Principles of Nursing: Mental Health

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF NURSING
Principles of Nursing: Mental Health
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1PRINCIPLES OF NURSING
Mental health illnesses had emerged as one of the most important issues that the
different individuals of the world are currently suffering from (Reeves, 2015). The problem
of substance abuse directly contributes towards different kinds of mental health issues that
the individuals commonly face and in some of the severe cases of substance abuse the
patients start to lose their sense of time and place as well (Quiros and Berger, 2015). Some of
the most important problems that the individuals with sustained substance abuse face are
hallucinations, depression, anxiety, a high sense of insecurity, paranoia and others (Isobel,
2015). These are precisely the problems that Lisa, a repeated substance abuser of cannabis
and speed faces in the video “Understanding the MSE – Lisa”.
There are various issues or causes which lead to substance abuse like genetics,
physical environment, mental health illnesses, peer pressure, trauma and others (Hall et al.,
2016). In the video under discussion here, Lisa is a patient who had been under medication
for quite some time however she again begins to use substances like speed and cannabis on
moving in with her boyfriend (DreamSchemaMedia, 2011). More importantly, she had
become psychotic and is afraid that the cameras in her home are watching and also her
boyfriend had placed a transmitter in her stomach so as to monitor her (DreamSchemaMedia,
2011). She becomes disillusioned and starts to sleep in the garden shed with a knife under her
pillow thinking that her boyfriend Jonah will hurt her. Three of the major factors which have
contributed towards her problematic substance use are peer pressure, environment and
trauma.
In the video, Lisa mentions to her counselor that her parents did not want her to move
out with her boyfriend and ever since she had moved out she had no contact with them
(DreamSchemaMedia, 2011). This in turn had created a feeling in her that she is being
neglected by her parents and in turn had added to the trauma which she feels at the house of
her boyfriend. Kirst, Aery, Matheson and Stergiopoulos (2017) state that trauma or neglect

2PRINCIPLES OF NURSING
for that matter is one of the major issues or causes which propel the individuals to use drugs
like cannabis, speed and others. Another important issue which had caused the problem of
substance abuse which Lisa is presently suffering from is environment in which she lives. For
example, she is recently moved out of her parent’s home and is living with her boyfriend,
Jonah. The house of Jonah has security cameras which make Lisa uncomfortable and also
makes her think that she is being watched and the cameras are trying to say something to her
(DreamSchemaMedia, 2011). More importantly, this had made her to have hallucinations and
she thinks that her boyfriend is trying to harmful although she herself says that he had not
given any cause to her to make her think so or has not hurt anybody till now. Thus, in order to
cope up with these insecurities or safety concerns she resorts to the usage of cannabis and
speed to adjust to her present environment, that is, in the home of her boyfriend, Jonah.
Lastly, the factor of peer pressure is another important issue which has made her to resort to
the usage of drugs again after undergoing medication for the same. In this regard, it needs to
be said that while she was at her parent’s home, they made her to undergo proper medication
and also she did not feel the urge to intake drugs. However, the act of her parents not talking
to her after she had moved out of their house is another factor which could have contributed
in a significant manner towards her substance abuse problem. This had created a sense of
abandonment in her mind and in order to adjust the new reality of her life she resorts to the
usage of drugs once again.
The Department of Health Services had made it mandatory for the service providers
to use the “trauma-informed care and practice” principles for the delivery of effective as well
as quality services to the patients with different kinds of problems (Isobel & Edwards, 2017).
The six important attributes or principles of the concerned framework of care and practice are
safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality,
empowerment and choice, cultural, gender and historical issues (Bryson et al., 2017). The