Challenges Faced by Nurses in Administering Psychotropic Drugs to Patients with Mental Illness

This report discusses the challenges faced by nurses in administering psychotropic drugs to patients with mental illness. It explores the impact of mental illness, the use of psychotropic drugs, challenges faced by nurses, and interventions for patient recovery.

MENTAL HEALTH
ASSESSMENT QUESTION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Trauma and mental illness..........................................................................................................3
Use of Psychotropic drugs..........................................................................................................4
Challenges faced by nurses.........................................................................................................5
Restrictive as well as coercive practices ....................................................................................6
Interventions for the person recovery of patient.........................................................................6
CONCLUSIONS..............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Mental health is basically psychological well-being as well as absence of the mental
illness and thus covers a range of disorder related to the brain. Mental health is broad field which
addresses the balance between behaviour, attitude of individual and their brain. The main of this
report is to focus on the challenges which nurses will face while treating patients and
administering psychotropic drugs who is suffering from sever mental illness and is at risk of self-
harming.
This report gives a brief overview of trauma and mental illness, psychotropic drugs,
challenges faced by nurses, restrictive as well as coercive practices and interventions for the
person recovery of patient.
MAIN BODY
Mental illness
Mental illness is basically the response to the distressing as well as disturbing event
which overwhelms the ability of the individual to cope as well as diminishes the sense of the self
emotions. In short, mental illness is primarily personal experience of the individuals where they
mainly are unable to integrate their own emotions. The mental illness mainly leads to the
numerous negative outcome like withdrawal as well as problematic use (Hoare and et.al.,2016).
It has become a great concern across the whole world which has affected the large number of
people. There are mainly two types of the mental illness namely psychological and emotional
mental illness. People suffering from some or the other kind of mental illness generally have
problems in dealing with the situations and sometimes the individuals intentionally or
unintentionally try to harm themselves. Self-harm or harming others is usually regarded within
the mental health as pathological act and event which is generally born out and emerge from
some or the other personality defects.
Individuals who mainly engage in the self-harm or harming others are generally seen as
the destructive and damaged. This type of harm is directly related to mental illness as when
people are under great pressure or trauma then they lose their mental stability and try to harm
either themselves or other in order to relieve themselves (Gloria and Steinhardt, 2016). Thus,
mental illness is considered as the most dangerous disorder which results in series of various
harmful and fatal events. Mental illness mainly takes place when individuals are under heavy
stress or have suffered from the great loss. In fact, this is often seen in children who are highly

sensitive and due to various reasons like societal pressure, educational pressure etc feel
distressed and thus becomes the prey of this disorder which affects their overall learning ability.
Use of Psychotropic drugs
The psychotropic medications are predominately the medications as well as drugs which
are mainly given to patients who suffer from some of the other kind of mental illness. The main
aim of giving these medication is that it helps to reduce the depression among people and is
mainly administered for managing the various symptoms of psychological distress, insomnia,
anxiety, trauma etc. People who generally experiences the various forms of mental illness have
wide variety of symptoms and a change in their behaviour and attitude occurs (Adhvaryu, Fenske
and Nyshadham, 2019). When patients are suffering from major trauma thus the major risk
which they have is self harming or harming others. The patients suffering from this tend to
engage in self-harming as well as harm others for releasing their frustration. The major
symptoms which patients have are nightmares, panic attacks, lowered memory capacity, violent
behaviour, frustration, anger towards small things etc. Thus, in order to control these behaviours
as well as symptoms psychotropic medications are widely used, and they have a great role to
play. These psychotropic medication generally activates the receptors and hormones within brain
and thus act as anti-depressant which relives the patients from various forms of mental illness.
Psychotropic medications have been considered as the wide umbrella under which there
are numerous medicines which are used for treating different mental problems. These
medications include anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, lithium medicines, anti-anxiety etc
(Persson and Rossin-Slater, 2018). For example for patients suffering from Trauma, these
psychotropic behaviour will eventually help to manage the risk of self-harming. Besides this, the
chemical compounds which are present within psychotropic medications helps to stimulate the
other hormones and chemical composition within brain which then acts on the neuroreceptors
and thus decreases the level of depressant hormone in brain. The mechanism of psychotropic
medication is highly complex and thus it acts in variety of ways. The controversy which mainly
addresses use of psychotropic medication for controlling behaviour within patients of mental
illness have been a hot concern across the world. These medications bought a great and profound
changes for treating the patients suffering from mental illness. In case of patients suffering from
mental illness, the psychotropic medication which can be given to them for the recovery from
these illnesss are Lithium, fluoxetine, paroxetine etc.

Challenges faced by nurses
Nurses majorly faces a wide range of challenges while administering psychotropic drugs
and medications to the patient and thus eventually becomes a roadblock in the recovery of
patients. In case of patients with mental illness, nurses faces various challenges for dealing with
self-harming as well as administering psychotropic drugs to them.
Inappropriate knowledge
This is one of the major challenge which the registered nurses mainly faces while treating
patients who have risk of self-harming as the nurses do not have enough knowledge about
various medications. When nurses do not have well-through knowledge that what psychotropic
medication will act as effective anti-depressant, in what dosage to give etc then this somewhat
affects the health of patients. Thus, this one of the major challenge which registered nurses faces
while giving psychotropic medications (Torous and Roberts, 2017).
Handling aggressiveness
This is the another most important challenge which registered nurse basically comes
across for providing treatment to the patients. When people due to mental distress tries to harm
themselves then their nature become highly aggressive and its becomes difficult for nurses to
control then as a risk is upon them as well. For example- patients who are facing from severe
mental illness where patients sometimes have panic attacks which leads to harming others and
aggressive nature then it would be highly complicated for the registered nurse to deal with them
and cool them down. Thus, this is one more challenge which is faced by the registered nurses
while treating self-harming patients (Beutel and et.al.,2017).
Resistance of patients
Sometimes, the patients suffering from mental illness resist to take psychotropic
medications as they feel that the person or nurse is trying to harm them. Thus, this resistance of
patients for taking medication is another challenge which registered nurse encounters in
administering these drugs. Patients due to their self-harming nature become aggressive when
nurses try to give them medications thus it becomes difficult for nurses to calm them down and
convince them ready for taking medication. For example- Nurses might face challenge in giving
psychotropic medication to patients due to the risk of self-harming (Kendig and et.al.,2017).

Restrictive as well as coercive practices
There are various restrictive as well as coercive practices that nurses as well as healthcare
professionals should consider while treating the patients and should comply for the speedy
recovery.
Trauma informed care as well as practice (TICP)
This is one the most important as well as remarkable practice and approach which mainly
recognizes as well as acknowledges trauma and its prevalence and helps to provide intensive care
within all aspects if the service delivery. This is the effective practice which nurses and
healthcare professional are required to follow for providing the best care facilities and treatment
to the patients which are highly engaged in self-harming or harming others as well as are
suffering from dangerous effects of trauma. The main aim of this practice is to improve the
outcomes as well as experience for the people who mainly access mental health services. This
practice will basically help to provide patients extensive care and treatment and will help in the
personal recovery by developing various strategies (Arango and et.al.,2018).
Physical restraint practice
This is predominately the coercive approach as well as practice for ensuring safety and
welfare of the patients and maintaining the appropriate treatment when the patients pose some
critical risks. This practice is mainly used within the medical services like intensive care units,
mental health system etc. This practice mainly addresses administration of the necessary
treatment by reducing physical movement of patients. The main aim of using this practice is
mainly linked with nurse's moral obligation, and they use this when the patient poses some life-
threatening risks which is unmanageable. This practice will be highly effective while treating
these patients. Nurses can use this approach when patients will become highly violent and causes
risk but nurses should use this practice only in extreme situation as it involves restraining
physically (Hall, 2016).
Seclusion practice
This is the another practice which is being followed within mental health for treating the
patients. This practice mainly involves using the physical force or mechanical devices for
immobilizing the patient. It usually involves confining person within the room from where the
patient cannot exit on their own. This is the practice which nurses uses for managing the violent
behaviour of patients and sometimes include mechanical shocks. This practice is only

implemented by healthcare professionals in extreme conditions. For example- In case of patients
suffering from mental illness, Nurses can use this practice but only in severe conditions when it
becomes impossible to handle them and they starts to harming others.
Interventions for the person recovery of patient
Psychotropic drugs
These are basically the drugs which has the ability to affect mind as well as emotions.
These are the medications which are mainly taken for exerting a great effect upon chemical
makeup of brain as well as nervous system and thus are used for treating the psychiatric
conditions. In order to treat patients, various psychotropic drugs and medications will be used
which will help in speedy recovery. Various psychotropic medications like Prazosin, Zoloft,
Sertraline, Lamotrigine will be administered to patients for the personal recovery. These
psychotropic drugs will basically activate the receptors and transmitters in the mind of patients
and will help in greater flow of blood to brain which will eventually reduce the depression within
the mind and will help to overcome trauma (Gunnell, Kidger and Elvidge, 2018).
Cognitive behavioural therapy
This is the another therapy as well as intervention which nurses can utilize for treating
patients with mental illness and overcoming the post-traumatic attacks. This is basically the
therapy which mainly emphasizes upon relation among the thoughts as well as behaviour and
thus helps in generating positive responses from patient. Nurses in this therapy is mainly focused
on reducing effects of traumatic experience and thus will help patients to a high extent. This is
one of the most effective therapy which can be used by nurses for treating patients where they
can help them by giving the sessions of this therapy and dealing with their emotions (Hoare and
et.al.,2016).
Motivational therapy
This is the another intervention which can be used by nurses for curing patients and
providing treatment and will help in personal recovery. This is a kind of therapy which helps in
dealing with emotions of traumatic patients. In this, nurses and doctors generally sit with the
patient and talks with the patient regarding the situation they are facing, what are they struggling
through etc. Thus, by sharing with the patient, a kind of relaxation and relief is generated within
patients which eventually reduces their overall depression in mind. This will be highly beneficial
for the recovery of patients where nurses can take multiple sessions with patients and share the

emotional feeling with them. Basically, this will act as antidepressant for them (Gloria and
Steinhardt, 2016).
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that psychotropic medications plays a great role in treating the
patients suffering from mental illness. These drugs have a great impact on the overall protein
structure within brain. These psychotropic drugs basically helps to control the violent behaviour
of people and helps to reduce the symptoms of mental illness. While administering these drugs,
nurses faces various challenges like inappropriate knowledge which hinders speedy recovery. At
the end, there are various practices and approaches which are used within mental health for
treating patients like physical restraint, TICP etc.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Adhvaryu, A., Fenske, J. and Nyshadham, A., 2019. Early life circumstance and adult mental
health. Journal of Political Economy.127(4). pp.1516-1549.
Arango, C and et.al.,2018. Preventive strategies for mental health. The Lancet Psychiatry.5(7).
pp.591-604.
Beutel, M.E and et.al.,2017. Loneliness in the general population: prevalence, determinants and
relations to mental health. BMC psychiatry.17(1). p.97.
Gloria, C.T. and Steinhardt, M.A., 2016. Relationships among positive emotions, coping,
resilience and mental health. Stress and Health.32(2). pp.145-156.
Gunnell, D., Kidger, J. and Elvidge, H., 2018. Adolescent mental health in crisis.
Hall, L.K., 2016. Counseling military families: What mental health professionals need to know.
Routledge.
Hoare, E and et.al.,2016. The associations between sedentary behaviour and mental health
among adolescents: a systematic review. International journal of behavioral nutrition
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Kendig, S and et.al.,2017. Consensus bundle on maternal mental health: perinatal depression and
anxiety. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing.46(2). pp.272-281.
Persson, P. and Rossin-Slater, M., 2018. Family ruptures, stress, and the mental health of the
next generation. American economic review.108(4-5). pp.1214-52.
Torous, J. and Roberts, L.W., 2017. Needed innovation in digital health and smartphone
applications for mental health: transparency and trust. JAMA psychiatry.74(5). pp.437-
438.