Case Study Nursing: Mental Health Issues and Trauma-Informed Care

Running head: CASE STUDY NURSING
CASE STUDY NURSING
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

CASE STUDY NURSING
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Question 1:
The case study involves mental health issues of, Munny Kaew, who belongs to Western
Sydney and lives with his wife, Ary, and their three children. Recently he was presented in the
hospital of the community with his wife where his wife highlighted her concern that he is not
been his usual self. His wife stated that he involves himself in limited communication at home.
He had been taking frequent sick leaves, spent times in bed, answer in one word or
monosyllables and e shows loss of interest in his child. In this context, for gaining the
understanding of the mental state of the patient, the most effective assessment tool is mini-
mental state (Evans et al., 2017). While mini-mental state can provide a structured assessment of
behavior and cognitive functioning of the patient, this paper will focus on two crucial
components which are the following:
1. Appearance and behavior:
The patients with mental illness generally have inadequate interest in personal hygiene,
grooming and cleanliness (Fernando, I., & Carter, 2016). In this current context, while the
patient was tidy, he wore loose fitted clothes. Psychomotor retardation is common in case of
a patient with mental illness where the physical and mental activity of the patient may slow
down. In the case of Munny, psychomotor retardation might be the case as the patient refuse
to communicate spontaneously. The patient was answering in the monosyllable such as
“yes”, “no problem” and failed to make eye contact while communicating with the nurse and
the family members. He simply shrugged his shoulder in response to the question such as
how his family will feel in absence of him. Even his family highlighted that he become less
communicative.
2. Mood and affect:

CASE STUDY NURSING
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The patient with mental illness usually experiences low mood with a persistent feeling of
sadness.
Taking a deep insight into the situation, the patient might feel hopeless or worthless as it
evidence in his case. He frequently takes sick leaves, detached himself from his life, and mostly
spent time in his bed. His feeling of worthlessness is evident when he refused to go to the office
and become less attentive towards his children.
Considering the symptoms client is suffering from, he might be suffering from major
depressive disorder according to the criteria of DSM V. DSM V is an evaluation tool used by
physicians to assess the mental illness and provide intervention (American Psychiatric
Association, 2013). Olive, Telford and Byrne (2015), patient refuses to communicate with others
and usually exhibit social exclusion. In this current context, considering the observations of his
wife, he refuses to communicate and involve in household activities. The patient frequently
exhibits loss of interest in most of the areas of life which is evident in this case where the patient
is frequently taking leaves and spent the majority of the time in the bed (Cooper, 2018). The loss
of appetite is one of the symptoms of the depression which is also evident in this case since the
patient’s wife reported that he lost body weight and loss fitted clothes are one of the prominent
examples of the weight loss which is due loss of appetite (Www.cope.org.au, 2019). The
depressed state of mind might be the case where a patient is feeling worthlessness. The patient’s
boss was not happy with the work he provided which might be the reason behind the feeling of
worthlessness. Hence, according to the DSM V criteria and observation of mini-mental state, it
can be said that he is suffering from the depressive symptoms and require immediate attention.