Mental Health in Nursing Practice

Mental Health
Nursing Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Mental health refers to emotional, psychological and social well-being. It is an important
health factor which is necessary to manage stress and make decisions. Different elements are
there which affect the mental health for which social care units have been developed in order to
help the patients for recovering completely from any sort of mental issue. Problems related to
mental health should be diagnosed as early as possible otherwise it could affect the overall health
of the body. This report comprises of three different case studies depicting the biopsychosocial
problems, factor related to biological, psychological and social, three individual interventions
relating to the cases and ethicolegal implications for each such cases.
MAIN BODY
As per Evans, Nizetter & O'Brien, “assessment is one of the important and fundamental
skills of the mental health nurse. Through assessment we develop an understanding of the
consumers, formulate a plan of care and contribute to the decision making of multidisciplinary
teams”. On decoding this definition, it can be said that mental health is important for maintaining
the overall physical and mental health. Biopsychosocial model of assessment forms a nexus
between biology, psychology and socio-environmental factors. These factors contribute to
development of a human. This model was developed by Engel in the year 1977 to conduct an
examination for understanding thoughts and feelings which may affect the physical condition of
an individual. This assessment is applied for carrying a medical examination as a step in clinical
practice.
There are variety of biopsychosocial factors responsible for the development of types of
disorders which have significant impact on the lives of people suffering from such disorders. In
the first case study, it has been observed that Steve was going through the phase of depression at
the age of 21 years. Due to this, he lost interest in his life and was disconnected with social life.
The biopsychosocial a person gets into depression from endocrine which is related to hormone,
immune and neurotransmitter system built in our body. With regard to psychological factors,
depression may occur from negative thinking patterns, intolerance level, decision making issues,
and impaired emotional intelligence. Steve is a 21-year-old young boy who has been diagnosed
with schizophrenia due to which he has been acting in a weird way. The factors for mental
problem may range from genetic, malnourishment, size of the brain or issues relating to chemical
1