Mental-Health Nursing, Case Study of Lisa

Running Head: MENTAL-HEALTH NURSING 1
Mental-Health Nursing, Case Study of Lisa
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MENTAL-HEALTH NURSING 2
Mental-Health Nursing, Case Study of Lisa
In order to help people with drug-related issues, understanding the reasons behind their
drug use habits is very important. The reasons behind some people getting into drug abuse are
called risk factors while the factors which protect others from drug abuse are called resilience
factors. The reasons why people abuse drugs vary greatly from one person to another. More
often than not, people get into drug abuse as they try to fix some issues within their lives. For
instance, a depressed person finds himself into drug abuse when trying to get a solution out of
the depressed condition while a teenager may find himself into drug abuse trying to fit with peers
and viewing drug abuse as a way of feeling “a part of them”. Other people abuse drugs as a way
of self-medication. From mental health disorders to chronic pain, many people find themselves
into drug abuse with the aim of alleviating ailment symptoms. This paper has identified three
issues which have contributed to drug abuse in Lisa’s case as presented in the video
https://youtu.be/83i2MWMqph8. The three issues are mental illness, loneliness, and family
conflicts.
According to research by the National Bureau of Economic Research, there is a close
connection between the use of addictive substances and mental illnesses and that large
percentage of common drug users are patients with mental health disorders (Sousa-Poza, 2018).
Further research has indicated that people going through a mental illness such as anxiety,
depression, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and others stand at a higher risk of becoming
drug addicts. These people usually get into drug and substance abuse in an attempt to cope with
difficult feelings they usually undergo. In the case scenario of Lisa, it comes out clearly that she
has been seeing her counselor from the local drug service for some time after her first admission
in a psychiatric hospital where she was diagnosed with some mental illness. She was then

MENTAL-HEALTH NURSING 3
discharged on anti-psychotic medication. However, from her interaction with Jenny during the
counseling session which was displayed in the video, Lisa after moving in with her boyfriend
took a couple of weeks not using the medication. This is true because she attests not to be aware
of where the drugs where. From a healthcare approach, for any kind of medication to work
effectively, a patient must complete the dose as prescribed by the doctor. In the case of Lisa, that
was not the case and hence the mental illness which had been diagnosed earlier might be back
and hence making her abuse drugs with an aim of alleviating the symptoms of her condition.
This issue relates to the first principle of the trauma-informed approach which advocates for the
safety of an individual.
Another issue which comes out clearly from the storyline is loneliness. After moving in
with Jonah from her parent’s house, Lisa is staying alone in the house whereas she was used to
living with her parents. This might be affecting her to the extent of abusing substances to cope
with the feeling of loneliness. In addition to being alone in Jonah’s house, Lisa must also be feel
isolated by the family especially in consideration to the fact that she confessed of her mother not
talking to her anymore after her decision to move in with Jonah. To her, turning into drug abuse
fully must have been facilitated by the urge to fill the void she was living in. This relates to the
fourth principle of the trauma-informed approach (collaboration and mutuality) which advocates
for both physical and psychological support (Evans, Nizette & O’Brien, 2017).
The third issue which might be facilitating the problematic substance abuse by Lisa is the
family conflicts. From the case study, Lisa narrates that her parents were not happy with her
moving in with Jonah but she decided to move in with Jonah. According to Lisa, her parents got
angry with her for moving in with Jonah and that had broken their communication with her.
When the narration is phrased in line with the confession by Lisa that she has not been able to