Mental Health Nursing Theories

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING THEORIES
MENTAL HEALTH NURSING THEORIES
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MENTAL HEALTH NURSING THEORIES
Mental health issues refer to the health conditions that involve changes in the emotion
along with the thinking or behaviors. Such disorders are seen to be associated with higher
levels of distress and problems in functioning effectively in social, family, as well as work
activities in professional lives (Adams, 2017). Untreated mental ailments are considered to be
the leading cause of disability, which results in severe emotional, behavioral, as well as physical
health problems. Often it has been found that people suffering from mental ailments do not
want to talk about it as they feel embarrassed and ashamed. This might be because of the
stigmatization and prejudices, practiced by the societies leading leading to the discrimination
against mentally ill patients (Davidson, 2016). The fear of social exclusion often makes them
conceal their health issue that increases their suffering. Even some patients remain unaware
that they are suffering from mental health issues. Treating mental health ailments are
challenging and much more time consuming and difficult than treating physical ailments.
Helping the mentally ill patients to open up, gaining their trust, developing bonds with them,
empowering them, enabling them to follow interventions are much difficult and strenuous for
mentally unstable patient than that of patients with physical ailments (Delaney et al., 2017).
Hence, nurses need to use proper nursing theories that can help patients overcome their
mental health issues and live better quality lives. This assignment intends to show how nursing
theories can be applied by healthcare professionals to help patients overcome their issues and
live better quality lives. This assignment would exhibit “how use of proper nursing theories can
help mental health people overcome the barriers and develop empowerment, hope and strength
to develop the potential to live better quality life and aim to achieve their goals in life”.

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MENTAL HEALTH NURSING THEORIES
A 45 year old man namely Sean McMurray had been admitted to the psychiatric ward
after he had been found to be trying to harm himself in his apartment with vegetable knives.
The neighbors are of the opinion that he stays within his house and rarely come out. His wife
had divorced him last month and went to Canada with the children. He had being consuming
excessive alcohol and drugs. He had lost his job 6 months back and it had become very difficult
for him to pay his bills. His wife had been frustrated with him for long. He often comes to the
neighbors’ door asking for food. His best friend Tom had brought him to the ward stating that
he stays awake all night and faces difficulty in sleeping. He is completely withdrawn from the
society and feels embarrassed. He no more enjoys bowling and swimming that he used to enjoy
and is even found to lack confidence, interest, and pleasure in activities that he used to
conduct. Feelings of loss, hopelessness, helplessness surround his thoughts all the time. Tom
felt that he might be going through mental disorders and had taken him to the mental health
ward to help him overcome the issues. He states that he feels bad to see his stout friend to lose
so much weight and remaining in tattered and unwashed clothes in miserable situations.
The nursing professionals attending the patient named Sean need to follow the
RECOVERY ORIENTED NURSING care where focus would be placed on the recovery of the
patient. This nursing procedure would help him to gain or retain hope, enabling the patient to
understand his abilities and disabilities, and helping him stay engaged him in an active life.
Studies are of the opinion that when mental health patients are given the scope of developing
personal autonomy, social identity, understanding the meaning and purpose of life, they can
unearth a positive sense of self, which helps them overcome the emotional turmoil they suffer
(Cogan 2019). It has been found that when patients suffer from mental illness, they tend to lose

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MENTAL HEALTH NURSING THEORIES
all forms of hope of getting over their sufferings and pain which in course of time affects their
will to live and socialize. Hence, in case of Sean, the main aim of the nursing professionals is to
make him feel empowered about his own capabilities of coping with the stressful situations.
The nurses who attended him followed six important principles. The first principle was
maintaining the uniqueness of the individual where it becomes important for the professionals
to recognize that recovery is not necessarily about cure but is mainly about developing
opportunities for the patient to have choices and helping him live meaningful, satisfying as well
as purposeful live. It is about making him a valued member of the society. Sean was observed
to have no aims for life where he had completely lost hope for living a better quality and
meaningful life and hence it was a necessary approach. The second principle that the nurses
should follow is called “real choices”. They should support patients in building their own
strengths so that the patients can take full responsibility of their own lives (Trompetter, de
Kliene & Bohlmeiher, 2017). They need to make choices about how they want to live their own
lives; at the same time acknowledging that choices need to meaningful and creatively explored.
The third principle is called “attitudes and rights”. The nursing professionals have the
responsibility to listen, learn from and act upon the communications from that of the individual
as well as the caregivers about what is significant to each individual. The nursing professionals
should be supporting patients in maintaining and developing social, recreational, activities that
are meaningful to the individual (Diclemente et al., 2016). It is important to show to Sean that
the nurses are not judgmental about his present mental health condition and that they are
empathetic towards his suffering, through therapeutic communication procedure. This would
help Sean to feel that he is cared and not avoided for his mental health issues. This would make