Mental Health in the Community: Psychosocial Issues, Informal Supports, Professionals, Gaps, and Advocacy

This paper discusses the psychosocial issues, informal supports, professionals, gaps, and advocacy for people with anxiety and depression disorders in the community. It also identifies the agencies and professionals involved in treating these conditions.

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MENTAL HEALTH IN THE COMMUNITY
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Mental health in the community
Introduction
It is estimated that in Australia, 45% of people will experience mental health disorder
during a time in their life. There are close to 1 million Australia adults who are depressed and
another close to two million who experiences anxiety yearly(Wells, 2013). This calls for
agencies and professionals to think of ways to help people suffering from these mental health
conditions to access better mental health services (Schneider et al. 2010). Mental health is not
about illness alone, but rather the mental wellness and means the ability to take daily life
activities satisfactorily and with pleasure(Shin and Liberzon, 2010).Depression comes in many
types and can range from minor symptom which is still dangerous to very severe
depression(Schneider et al. 2010). The most common mental health condition in Australia is
anxiety disorder and also comes in different types. This paper will reveal a scenario in a case
study and try to analyze it and review literature available for mental illness.
What are the psychosocial issues for the person in the case study?
The Psychosocial issues in John’s case include a problem with the personal relationship,
withdrawal, denial, sad and angry towards caregiver, friends, himself and school(Silberbogen et
al. 2009). His girlfriend braking off the relationship with him seems to have threatened his
integrity hence may be feeling unworthy socializing with his peers fearing they may ask him
questions or laugh at him (Tol et al. 2011).
What informal supports are available to john?

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Informal support means the social supports that are exercised by the family members, media,
friends, bosses, teachers and core workers, etc. to control social behavior and they may include
sanctions (Shin and Liberzon, 2010). Sanctions refer to the mechanism of social control which is
a form of external control and are either positive or negative (Sasaki et al. 2015). When they are
positive rewards are used and when negative punishment is used for social control (Schneider et
al. 2010). Positive sanctions that John's mother could be rewards such as telling him that if he
doesn't eat, he will grow thing and no woman will ever look at him(Schneider et al. 2010). This
means instead of taking something away from a person to punish them; you present them with an
undesirable outcome to control theirbad behavior(Sasaki et al. 2015).Positive sanctions
(punishment) means, “Presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is
exhibited, making the behavior less likely to happen in the future”(Sasaki et al. 2015). Some of
the known positive sanctions are praise, suggestions, flattery, persuasions, slogan, and rewards as
discussed earlier. She could also use the negative sanction which may include ceasing to talk to
him(Sasaki et al. 2015). Some common negative sanctions are gossip, laughing, censorship,
overt action, threat, and commands. There are additional four identifiable types of informal
support and are:(1) informational support (e.g. receiving advice), (2) emotional support (e.g.
emotional support in a crisis), (3) appraisal support (e.g. being listened to) and (4) instrumental
support (e.g. getting help to get to and from hospital).
What professional and/ or agencies are involved or likely to be involved with John?
Therapeutic professionals
Though there has been considerable evidence that psychodynamic psychotherapy in traditional
time was not helpful, it continues to persist even though it has been feared to even cause harm. It

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is used as a means of social control through the involvement of psychotherapists (Cuijpers et al.
2010). This social control is exercised ideologically and in clinical practice aspects of
psychotherapy. Other agencies that can be involved in people with this disorder would be
Religious and morality, Control etiquette and education, etc.
A GP or mental health professional
A GP refers to General Practitioner or a doctor or physician who does not specialize in
one particular area of medicine. The condition in our case study and people affected by the
condition would need to consult a GP who will help them manage their symptoms of anxiety or
depression easily. They help the patient to figure out what would be going on and if need be,
they refer you to other professionals for further guidance (Cuijpers et al. 2010). In Australia,
there is more online information about depression and anxiety which are of great use and
includes: Black Dog Institute which is a research and treatment facility specialized in depression
and bipolar disorders. They offer self-online test right away and suggestion on what to do and
depression information (Cuijpers et al. 2010). The other is SANE Australia a mental health
charity with resources and information provision for depression, Beyond blue has an addition on
symptoms checklists, and the next online information site is headspace. Headspace is an
Australian-wide govt. Organization which provides information on depression. They provide free
online phone counseling and as well as having all around Australia treatment centers.
What are the gaps in service delivery for people with this mental health illness?
Many people affected by anxiety disorder like John in this case study, do not access
effective treatment. Epidemiological studies in North America identified a high prevalence of

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people with depression and anxiety disorders. Out of them, only a small portion can access
effective treatment. The under treatment of this condition is a significant burden on the
individual, society, and economy. A study by Neufeld and colleagues also found that many
teenagers with psychiatric disorder do not receive or access required interventions. In the study,
62% of individuals had not received any mental health service in their past. These individuals
showed more anxiety disorder and fewer disorders and antisocial traits, and less comorbidity
than those had accessed treatment(Hungerford and Hodgson, 2013).“This outcome suggests that
individuals with particular diagnoses (i.e., anxiety) might be less likely to access services, but is
also consistent with the threshold for access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
(CAMHS) being high and typically involving more complex cases with high levels of
comorbidity and impairment.”
Adults' depression and anxiety disorder mostly are recurrent of unrecognized and
untreated depressive illness in adolescence(Hungerford, and Hodgson, 2013). Lancet Psychiatry
studies suggest that this gap should be broken through continuous mental health service contact
during adolescence to avoid the recurrence in adults’ life. Neufeld and colleagues carried a
longitudinal that shown that use of mental health services greatly reduces depressive
symptomatology at 36-month follow-up in adolescent of ages 14 years with a DSM-IV
psychiatric disorder. What is even interesting is adolescent who had disorders and were 17 years
of age and had no access to mental health services was seven times higher than those who had
access to clinical services mental health services(Lewandowski et al. 2011).
What advocacy needs to happen for people with this mental health issue?

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Advocacy in health is the provision of direct service to persons or families through activities that
promote health and access to health care in community at large(Lewandowski et al. 2011). In a
complex health care system such as anxiety disorders, health advocacy remains the best option
for addressing challenges of patient-centered care(Hungerford et al. 2012). The following
advocacy can be applied to people with anxiety disorder like John in our case study.
Creating awareness
Creating awareness to people with depression or anxiety disorder involves making people
aware of where they can get safe and quality caretreatment from(Hungerford et al. 2012).
Awareness is created through educational programs, training programs, etc. This initiative helps
individuals with anxiety or mental disorder to decide whether they would want to participate in
their health care(Cuijpers et al. 2010).
Freedom from fear groups
Supports Groups create an environment where people come together and share their
medical history, educate each other, and help with the feelings of normalcy. Support groups are
of great importance when one is receiving treatment(Cuijpers et al. 2010). They help individuals
with emotional and practical support while they undergo treatment. The support received by
individuals and their families from support groups while receiving treatment is extremely helpful
and more valuable during the recovery process(Cuijpers et al. 2010). These groups are made of
people sharing common interest or same experiences in life. They help in molding relationship
with strangers through creating a favorable place where trust can be established. Members who
are involved in these groups learn coping skills through sharing of experiences and exchanging

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information on community providers(Lewandowski et al. 2011). Community groups are sources
of good resources for to learn about treatment opportunities from attendees in the group.
Beyond blue advocacy
Beyond blue is an Australia organization that deals with promoting good mental health
and creating change to protect every person’s mental well-being(Wells, 2013).The Organization
helps people to recover if they get unwell as well.Their services are a combination of experiences
of people affected by depression suicide and anxiety guided by evidence from researchers and
evaluators to stimulate political opinion, public and policy(Wells, 2013).
The help these individuals are likely to get from these advocacies includes suicide
prevention, stigmatization, depression and anxiety prevention and treatment options, and
improved access to treatment health service programs.
Conclusion
This paper has focused on psychosocial issues that affect people with anxiety and
depression disorder and the informal supports available to the individuals suffering from social
withdrawals. The paper has further identified professionals and/ or agencies which may be useful
to people with anxiety disorder in a brief way. It goes without forgetting to identify gaps that are
hindering the delivery of service to people in this condition. The paper finalizes the discussion by
what measure (advocacy) could be useful for people with depression and anxiety disorders. It is
important to note that, difficulties have been experienced in determining the extent of informal
support and its applicability since it sometimes happens randomly within social set up. There are

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a lot of online places that helps individuals at the comfort of their home get access to information
and support for depression and anxiety. One needs to press a button and talk to specialists.

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