Mental Health Nursing: Assignment

Running Head: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Mental health nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
In metal health, setting the term recovery does not always means free from symptoms and
signs of illnesses or a complete cure (Health.gov.au., 2017). From the perspective of the mentally
ill patient, recovery refers to understanding one’s abilities and disabilities, retaining hope, able to
find purpose to life, developed a positive sense of self, gaining personal autonomy, active
engagement in life and having a social identity (Department of Health, 2017). It means that
personal recovery and clinical recovery are two different aspects although they both have same
goals. The assignment deals with the case study of Jeremy Oxley a lead singer of the band name
“The Sunnyboys”. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, lived with it for 30 years, and yet made
comeback to his stage after recovery. The aim of the assignment is to use the National Recovery
Framework and its six principles to explore the lived experiences of Jeremy as depicted in the
documentary “SunnyBoys”. The essay investigates the meaning of personal recovery to client
and justifies the need of both clinical and personal recovery.
To start with, the case study of Jeremy, the first and the foremost thing to be discussed is
his lifestyle as evident from the documentary provided. As per the documentary of Jeremy
Oxley, he is a famous guitarist. He was the leader of the popular Australian band, “Sunnyboys”
(The Sunnyboy, 2013). It is evident from the video that Jeremy had remarkable journey with
illness of 30 years. At the age of 18, Jeremy became popular as singer and songwriter in
Australia. He achieved great success together with his brother Peter who was a bass guitarist in
the same band. With his success his schedule became quite hectic with recording sessions and
travelling places relentlessly. This increased his stress level so much that it leads to physical
burnout and mental distress. The first sign of his health crushing down was evident when he
walked out of the the Enmore Theatre on April 2012. No one could comprehend this behaviour
but it appears that stress absorbed Jeremy into the tunnel of schizophrenia. In the documentary, it

2MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
was mentioned that the Jeremy was fun loving person. His childhood friend Bill Bilson
(drummer) described him as “perfectionist”. However, with the increasing level of stress in his
life, Jeremy turned to be arrogant, rude, disturbed with paranoid thoughts. He even attended
shows in drunken state and was engaged in drug abuse. He continued to give poor performance
that gave him negative publicity. This indicates increasing negative impact of Schizophrenia.
Even Peter could not comprehend the Bizarre behaviour of Jeremy.
Taking the perspective of Jeremy from the video, it was evident that the Jeremy was not
able to comprehend his illness. He failed to accept that he was suffering from schizophrenia. He
therefore, denied the medical treatment. He was noncompliant to the treatment. Further, he never
followed healthy regime despite having unusual heart rhythms and diabetes. He turned out to be
a complex personality for people around him. He was experiencing auditory hallucinations. He
assumed that people preferred his brother more and that he was stolen of his music. Listening to
voices, assuming things and lack of self-care was the classic symptoms of Schizophrenia (Kate et
al., 2013). In the video, it was mentioned that Jeremy could hear more than one voice. It is of
great diagnostic significance as they are first rank symptoms of Schizophrenia. According to
Chandra et al., (2014) people with the psychotic episodes are not willing to understand their
illness and remain in state of denial. It consequently affects the quality of life of the patient and
the recovery process. The same was depicted in the video as well.
Clinical recovery and personal recovery are two different aspects. Personal recovery
relates to how an individual with mental illness undergo change in terms of attitude, perception,
values of life, role play and feelings (McGorry, 2014). This recovery is not based on the clinical
treatment (Cavelti, Homan & Vauth, 2016). Instead, it is a unique process of change to have
fulfilled life and live with purpose despite limitations of illness. Recovery as a whole is