusive argument or data that support the hospital-only approach. Nor to research evidences reveal of evidences that community services alone can provide the satisfactory comprehensive care. Though hospitals play a major back - up role, community based mental health services provide common setting for individuals who have deal with such trouble. It is important to coordinate with the various health services offered institutions whether governmental or non-governmental or a private organization to ensure that the flow of services through them function at par. If policy considerations are looked at, priority and goals of particular nations depend largely on the available financial resources (WHO, 2003). Around the world, around one million people in UK commit suicide every year. Going by the estimates the number accounts to 6,000, of which approximately 1,500 are women and 4,500 men (BBC Health, 2012). Although the suicide cases of young men have considerably increased in number over the past couple of years, the estimated results show that female suicide cases show a pattern of decrease. Although the reason is not quite well understood, it may be said that women are better off than men in dealing with their distress. The social, cultural, economic and financial issues are said to be the reasons for such high incidences of suicide cases. People may be more vulnerable to suicide because of a genetic predisposition, personality trait or lack of support. In many cases of suicides there often is a long history of mental health problem associated (like depression, schizophrenia and eating disorders). Relationship problems are sometimes frequent factors expressed by women who have survived suicide or have admitted to considering suicide as the last resort (BBC Health, 2012). Losing someone beloved is always intensely painful, but knowing that the case of death was intentional, is a difficult agony to bear with. There are particularly difficult issues to work through for the loved ones, colleagues, friends and the near and dear ones, once the cause of death is known. The victim leaves behind a great bereavement and grief for others to bear with. The process of grieving is characterized by the agonizing questioning and a discreet search for some explanation. Common feelings for the sadness and loss of bereavement include guilt at not recognizing that there was a problem and timely offering of help, and anger at the person who committed suicide for having left them in this way. The situation is often very critical for the members of the family, to deal with the crisis. There can be some very complex factors that lead someone to take their own life. These factors include physical illness (like acute and chronic), alcohol and drug abuse, social isolation, housing, money and job problems. Even the phases of the moon have been implicated to be having some effect on the mood and act by reflexive impulsive decision. But one in five suicides, especially among the young men, show no previous sign of emotional difficulties - just some sudden upset which they seemed unable to cope with and the end of life. Such incidents of suicide cases have progressively increased in which no prior stress related involvement can be identified by the near ones as well. However, doctors can inform the subjects about vulnerabilities of a crisis that can lead to stressful conditions if consulted (WHO, 2012). “Acute risks are those which occur in the context of crisis and further increase the likelihood of suicidal behavior. Recognizing and reducing the potential risk of self-harm, suicide and self-neglect is the fundamental aim of improving the quality of life and promoting recovery” (McDougall & Armstrong, 2010, p. 129-130). The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) is a non-governmental organization associated officially with The World Health Organization (WHO) with a dedicated team of professionals and volunteers that provides background information about suicide and how it can be prevented. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends approaches to prevent cases of suicide by the effective treatment of individuals with mental disorders, control of availability of toxic substances, detoxification of car emissions and domestic gas and control of gun possession (World Health Organization, 2012). Mental illness can be cited as one of the key contributory factors to suicidal risk. More than two-thirds of the suicide cases that are reported in the developed countries have impacts due to depressive disorder. The UK National Confidential Inquiry (NCI) into the Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness is a unique health database of all suicide cases in contact with mental health service. Going by the estimates, between one-third and one-quarter of individuals who commit suicide have been in contact with mental health services in the UK. Suicide cases vary in demographic (i.e. age, sex) and clinical (i.e. patient group, diagnosis) characteristics. In this context Dougall & Armstrong (2010, p.18) remarks: “Self-harm among young people has been recognized as a very common problem” Despite, the international rates and risk factors, it has been widely reported that health factors like mental illness is highly associated with suicide and self-harm suicidal behavior. However, there is still a major gap in our knowledge, depth and the severity of the involved issues that lead to such actions like self harm and suicidal behavior. Timely reporting of the rates of suicides can improve our understanding of the underlying factors associated (O’Connor & Platt, 2011, pp. 44-49). One of the most common and often researched mental health concerns in college students is depression. Learning from modules requires background ‘contextual’ information of the subject. The assessment for the particular patient may require the use of one or more modules. For instance, a case where a women reports that her husband who is 70 years old is getting confused. Suspicions of dementia refer to administer on the cognitive module. Though his concentration seems poor he does not appear to be suffering of dementia. But with further analysis, it is found that there are traces and evidences of depression. This severe depressive episode comes to view only when mood module is administered on the patient. Thus to obtain a systematic analysis, screening through different modules is necessary. The impact of suicide is immeasurable and affects both society and family. Bender et al, (1999) suggests that young people who have learning disabilities are often more likely to suffer from depression. They also possess low social skills and these factors are often looked upon as factors that contribute to heightened risks of failure leading to suicide. Walsh (2009, p. 126) opines in this respect: “Depression was more common in young people with non-verbal learning disability and those with poor academic ability”. To diagnose and correct the depression in an old age, an appropriate treatment is necessary. Carlson and Margolin highlight the causes and management of depression in older people with neurological disorder. It is important to address their psychological and physical needs. It is highly suggested that clinicians and general practitioners learn about the personal losses or life events that may have affected the individual, while assessing the possible causes of depression. Health professionals should also keep in mind the language and cultural differences when asking questions relating to depressive episode. Often such assessments are overlooked and the individual do not receive the correct form of treatment (Walsh, 2009 p. 97). In The United Kingdom, The Health Foundation is a self-governing body which is working incessantly to recover the quality of healthcare services rendered to the people. This charity aims at establishing healthcare system of the utmost probable quality in the UK, to have an effective, timely, person-centric, safe and equitable system. In order to achieve such a magnificent role of providing mental health services, there is a need to effectively improve the systematic approach and the way work is done. Thus, the aim to approach the task require inspiration to achieve the results by not only supportive collaboration but also working at each of the connecting levels to develop the skills of leadership, capacity, knowledge, and the will to make the change evitable. The essential element for such a change would leave a lasting improvement to the current scenario (The Health Foundation, 2010). In the United Kingdom, the modernization of the healthcare workforce has been extended. The authority not only rests on the nurses but also leaded by allied health care experts (AHS) that includes optometrists, radiographers, physiotherapists and podiatrists or chiropodists. Although there are practices of non-medical prescribing in certain countries like Sweden and USA, there are also countries which anticipate on this practice (as in Netherlands). However in the UK, non-medical prescribers have the most extensive privilege to prescribe. A team of coordinated experts help find a strategic innovative solution in order to address the efficacy, quality and effectiveness if used widely in the pathway of redesign. Therefore, promoting and coordinating non-medical prescribing (NMP) should be considered as the key aspect within the framework of the trust so that it can take the path of the lead role as a work to integrate and expand the programmes into health service planning. Evidences have shown that NMPs improve the quality of service that a patient receives. For example, patients value the inter-personal skills and the longer hours of consultation that the practitioners offer. Increased service efficiency and benefits are attributed to NMP patients. Primarily, leads are involved as a two way process of communication between the trust and the NMPs. Participants in the process describe their role of disseminating information to the NMPs on legislation and policy and thereby ensure a good practice. It also attributed to the fact that they were updated (Courtenay, 2011, pp.1-4). In rendering social service to individuals pertaining to mental health issue, ethics and values hold a key position when dealing with people. Ethics is defined as the moral philosophy in us, which is reflected in our personality and the code of conduct. Ethics is concerned with the doing of the right thing and in being the person in terms of conduct and character. It is closely guided by values. Professional ethics is a core ingredient while considering social work practices in relation to mental health. “Professional ethics” relates to the values that are mandatorily practiced to maintain the standards of a particular profession. Empathy is said to be an important ethical quality to be considered necessarily by professionals so that individual patients feel good about themselves and sensitively respond to the needs and requirements of patients’ who are often at their most vulnerable points of their life. “Professional ethics relates to the values and standards of a particular profession, which are generally made explicit in professional codes of conduct or practice. Professional ethics encompass the way professionals ought to behave and may also refer to desired character traits or virtues” (Grob, et. al, 2012 p. 36). Occupational therapists use psycho educational methods in a psychiatric set up when dealing with mental health patients suffering of depression. This is accomplished by teaching the social skills and enhancing the individual functioning abilities and promoting self esteem in the patient. Social skills training rendered to patients with long term mental illness have helped individuals to develop verbal and non-verbal communication skills and to generalize them. Initially these individuals had difficulties in interpreting the communication. Therefore educational methods were incorporated to establish group learning. The group activities of sending and imparting communication focused on the areas of interpretation and clients were taught to focus on their communicating style, also providing them the coaching for alternate modes of communication. The psycho educational content of the course included anxiety management, relaxation techniques as well as cognitively recognizing the negative thoughts that lead to depressive attitudes (Stein & Cutler, 2002, pp. 372-373). Different people show their eagerness in direct and active involvement, in order to address the community-level problems which often seem to adversely affect their lives. The community residents in the public and private sectors are treated as customers, clients or “objects of concern,” in the domain of problem-solving paradigm. Concerned with the setting of public policy or decisions making approaches, devalue their contributions and such feelings bring about more helplessness and dependency. Community actors often play an important role in helping to achieve better outcomes particularly in the field of psychosocial wellbeing and mental health care. There are a number of terms that are used to reflect the cooperative work by different health professional groups: There is a great variety of terms used in order to reflect the cooperative work of the different health professional groups. Words with a multi prefix several different professional groups working together” (Tzenalis, 2012). The word ‘professional’ in the article by Tzenalis suggests that there is a concern for different professional groups and functional activities which are associated with those groups particularly. Similarly, the word ‘disciplinary’ suggests that there is a need for a concern with skills and knowledge underlying those particular roles. Multi -disciplinary health promotion and multi professional work demonstrate that a wide range of professional health groups, with various qualifications, knowledge and skills are drawn together within a structural group in order to provide efficient health promotion services (Tzenalis, 2012, pp.50-51). The NHS has taken a broad- based approach towards building an evidence-based practice in psychological therapies, to cure depression that often leads to suicidal behavior. By using outcomes that include efficacy and effectiveness in therapies there is an enhancement of the quality of service delivery. However, there are a lot of discrepancies among the researchers that suggest considering different approaches and modes of delivery of the treatment to problem specific patients. For instance a therapy to be practiced for a depressed individual of old age group will not have the similar attributes to an individual belonging to the middle aged group. Specific outcomes in a therapy are less likely to be predicted by modality of the factors involved than by the other contributed factors such as the nature of the therapeutic relationship between the client and the practitioner (Royal College of General Practitioners, College Report C151, 2008 p.13). Our aim to provide social work activities is to empower and enhance the public awareness systems to their competency. This will provide and enable to give a social structure to bring about reforms and relieve human suffering. Social work has gradually emerged as a profession close to the twentieth century and today it is regarded as the profession that is charged with fulfilling the social welfare mandate and thereby promotes to the well-being of the people in general and also contributing to enhance the quality of life. Thus, social work encompasses activities directed at improving human and social conditions and alleviating human distress and social problems (Davie, 2011, p. 58). As professionals of this sector, social workers work with people to enhance their competency and functional activities, in order to access social supports and resources. Often, the social workers describe themselves as professional ‘helpers’ who contribute to help others resolve their life problems and obtain resources, providing support during the period of crises, and thus facilitating them with social responses to needs throughout difficult times. Professionals who work for a social change share similar orientations towards ethics and values. The core values involved in the orientation holds others. In my case it is working to provide mental health services to people. Depressive individuals gain self confidence in the process not only for the support these professionals provide but also for the fact that such symptoms occurring to that particular individual is not only a single case. The dynamism of the social worker lies in the commitment to embrace and uphold the cultural integrity of the profession through actions and appropriate code of conduct. Therefore, acquiring the professional identity of a social worker is a long evolving process which is achieved through personality development, ongoing education, and practical experience (Harrison & Geddes, 2011, pp. 37-40). There is an argument that social work is a professional, value-based activity. In this particular field of social work, ‘values’ usually take the form of general ethical principles in relation to how professionals should treat the people they work with and what sorts of actions are regarded as right or wrong to address the complex reactions without hurting them. There is a lot of debate on whether the core set of values for social work be different for people at different times. It is important that social workers understand their profession and the core ethics as a crucial part of the foundation on which their practice is built and that it is the only way to explore the connections between cultural values. The view help develop a pluralist approach to consider social work (Lovelock & Lyons, 2004, pp. 50-51). Therefore, learning through the modules and considering effective execution of the assessment modules a person suffering from depression can find help. In addition, it may also be said that by raising awareness and subjecting the individual to integrated community based models, there are more chances of recovery. Findings on the cost–effectiveness of the studies on deinstitutionalization and relating to community mental health care teams have proved that quality of care is closely related to expenditure on services. Balanced Community-based mental health models reflect the principles of care, accessibility and accountability. An integrated approach to services is needed, in which specific services are inter-related parts of the whole system (WHO Europe, 2003, p.15). References 1. BBC Health, (2012), Emotional Health, BBC News, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/mental_health/mind_suicide.shtml (accessed on July 5, 2012) 2. Courtenay, M., Carey, N. and K. Stenner, (2011), Non Medical Prescribing Leads Views on their Role and the Implementation on Non-medical prescribing from a multi-organizational perspective, BMC Health Services Research, Vol. 11, No. 142, pp.1-10. 3. College Report CR151, (2008). Psychological therapies in psychiatry and primary care. Royal College of General practitioners, available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/files/pdfversion/CR151.pdf (accessed on July 5, 2012) 4. Davie, A. (2011), A Code of Ethics for Youth Work? Youth Studies Australia, Vol. 30, No.2, pp.57-59. 5. Grob, C. et. al., (2012). Educational Responses to Unethical Healthcare Practice. Art & Science: Nursing Standards, Vol.26, No. 41, pp.35-41. 6. Harrison, P., Geddes, J. and M. Sharpe (2011). Lecture Notes: Psychiatry. UK: Willey Blackwell. 7. Lovelock, R. & Lyons, H. K. (2004), Reflecting on Social Work-Discipline and Profession. Great Britain: Ashgate Publishing Company. 8. McDougall, T., Armstrong, M. (2010).Young People Who Self-Harm: An Introduction to self-harming and suicidal behaviors for health professionals. New York: Routledge. 9. O’Connor, R.C., Platt, S. (2001). International Handbook of Suicide Prevention: Research, Policy and Practice. UK: Willey Blackwell. 10. Stein, F., Cutler, S.K. (2002). Psychosocial Occupational Therapy: A Holistic Approach. Delmar, Thomson Learning, Inc. 11. Ting, L. (2011). Depressive Symptoms in a Sample of Social Work Students and Reasons Preventing Students from using Mental Health Services: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Social Work Education, Vol. 47, No.2, pp.253-268. 12. Tzenalis, A., Sotiriadou, C. (2010). Health promotion as multi-professional and multi-disciplinary work. International Journal of Caring Sciences Vol. 3, No.2, pp.49-55. 13. Walsh, L. (2009). Depression Care Across the Lifespan. UK: John Willey and Sons. 14. World Health Organization (2012). WHO: Mental Health, available at: http://www.who.int/mental_health/en/ (accessed on July 5, 2012) 15. World Health Organization,Europe (2003). What are the arguments for community-based mental health care? available at: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/74710/E82976.pdf (accessed on July 5, 2012) Read More