Psychosocial Issues for the Person in the Case Study
Discuss About The Commitment To Cooperation Peer Punishment.
It is estimated that in Australia, 45% of people will experience mental health disorder during a time in their life. There are close to 1 million Australia adults who are depressed and another close to two million who experiences anxiety yearly(Wells, 2013). This calls for agencies and professionals to think of ways to help people suffering from these mental health conditions to access better mental health services (Schneider et al. 2010). Mental health is not about illness alone, but rather the mental wellness and means the ability to take daily life activities satisfactorily and with pleasure(Shin and Liberzon, 2010).Depression comes in many types and can range from minor symptom which is still dangerous to very severe depression(Schneider et al. 2010). The most common mental health condition in Australia is anxiety disorder and also comes in different types. This paper will reveal a scenario in a case study and try to analyze it and review literature available for mental illness.
What are the psychosocial issues for the person in the case study?
The Psychosocial issues in John’s case include a problem with the personal relationship, withdrawal, denial, sad and angry towards caregiver, friends, himself and school(Silberbogen et al. 2009). His girlfriend braking off the relationship with him seems to have threatened his integrity hence may be feeling unworthy socializing with his peers fearing they may ask him questions or laugh at him (Tol et al. 2011).
What informal supports are available to john?
Informal support means the social supports that are exercised by the family members, media, friends, bosses, teachers and core workers, etc. to control social behavior and they may include sanctions (Shin and Liberzon, 2010). Sanctions refer to the mechanism of social control which is a form of external control and are either positive or negative (Sasaki et al. 2015). When they are positive rewards are used and when negative punishment is used for social control (Schneider et al. 2010). Positive sanctions that John’s mother could be rewards such as telling him that if he doesn’t eat, he will grow thing and no woman will ever look at him(Schneider et al. 2010). This means instead of taking something away from a person to punish them; you present them with an undesirable outcome to control theirbad behavior(Sasaki et al. 2015).Positive sanctions (punishment) means, “Presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior less likely to happen in the future”(Sasaki et al. 2015). Some of the known positive sanctions are praise, suggestions, flattery, persuasions, slogan, and rewards as discussed earlier. She could also use the negative sanction which may include ceasing to talk to him(Sasaki et al. 2015). Some common negative sanctions are gossip, laughing, censorship, overt action, threat, and commands. There are additional four identifiable types of informal support and are:(1) informational support (e.g. receiving advice), (2) emotional support (e.g. emotional support in a crisis), (3) appraisal support (e.g. being listened to) and (4) instrumental support (e.g. getting help to get to and from hospital).
Informal Supports Available for John
What professional and/ or agencies are involved or likely to be involved with John?
Though there has been considerable evidence that psychodynamic psychotherapy in traditional time was not helpful, it continues to persist even though it has been feared to even cause harm. It is used as a means of social control through the involvement of psychotherapists (Cuijpers et al. 2010). This social control is exercised ideologically and in clinical practice aspects of psychotherapy. Other agencies that can be involved in people with this disorder would be Religious and morality, Control etiquette and education, etc.
A GP refers to General Practitioner or a doctor or physician who does not specialize in one particular area of medicine. The condition in our case study and people affected by the condition would need to consult a GP who will help them manage their symptoms of anxiety or depression easily. They help the patient to figure out what would be going on and if need be, they refer you to other professionals for further guidance (Cuijpers et al. 2010). In Australia, there is more online information about depression and anxiety which are of great use and includes: Black Dog Institute which is a research and treatment facility specialized in depression and bipolar disorders. They offer self-online test right away and suggestion on what to do and depression information (Cuijpers et al. 2010). The other is SANE Australia a mental health charity with resources and information provision for depression, Beyond blue has an addition on symptoms checklists, and the next online information site is headspace. Headspace is an Australian-wide govt. Organization which provides information on depression. They provide free online phone counseling and as well as having all around Australia treatment centers.
What are the gaps in service delivery for people with this mental health illness?
Many people affected by anxiety disorder like John in this case study, do not access effective treatment. Epidemiological studies in North America identified a high prevalence of people with depression and anxiety disorders. Out of them, only a small portion can access effective treatment. The under treatment of this condition is a significant burden on the individual, society, and economy. A study by Neufeld and colleagues also found that many teenagers with psychiatric disorder do not receive or access required interventions. In the study, 62% of individuals had not received any mental health service in their past. These individuals showed more anxiety disorder and fewer disorders and antisocial traits, and less comorbidity than those had accessed treatment(Hungerford and Hodgson, 2013).“This outcome suggests that individuals with particular diagnoses (i.e., anxiety) might be less likely to access services, but is also consistent with the threshold for access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) being high and typically involving more complex cases with high levels of comorbidity and impairment.”
Professional and/or Agencies Involved with John
Adults’ depression and anxiety disorder mostly are recurrent of unrecognized and untreated depressive illness in adolescence(Hungerford, and Hodgson, 2013). Lancet Psychiatry studies suggest that this gap should be broken through continuous mental health service contact during adolescence to avoid the recurrence in adults’ life. Neufeld and colleagues carried a longitudinal that shown that use of mental health services greatly reduces depressive symptomatology at 36-month follow-up in adolescent of ages 14 years with a DSM-IV psychiatric disorder. What is even interesting is adolescent who had disorders and were 17 years of age and had no access to mental health services was seven times higher than those who had access to clinical services mental health services(Lewandowski et al. 2011).
What advocacy needs to happen for people with this mental health issue?
Advocacy in health is the provision of direct service to persons or families through activities that promote health and access to health care in community at large(Lewandowski et al. 2011). In a complex health care system such as anxiety disorders, health advocacy remains the best option for addressing challenges of patient-centered care(Hungerford et al. 2012). The following advocacy can be applied to people with anxiety disorder like John in our case study.
Creating awareness to people with depression or anxiety disorder involves making people aware of where they can get safe and quality caretreatment from(Hungerford et al. 2012). Awareness is created through educational programs, training programs, etc. This initiative helps individuals with anxiety or mental disorder to decide whether they would want to participate in their health care(Cuijpers et al. 2010).
Supports Groups create an environment where people come together and share their medical history, educate each other, and help with the feelings of normalcy. Support groups are of great importance when one is receiving treatment(Cuijpers et al. 2010). They help individuals with emotional and practical support while they undergo treatment. The support received by individuals and their families from support groups while receiving treatment is extremely helpful and more valuable during the recovery process(Cuijpers et al. 2010). These groups are made of people sharing common interest or same experiences in life. They help in molding relationship with strangers through creating a favorable place where trust can be established. Members who are involved in these groups learn coping skills through sharing of experiences and exchanging information on community providers(Lewandowski et al. 2011). Community groups are sources of good resources for to learn about treatment opportunities from attendees in the group.
Gaps in Service Delivery for People with this Mental Health Illness
Beyond blue is an Australia organization that deals with promoting good mental health and creating change to protect every person’s mental well-being(Wells, 2013).The Organization helps people to recover if they get unwell as well.Their services are a combination of experiences of people affected by depression suicide and anxiety guided by evidence from researchers and evaluators to stimulate political opinion, public and policy(Wells, 2013).
The help these individuals are likely to get from these advocacies includes suicide prevention, stigmatization, depression and anxiety prevention and treatment options, and improved access to treatment health service programs.
Conclusion
This paper has focused on psychosocial issues that affect people with anxiety and depression disorder and the informal supports available to the individuals suffering from social withdrawals. The paper has further identified professionals and/ or agencies which may be useful to people with anxiety disorder in a brief way. It goes without forgetting to identify gaps that are hindering the delivery of service to people in this condition. The paper finalizes the discussion by what measure (advocacy) could be useful for people with depression and anxiety disorders. It is important to note that, difficulties have been experienced in determining the extent of informal support and its applicability since it sometimes happens randomly within social set up. There are a lot of online places that helps individuals at the comfort of their home get access to information and support for depression and anxiety. One needs to press a button and talk to specialists.
References
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