Nursing care for mental health patients with substance abuse

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Mental health and substance abuse
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MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Brief description of the topic
The current topic focuses upon the aspect of providing nursing care to the ones
suffering from mental health issues owing to substance abuse. The nurses and the midwives
play a huge role in the control and management of substance abuse. The problem has been
rampant within the youth as they have been overtly exposed to drugs and alcohol as a result
of peer pressure. The nurses and the midwives have been often employed in the care of the
patient suffering from substance abuse within rehab care. The midwifery nurses could help
the patient cope up with drug addiction by supporting them through alternative holistic care
regimens (Perry et al. 2015). The substance abuse nurses care for patient in both inpatient and
outpatient settings. They work with patient of all ages, which includes adults as well as
juveniles. There are various aspects of treatment in mental health care and substance abuse
such as – patient education, mental health counselling and physical care. Though, the mental
health counselling the nurses aims at understanding the issues which contribute to the
development of psychological dependency over drugs by the patient. As mentioned by
Kitchener and Jorm (2017), helping the patients figure some of these deep rooted
psychological issues can reduce the chances of the drug relapse.
The midwives could also contribute towards positive patient education by educating
the patients regarding the ill effect of drug dependency over their physical as well as mental
well being. The midwives also extend their support to the family members of the patient by
teaching them on the manner in which they should interact with the patient or help them cope
up with the drug addiction through love and support (Hughes et al. 2018).