Case Study of Mental Health and Physical Health
Added on 2020-03-16
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Running head: CASE STUDY NURSINGCase study nursingName of the student:Name of the University:Author’s note
1CASE STUDY NURSINGIntroductionMental health and physical health have correlation with each other; poor physicalhealth contributes to risk of mental health issues. Similarly, mental health problemsnegatively influence physical health, personality and overall quality of life of an individual(Kemp and Quintana 2013, pp288-296.). This essay develops the understanding of mentalhealth and its relationship with physical health through the analysis of the case study of Mary,a 41 year old woman, who has been suffering from moments of despair when she feel tearfuland tend to develop symptoms of depression. Her feeling of worthlessness and hopelessnesshas affected her overall appearance, normal sleep time and completion of simple activities indaily life. The purpose of the essay is to give insight regarding understanding of mentalillness with support from Mary’s case and find the importance of personal recovery for Mary.The next section discusses about the mental health needs of Mary and proposes the best andtreatment options for her recovery. It also gives an insight into the implications of theinformation for the practice of health professionals. Mental health and Mental illnessThe examination of the Mary’s case study has mainly revealed the problem offeelings of despair, low motivating in daily activities, and feelings of worthlessness, sleepdifficulty and a history of depression. All this symptoms is an indication of major depressionin patient. This is because the symptoms are similar to the DSM-IV criteria for majordepressive disorder (MDD) (DSM-IV Criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) 2017).According to the DSM-IV criteria, a person having depressed mood for more than two weeks,impaired social and occupational functioning and presence of at least five specific symptomsevery day are regarded as suffering from MDD (DSM-IV Criteria for Major DepressiveDisorder (MDD) 2017). These symptoms include depressed mood, little pleasure in activities,
2CASE STUDY NURSINGweight loss or appetite change, modified sleep and activity patterns, tiredness, feelings ofworthlessness, poor concentration and suicidal thoughts (Uher et al. 2015, pp. 459-471)Similar to this specification of DSM-IV, Mary was also found to experience low moods,feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, little interest in activities like eating and dressing,loss of sleep and poor personal hygiene. Hence, she also had at least five of the ninesymptoms of depression and the only symptom that was not present in her included suicidalthoughts (Uher et al. 2015, pp. 459-471). Based on the frequency or persistence of symptoms in Mary, it is found that Marydeveloped low moods more frequently and she also experience moments of low mood.However, however her condition can be classified as recurrent MDD because she wasadmitted to the hospital for depression earlier too and she has started experiencing low moodagain. In case of recurrent depression, relapses of depressive symptoms occur in affectedindividuals after phases of normal moods (van der Velden et al. 2015, pp.26-39). Accordingto the severity of depression, the ICD classified depression into four categories whichincludes mild depressive episode, moderate depressive episode, severe depressive episodewithout or without psychotic symptoms (ICD-10 Version: 2016 2017). According to the ICD-10 classification, it can be said that Mary’s depression is under F32.1 category of moderatedepression. This is because she has four or more symptoms of depression but she does notdevelop suicidal thoughts. If she has suicidal thoughts, then her condition would be describedas severed depressive disorder. Hence, it is clear that Mary is suffering from moderatedepression.Relationship between mental health and physical healthThere are numerous links between mental health and physical health conditions andboth have an impact on quality of living, health outcomes and demand of care. WHO (2016)
3CASE STUDY NURSINGhas defined that without mental health, overall health and well-being of an individual is notpossible. The relation between mental and physical health is particularly more apparent inchronic conditions (WHO 2016). Poor mental health increases the risk of chronic physicalillness in patients, whereas people with chronic physical conditions are vulnerable todeveloping poor mental health. For instance, the study by Kemp and Quintana (2013,pp.1238-1334) showed increased association between depression and cardiovascular disorder.It was found that depression increased the risk for developing CVD by 1.5 fold, whereaspatients with both CVD and depression had three fold risk of developing cardiac events. Inthis case, heart rate variability was found to influence mental and physical well-being. It isrecommended that for patients like Mary with mental illness, increasing physical activity,mediation and dietary changes should be considered along with conventional treatment topromote recovery In case of Mary too, it can be said that presence of depressive mood is likely to affecther physical health too. This is because in the presence of altered mood and lack ofmotivation, she may not full attention to her nutritional and personal needs. Inability tocomplete activities like eating and maintain personal hygiene will increase the risk ofphysical illness in patient. Chronic fatigue and physical aches and pain become common forpatients with depression. Secondly, poor personal hygiene and nutritional intake make thesusceptible to diseases too (Coventry et al., 2015). Research has explained that individualswith mental illness have shorter life than general population because mental health relatedfactors like unhealthy lifestyles, disparities in health care access and affect of psychotropicmedications increases the risk of physical morbidity (Correll et al. 2015). Evidence hasproved that antipsychotics increase risk of physical illness such as diabetes, obesity, renaldisease and other issues in mentally ill patients (Correll et al. 2015). To find treatmentoptions for people living with either mental illness or physical health conditions, the most
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