Dimensions of Physical and Mental Health

This reflective report explores the dimensions of physical and mental health, focusing on the importance of mental health and addiction awareness in nursing. The report discusses a scenario involving a homeless individual with mental health issues and highlights the nurse's emotions, thoughts, and learnings from the experience. It concludes with recommendations for improving skills and knowledge in order to effectively work with individuals experiencing mental illness.

Dimensions of Physical and
Mental Health
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Event...........................................................................................................................................3
Emotions.....................................................................................................................................4
Thoughts.....................................................................................................................................4
Learnings....................................................................................................................................5
Application.................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
Reflective writing is characterised as the analytical practice within which the real or
imaginary event, passing thought, scene, interaction or memory is described by an individual and
includes own reflection on its meaning (Alexander, LaRosa, Bader, & Garfield, (2020). This is a
reflection report which is based on view point of nursing about mental health. In this reflection, I
reflect upon my own feelings and thoughts about mental health and addiction and determine the
actions that I need to take to improve my skills and knowledge to work effectively with
individuals experiencing mental illness. A scenario of Bill who has long mental health crisis
history is taken into consideration to reflect on my own experience (Strout & Howard, (2015).
MAIN BODY
Reflective writing is the way of documenting responses of an individual to opinions, events,
experiences or new information. It is how an individual exploring his learning. It needs clear line
of thought, utilisation of examples or evidence to describe reflections. I am providing reflection
on my own experience that I get in a particular scenario. I use some steps while reflecting on my
own experience as this help me in providing reflection in systematic way (Caspi & Moffitt,
(2018).
Event
I am working in a hospital setting as a nurse and I have the responsibility to take care of the
patients. One day, when I was returning home I saw a man who was slept out in the cold and has
a history of mental health issues. The man was homeless and recently been discharged from
acute inpatient mental health ward.
At that time, I was able to hear him yelling on another people and see him waving a half
drunk bottle of wine. He looks untidy and cold and as I walked past him, he yells at me too and
said watch your back or they will get you. At that time, I got scared and very fearful as it was
never happened to me before. I was not able to think that what can I do. I was very scared and
didn't know whether I listen to that person or not. I was just fearful and didn't know about the
condition of the person initially. But later on, I found that the individual was suffering from
mental health issues and substance abuse problem. And as a nurse, it was my responsibility to
provide him with proper care in order to improve his health condition (Edelman, Mandle, &
Kudzma, (2017).
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Dealing with substance abuse, drug addiction or alcoholism is not an easy task. It becomes
very difficult for a person to deal with any kind of addiction when the individual is already
suffering from mental health issues. Co-occurring of both have their own symptoms that
influence the ability of an individual to handle difficulties of life, function appropriately and
maintain stable life. Alcohol addiction and mental health issues are closely linked with each
other and cause prolonged psychotic reactions (Friedman, (2015). As the person was homeless
man, and no one was there to take care of him, he often abuses alcohol to ease the symptoms of
mental disorder and to cope up with difficult emotions or change their mood. However, he didn't
acknowledge about the side effects of alcohol addiction on his health. It worsens the symptoms
of mental Health issues.
Emotions
During all that scenario, I was very nervous and scared also and not able thought what I
required to do. Then when I think a little, then I was able to understand that the person is not in
the good condition and was suffering from mental health crisis. Then I got to know that the
person has recently been discharged from acute inpatient mental health ward. After that my
reaction towards the whole situation gets changed. As a nurse, my responsibility is to help people
in improving their lives and so I did at the time (Harris, (2017). With the help of some other
people, I took the person to the hospital and got him admitted. I felt bad for the person and
thought that how he can live without home. I thought about the situations through which the
person may undergo and what leads the person to such a situation. There were so many questions
in my mind which I haven't found any answer. I got very emotional after seeing the condition of
the person and as a nurse I performed my responsibility well.
Thoughts
As a nurse, I required various skills, knowledge and attributes to deal with such a situation
such as effective communication skills, patience, sound knowledge base, knowledge about
mental health issues and addiction etc. At that time, I realise that my communication skills were
not so good and I faced some difficulties while interacting with the person and the other persons.
Due to less effective communication skills, I was not able to understand properly what the person
wants to say (Hutchison, (2018). Apart from this, I also have less knowledge about mental health
and addictions which create some difficulties for me at that time. Initially, I was not able to
understand the condition of the patient, but later on when I found that the person the was
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suffering from mental health issues and has recently been discharged from hospital then I
understand his situation. During the whole event, my perceptions about the persons were
negative initially and when I got to know about his condition, main perceptions completely
changed towards him. Then I felt bad for him and there were so many thoughts came in my mind
during that time.
Learnings
From the overall situation, I learnt so many things. I learnt that situations matter a lot in the
life of a person (MacKinlay, (2017). Initially that the individual was not a good person but after
knowing his condition and mental health issues, I reacted normal. That was the very first case
which I seen related to mental health issues. And at that time I found that the knowledge that I
have was not sufficient to deal with the individual suffering from mental health issues. After
interacting with my other staff members, I found that sleep changes, loss of energy,
concentration problems, trouble concentrating, excessive tension and worry, anger, aggressive
behaviour, physical pain etc. are the symptoms of common mental health issues. That experience
was not at all good for me and I was not able to completely understand the situation. But I realise
that, I lack knowledge and skills on which I need to work upon. My previous life experiences
had highly influenced on my assumptions (O’Connor, Neff, & Pitman, (2018).
Application
I learnt many things from this experience and found that in order to grow professionally and
personally, I need to work upon my own skills and knowledge base. For improving my
knowledge base, I will read different literatures and articles which are related to mental health
and addiction (Muir-Cochrane, Barkway & Nizette, (2018). Apart from this, I get knowledge
from my seniors and learn from them by working with them. I will also read different books
which are related to mental health and addiction. All these actions will help in improving my
knowledge base regarding the mental health issues and addiction. This will help me in future in
dealing with such people effectively who are suffering from mental health related issues. In
addition to this, I also need to work upon my communication skills. In order to improving this
skill, I will undertake communication sessions of professionals. Along with this, I will also make
use of online videos on communication so as to improve my communication skills. Through
improving communication skills, I will be able to interact with others more effectively and able
to understand other people and make other people understand what I want to say. In future, when
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I will come across the same event again, my improved communication skills and knowledge base
will help me in dealing with the situations effectively (Naci & Ioannidis, (2015).
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that reflecting on own experience
help in learning many things. Through reflective writing, the individual attempt to convey his or
her own thought process Its main purpose is to assist an individual learn from a specific practical
experience. It assists in ascertaining strong and weak areas which make the individual able to
take appropriate actions to improve the weak areas and grow personally and professionally in
their life. Reflecting on own experience provides an opportunity to the individual to review
thoughts and feelings related to particular event and make improvements which help in dealing
effectively with such situations in future.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Alexander, L. L., LaRosa, J. H., Bader, H., & Garfield, S. (2020). New dimensions in women's
health. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2018). All for one and one for all: Mental disorders in one
dimension. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(9), 831-844.
Edelman, C. L., Mandle, C. L., & Kudzma, E. C. (2017). Health promotion throughout the life
span-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Friedman, H. S. (2015). Encyclopedia of mental health. Academic Press.
Harris, H. (2017). The social dimensions of therapeutic horticulture. Health & Social Care in the
Community, 25(4), 1328-1336.
Hutchison, E. D. (2018). Dimensions of human behavior: Person and environment. Sage
Publications.
MacKinlay, E. (2017). The spiritual dimension of ageing. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Muir-Cochrane, E., Barkway, P., & Nizette, D. (2018). Pocketbook of Mental Health. Elsevier.
3rd edn, Mosby Elsevier Australia, Chatswood, NSW.
Naci, H., & Ioannidis, J. P. (2015). Evaluation of wellness determinants and interventions by
citizen scientists. Jama, 314(2), 121-122.
O’Connor, K., Neff, D. M., & Pitman, S. (2018). Burnout in mental health professionals: A
systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence and determinants. European
Psychiatry, 53, 74-99.
Strout, K. A., & Howard, E. P. (2015). Five dimensions of wellness and predictors of cognitive
health protection in community-dwelling older adults: A historical COLLAGE cohort
study. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 33(1), 6-18.
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