Managing Challenging Behavior in Mental Health Patients

Running head: ESSAY ON MENTAL HEALTH
Essay on mental health
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ESSAY ON MENTAL HEALTH
Introduction:
Mental illness has been discriminated against and treated as one of the greatest social
taboos. Due to the advancements of the mental health care sector, the myriad of mental illnesses
have attained the status of an illness equivalent to other physical illnesses. However, there still
are a varied range of challenges complicating the mental health care delivery among to the
various different mental patients. One of the most important challenges that the mental health
nurses experience while handling the various different mental patients is the challenging
behavior and handling it affectively (Sallis, Owen & Fisher, 2015). Most of the burnout among
the mental health nurses have been attributed to the stress of handling challenging behavior
among of the mentally ill patients. Along with that, there is mounting evidence that in case the
mental health nurses are not able to handle the challenging behavior of the mentally ill in an
effective manner it can lead to considerable violent tendencies among the patients and can even
lead to physical harm as well. This essay will attempt to explore the current literature regarding
handling the challenging behavior among the mentally ill patient, the role of nurses, effective
practice models and protocols, patient perspectives and future nursing practice implications.
Challenging behavior can be described as any behavioral activity of an individual which
can potentially lead to physical or physiological harm to the mentally ill patient themselves along
with the other care individuals or family members. As mentioned by Price et al. (2015), the
behaviors of the mentally ill patients that can also destroy the property around them which can
also potentially hurt the mentally ill patients and those around them. The challenging behaviors
exhibited by the mental patients can be intentional or unintentional, however, in most cases, the
most devastating challenging behaviors expressed by the patients suffering from mental
disorders are unintentional and cause severe harm to their own health and safety. There is

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ESSAY ON MENTAL HEALTH
mounting evidence that indicates at the challenging behavior being one of the most important
contributing factor that restricts adequate care delivery for the mentally ill patients as well.
Exploring into this particular issue further, the extent of challenging behaviors act as a potential
barrier that restricts the care provider from being able to provide adequate care to the mentally
ill, in fact in most cases the mental health care providers are terrified of engaging with or
interacting with a mentally ill patient who is exhibiting the signs of challenging or violent
behavior (Iozzino et al., 2015).
One of the most important contributor to the unrest and disinterest among the mental
health care staff is the perception among the mental health nurses of their safety being
compromised along with other patients in the in-patient setting. However, it has to be mentioned
that challenging behavior puts the mental patients at extreme risk of both physical and emotional
harm and along with that, in case their challenging behavior is not adequately managed, it can
eventually lead to injuries for both the patient and others associated with them. Hence, it is
crucial for the mental health staff to develop protocols and guidelines to handle challenging
behavior effectively so that the harm can be minimized or controlled. However, research
suggests that it is crucial for the mental health nurses to focus on the extrinsic and intrinsic
factors that act as potential triggers of the challenging behavior among the mentally ill patients
(Fortinash & Worret, 2014).
More than 75% of the mentally disabled patients are associated with challenging behavior
and hence the mental health nurses are often subjected to a variety of different safety risks and
burnout. There are various best practice protocols available for use for mental health nurses to
handle the different challenging behaviors. First and foremost, the most of the guidelines direct
the nurses to focus on the extrinsic band intrinsic factors that trigger or facilitate the challenging

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ESSAY ON MENTAL HEALTH
behavior in the patients. Elaborating more, intrinsic factors are the personal feelings, thoughts,
emotions, along with the health status of the mentally ill patient. On the other hand the extrinsic
factors that facilitate the challenging behavior in the patients are the environment and the other
people around the patient that can also trigger the challenging behavior in the patient as well.
The recommendation in this case is to assess the patient for the signs of these factors developing
the chances of challenging behavior in the patients. Along with that, the authors have
recommended the mentally unstable patients to be provided the aid of a comfortable and reliable
environment so that it can minimize the risk of challenging behavior exacerbating. As opined by
Heckemann et al. (2015), providing the assistance of activity rooms and spaces where the
mentally unstable patients can interact and have therapeutic communication, it has been
successful in managing the impact of challenging behaviors more effectively.
On a similar note, risk assessment of the mentally ill, patients is also a very useful and
excellent method to ensure better management of the challenging behavior among the mentally
ill. As mentioned by mental health authorities, training and educating the mental health nurses
with adequate skill enhancement and briefing of carrying out challenging behavior risk
assessment for the mentally ill patients have been described as one of the most significant
measures to prevent and better manage the occurrence of challenging behavior (Baer, 2015). One
a more elaborative note, these risk assessment procedures have been reported to aid the patients
with predicting the pattern of challenging behaviors that the mentally ill are prone to and the
extrinsic or intrinsic factors that trigger the exact pattern of challenging behavior so that the
optimal management strategies can be designed to manage the challenging behavior. Along with
the more popular and abundantly used techniques of patient risk assessment, de-escalation has
also emerged as another very common technique opted by the mental health nurses to handle the