Understanding Mental Health and Illness
The health care industry in the present day scenario understands that mental disorders is not very different from any physical health issue in terms of illness (Corrigan, Druss & Perlick, 2014 p. 37-70). Yet discrimination to some degree is still prevalent in the society; and as a result, the help seeking behaviour is still lacking from the mentally ill individuals. Hence, it is crucial for the mental health workforce to have a compassionate, empathetic and culturally safe approach towards the mental patients (Jacob, 2015 p 117). This essay will attempt to discover how my personal values, beliefs, opinions, and experiences have shaped my care approach and understand of mental health and illness with the help of the 5R’s framework.
Mental health and wellbeing is associated with a variety of positive social aspects and it is crucial for each and every individual to have the chance of having a state of complete mental sanity and wellbeing status (Townsend & Morgan, 2017 p. 735-740). I believe in order to be in order to serve the patients suffering from mental illnesses, it is crucial for the mental health care staff to have a clear understanding of the contrast between mental health and mental illness. As per the WHO, the broad definition of the mental health illustrates a state of wellbeing where the individual can themselves realize their own potential and can positively cope with the normal stresses of living and can participate productively and fruitfully in the occupational sector, all the while making a worthwhile contribution to the community (Who.int., 2018).
According to me, mental illness, along with mental health and wellbeing, is also cruci8ally linked with emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Similarly, my personal mental well-being is nurtured and supported by my connection to my own culture and family. I have been brought up in a collective family where each and every member of the family was treated with equal respect and the love and support from my family and their respect for my aspiration to provide care to mental patients has also helped me to shape my own mental health.
As per the present mental health care program and planning, the impact of ethics and person centeredness of the care is valued with much more emphasis for the recovery oriented mental health care. I believe while providing mental health care, it is crucial to respect the mental patient as another human being rather than treating the patient on basis of his or her mental disabilities. The mental patients have been looked down upon by the society for decades and the impact of the social stigmatization has not been eradicated completely even with the changes in the mental health industry (Corrigan, Druss & Perlick, 2014 p. 37-70).
Importance of Compassion, Empathy, and Culturally Safe Care
Hence, the impact of a mental illness diagnosis has a significant impact on the patient, it is crucial to patients to have dignity and respect while receiving card to keep the hope of recovery alive. My beliefs, opinions and attitudes against the concept of mental illness and health have formed completely based on the social treatments that I have seen my family have on the construct. My upbringing has helped me develop a moral and ethical sense of equality and respect for each and every individual, which has helped me understand the importance of respecting the mental patients and uniqueness while providing individualized person centred care (Townsend & Morgan, 2017 p. 735-740).
I have been fortunate enough to be brought up in a multicultural neighbourhood with people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds lived together in a more or less state of harmony. Although my upbringing has had a significant impact on my attitude and opinion to mental illness, my experience of a mentally unstable woman in our quaint neighbourhood. Elaborating more, the authors have stated that the impact of personal experience can have a significant role in shaping the views and behaviour regarding mentally ill (Henwood et al., 2015, p. 220-228). I have noticed an ethnically diverse woman suffering from a mental illness along the lines of schizophrenia live in our neighbourhood, never communicating or seeking help for her condition for the fear of stigmatization.
From the Australian media coverage on the importance of mental health awareness and literacy campaigns, I have learned along the years that the biggest challenge is the lack of compassionate approach towards the mentally ill in the society. Along with that, the stigmatization is also associated with gender and racial discrimination, where culturally diverse women suffering from mental illness are treated more like an abomination than patients requiring medical care in their own communities (Dyrbye et al., 2015, p. 961-969). Being a member of culturally diverse youth myself, I have generated opinion along the years that awareness and respect is key for treating mentally ill.
This exercise has given me the opportunity to explore the literature on mental health and wellbeing and how to treat those that are suffering from deviation from the state of mental health. In the course of this learning unit, we have also understood more about how societal perception and taboo affects the help seeking behaviour of the mentally ill patients. It has deeply struck me how the fear of societal isolation and discrimination has held the mentally ill patients back from seeking the help that they desperately require. It has helped me develop resilience and compassion for mental patients to help them recover and help them overcome the fear of social rejection with evidence based practice (Slade & Longden, 2015, p. 285).
Impact of Social Stigmatization
The exercises from this unit has shed light on mainly the concept of individualized care that helps the patients plan their own recovery while the care provider respecting their uniqueness, dignity and cultural identity. The principles of the recovery oriented care approach are far more effective than hospital based depersonalized care as per my personal beliefs and opinions, as it focuses on the strengths of the patient and developing a support network for them while providing hope and empowerment (Health.gov.au., 2018). Although I believe understanding the uniqueness of the patient which is the 1st principle of recovery oriented care can be challenging for me, but my strengths of compassion, ethics, empowerment and respect can be of excellent help to me in my future practice.
On a concluding note, mental illness have been stigmatized in the society for a considerably in the past and the patients with mental illnesses are still living the eight of the decades of stigmatization and social taboo. This exercise has helped me tremendously in exploring my personal beliefs and opinions regarding mental health, mental illness and how to provide recovery oriented patient centred care. Retracing the origin of my understanding of mental illness and its contrast from mental health has helped me discover my strengths and weaknesses and it will be of extreme help in my future practice.
References:
Corrigan, P. W., Druss, B. G., & Perlick, D. A. (2014). The impact of mental illness stigma on seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 15(2), 37-70. Doi: 10.1177/1529100614531398
Dyrbye, L. N., Eacker, A., Durning, S. J., Brazeau, C., Moutier, C., Massie, F. S., … & Shanafelt, T. D. (2015). The impact of stigma and personal experiences on the help-seeking behaviors of medical students with burnout. Academic Medicine, 90(7), 961-969. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000655
Health.gov.au. (2018). Department of Health | Principles of recovery oriented mental health practice. [online] Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-i-nongov-toc~mental-pubs-i-nongov-pri [Accessed 26 Aug. 2018].
Henwood, B. F., Derejko, K. S., Couture, J., & Padgett, D. K. (2015). Maslow and mental health recovery: A comparative study of homeless programs for adults with serious mental illness. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(2), 220-228. Doi: 10.1007/s10488-014-0542-8
Jacob, K. S. (2015). Recovery model of mental illness: A complementary approach to psychiatric care. Indian journal of psychological medicine, 37(2), 117. doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.155605
Slade, M., & Longden, E. (2015). Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health. BMC psychiatry, 15(1), 285. Doi: 10.1186/s12888-015-0678-4
Townsend, M. C., & Morgan, K. I. (2017). Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice. FA Davis. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3a0-DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=2.%09Townsend,+M.+C.,+%26+Morgan,+K.+I.+(2017).+Psychiatric+mental+health+nursing:+Concepts+of+care+in+evidence-based+practice.+FA+Davis&ots=mSViGuSSxB&sig=4MYhgB1WG0djUTlgmsyTTrn8xaM#v=onepage&q&f=false
Who.int. (2018). WHO | Mental health: a state of well-being. [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2018].
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