The Impact of Mental Health on Well-Being

This assignment delves into the intricate connection between mental health and overall well-being. It examines various factors influencing mental health, including depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and aging. The impact of these conditions on physical health is explored, alongside the role of social determinants in shaping mental well-being. Research studies and case examples are utilized to illustrate key concepts and provide a comprehensive understanding of this multifaceted topic.

Running head: HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 1
Health Plan for a Depression Patient
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 2
Health plan for a depression patient
According to World Health Organization, health promotion is the process of enabling
individuals to increase and improve their control over their health. It primarily occurs through a
health public policy development that addresses matters relating to health such as better working
conditions, employment, food security, housing and income (World Health Organization, 2014).
The purpose of this essay is to develop a plan for individual health and awareness promotion for
James; a depression patient will lead to improving his mental health and his well-being overall.
James will benefit from health promotion in the psychological field as his symptoms show that
he is suffering from depression. All these symptoms have to be treated so that his health can
improve. Also, we will identify what biological and physiological issues affect him that has led
to him being depressed and has led to him not being healthy and well. We shall then list steps we
shall take to improve the health and wellbeing of James and give a reason why each action is
being made. Finally, we shall see if any other strategies and approaches are also useful for the
promotion of the well being and health of James (Liang and Olsen, 2014).
To understand why we are creating this health plan for James, we shall recap his issues.
James is long distance driver who is married to Molly. He spends a lot of periods abroad
working. Recently, he found out that his wife is pregnant and is very pleased about this. He
decides to look for a job closer to home, but it has been hard to find a suitable one. It has led to
his mood being low and irritable; he is also worried and prone to quickly losing his temper. He
has even started smoking, a habit he had left four years ago and increased his alcohol intake. All
these signs and symptoms lead to the conclusion that he is suffering from depression and he
would benefit from a well thought out health and well-being plan. With this, it enables James to
support Molly through the pregnancy and take care of her. Also, if he is treated and gets well, he

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 3
will be able to perform well if he gets a new job. His health also benefits if he can stop drinking
and smoking (Jalilian et al, 2015).
The bio-psychosocial factors that affect the health and well being of a patient comprise of
four elements. First, the biological elements, these include factors like the patient's sex, age,
family history and genetics and any pre-existing health conditions. All these factors contribute to
James' health (Wassertheil-Smoller et al, 2014). The second one is the behavioral factors; these
include components like smoking and drinking alcohol, which exists in James' case they derail
his overall health and well-being as these behaviors may lead to developing chronic diseases
(Wiles et al, 2013). The next component is the psychological elements ones; these include
conditions like depression and anxiety which will affect the patient's health likely causing
medical conditions like heart attacks caused when one gets anxious or angry. By managing the
patient's mental health, it will positively affect their general health (Newman and Newman,
2017). Finally, the social or the environmental components, these factors that affect your overall
health include the quality of the patient's marriage, their finances, where they work and the social
support that they have. When the patients the support from their social circle, it will ensure that
their mental health is good hence positively affect your health. Also if their marriage is thriving
their psychological health will be okay. If they are not stressed at work or home, then the patient
has a better chance of being healthy especially mentally (Sarafino, and Smith, 2014).
Steps to be undertaken in James' health plan so that he can get treatment for his
depression, as well as his alcohol intake and smoking habit, include the following. The first one
to treat his depression is that he should learn as much as he can about his depression. It is critical
so that he can determine whether his depression symptoms indicate that he is suffering from an
underlying health condition or not. If there is a medical condition, then it is treated then later deal

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 4
with the depression. Also, determining the severity of his level of depression is vital in
determining the course of treatment to take (Sagna, Gallo and Pontone, 2014).
The next step to be taken is that James should change his lifestyle. It is necessary as some
of the things in his life may be acting as triggers and thus contributing to the symptoms of his
depression. If he can relax a bit more and take up constructive activities like exercise and
reading, then he can get his mind off his problems. If he is not thinking of his troubles all the
time, but instead relaxing it will alleviate his depression, and he can focus on getting better. Also,
he will stop engaging in some of his bad habits like smoking and take alcohol (Ryff and Singer,
2013).
The next step that James can take is starting a course of medication as prescribed by his
therapist. He should take it as ordered by the doctor and avoid taking it with alcohol. By doing as
his doctor tells him, he will deal with some of the symptoms of his depression. It is also good as
he will be able to treat them and hence be functional and support his pregnant wife better. By
changing his lifestyle, the medication will work better (Hu, Ide, Zhang, Sinha and Chiang-shan,
2015).
The next step he can take is starting up a therapy known as the exercise therapy. It is
primarily taking up and exercise regimen that will not only improve his mental health, as he is
thinking of something other than his troubles, but also his overall health. By doing this regularly,
he may even reach a point where he does not need his medication and thus almost have his
depression handled. All of these exercises will lead to his mental health getting better (Knapen,
Vancampfort, Moriën and Marchal, 2015).

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 5
The next step in James' health plan is ensuring that he has the necessary social support in
his life so that it will be a wholesome plan. It will start by consulting his wife so that she can be
the instigator of this social support and also his friends. By providing a safe environment where
he can confide in his wife, his family or any of his friends, James will be able to deal with some
of the issues that lead to his depression. He can also join a depression support group where he
can offload his troubles and could get people who have been through it to the same situations
share their solutions, or even he can have a shoulder to cry on (Ryff, 2014).
Another step that James has to take is to start writing and keeping a journal. With this he
can note down his thoughts and think everything out well. He can also share the thoughts in it
with his chosen therapist so that the doctor will know what he can do to help. Also, James should
ensure that he gets enough sleep every night as this goes hand in hand with the course of
treatment he being given for his depression. An essential step is finding the best therapist to deal
with and provide support for James. With the right therapist, he will be able to get not only the
medical help but also the social support he needs. The right therapist will know what
antidepressants to put James on and even what he can further do to improve his mental health
(Gilbert, 2016).
To deal with his alcohol consumption and smoking habit, James can do the following
things. First, he should early commit to quit this is because change cannot happen if James is not
in it wholeheartedly. Next, he should find out what things are his triggers that make him start
taking alcohol and smoke. When he finds what his triggers are, he should avoid them so that he
does not feel the need to engage in these activities. Next, he should also find and participate in
creative things that take up his time so that he is not free to smoke and drink this can be activities
such as drawing, painting or reading books. He should also set goals he needs to achieve at a

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 6
fixed period. To accomplish all of this, he should get rid of all the alcoholic drinks and cigarettes
in the house so that he cannot get tempted to fall back into his habits (Cavazos-Rehg et al, 2014).
Some of the approaches, different from the one in the health plan, that can be taken to
treat depression include first seeking natural remedies to treat the depression like meditation to
find a center in your life. Also, another natural remedy is talking out his problems, and thus he
can deal with his issues. He can also take up yoga, acupuncture, and stress relaxation techniques.
All these will lead the improvement of not only his mental health and aid in stopping his
smoking and drinking habit; it will also ensure that his overall health and well-being is improved
(Litten, Ryan, Falk, Reilly, Fertig and Koob, 2015). Another strategy is improving his diet and
including dietary supplements to it and even herbs. These natural supplements will strengthen his
body health although they may have some side effects or interfere with medications being taken.
Another one is finding a way that James can find a job suitable for him to support and be there
for his family. By doing this, it will enable him not have a lot of troubles that cause his worry,
irritable and low mood and also the loss of temper. He can also engage in activities that make
him happy so that his mood will be raised and hence will not be prone to losing his temper. He
should even get into the nature of talking through his problems. In some patients they may
require other procedures called brain stimulations may be required. Some of the methods to
perform these procedures include electroconvulsive therapy where electrical currents are passed
through brain cells to affect the functioning of neurotransmitters so that depression can be
relieved. The other method is trans cranial magnetic stimulation where magnetic pulses through
the treatment coil stimulate brain cells that are used to regulate the patient’s moods and
depression (Cooper and Quick, 2017).

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 7
In conclusion, from this health plan, we can learn that for a depression patient it is not
only the medical factors that should be considered but also other factors like the physical and
social factors. Primarily, for the well-being and health of James, there should be a wholesome
treatment plan that should be undertaken so that he can get good mental health. Once James gets
better, he will, not only feel better but also he will be able to better care of his family. He will
need the support of his family and friends so that he can get better. He will also require a good
therapist so that he can guide James through this hard time. Hand in hand with this plan to
improve his mental health, James will have his overall health improved, as he will also get a way
of stopping his bad habits of drinking alcohol and smoking that are habits that are not good for
him. I would recommend that James take up natural remedies for his depression such as yoga
and meditation as they are good for his mental health but he should do this in conjunction with
the other steps of the health plan mentioned above. By doing all these faithfully and not skipping
any step, James will be able to get better mentally, bodily and his overall well-being will be
improved. With these actions taken, his family will be happy, and he will be able to support
Molly better.

HEALTH PLAN FOR A DEPRESSION PATIENT 8
References
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