Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing

This document discusses the importance of promoting mental health and wellbeing. It covers topics such as the Mental State Examination, the Stress-Vulnerability Model, and mental health recovery. The document provides insights into diagnosing mental disorders, understanding the causes of mental illness, and implementing recovery-oriented practices.

RUNNING HEAD: PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING 0
Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing
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PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING 1
Question 1
Mental State Examination is the description of the state of the person on the basis of
behavior, attitude, speech, insight, perception and cognitive functionality (Jacobi, et al., 2015).
This examination helps psychiatric to give accurate diagnosis to the patient. It relates to gaining
information regarding the appearance, behavior and mood of the patient. Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder classifies the mental disorder and provides a standard
language for the convenience of the clinicians for treating the patients (Cherry, 2019). DSM-5 is
used as used diagnostic tool used by the healthcare organizations to be introduced by the
American Psychiatric Association (APA) on 18 May 2013 as the recent edition (Blevins,
Weathers , Davis, Witte, & Domino, 2015). It classifies the diagnosis into different categories
and helps in finding the accurate treatment to be given to the patient by overlooking the
symptoms and also provides an easier way for the clinicians for identifying the disorder
(Fortinash & Worret, 5th Edition). Appearance relates to the physical appearance, lifestyle,
clothing and ability of self-care (Reis, Wheeler, Spiegel, Kernis, & Nezlek, 2018). However, the
mental status of the Lucinda falls in the criteria of “depressive disorders” which is analyzed by
determining cognitive functionality of Lucinda like mood, behavior and her attitude towards the
life. After the identification of her cognitive functionality, the nurse then measures the score of
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) to determine the
presence of depressive disorder (Schalet, et al., 2016). By analyzing the score, depression
diagnosis can be given to her.
By examining the mental status of Lucinda, it is assessed that behavior is the second
component in MSE that includes body language, facial expressions, eye contact and ability of
engagement which can be the important factor in determining the mental status of the patient.
Further, mood describes the inner feeling of the patient which can be altered by the perception of
the patient (Wegbreit, Franconeri, & Beeman, 2015). Similarly, for examining the mental status
of Lucinda who is suffering from perinatal mental illness, it is crucial to determine the
appearance, behavior and mood of her. When Lucinda entered the clinic, she was well groomed
which states that she takes care of herself but her daughter was wearing a short sleeved dress on
a cold day. The behavior of Lucinda is described by the fact that she was staring at the floor and

PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING 2
was not making eye contact with the nurse. Further, her hands are wet often becomes tearful
when she expresses her situation. Moreover, Lucinda is feeling exhausted in taking care of Emily
and she feels tearful in explaining her inner feelings. Further, the second criteria for the mental
status of Lucinda is “trauma and stress-related disorders” as she is over stressed about her
problems also has past of stressful experiences when she gave birth to Emily. When Lucinda was
giving birth to her daughter she had to go through painful delivery and she has doubt that she is
not taking care of her daughter in a proper. However, when she gets pregnant again she is
stressed that how she will handle all that hurdles again. Thus, her conditions is has prevalence of
trauma and stress related disorder and therefore diagnosis can be given according it.
Question 2
Stress-Vulnerability Model describes the effects or causes of the mental disorder and also
facilitates clinicians to determine the cause and thereby treat the deterioration of mental
wellbeing of the patient (Calvete, Orue, & Hankin, 2015). The model works by considering two
factors ‘stress’ and ‘vulnerability’ in which stress is described as the challenges and vulnerability
is determined by early life experiences (Andreano, Touroutoglou, Dickerson, & Barrett, 2018).
In case of Lucinda, biological vulnerability can be the leading factor that led to the mental status
of Lucinda. Biological vulnerability is likely to be biological in nature and a person is more
likely to be affected by the disease. It occurs due to some early life experiences due to factors
such as history of trauma, birth complications or previous anxiety (Rico & Van Den Brink,
2015). Similarly, Lucinda’s mental status can be the result of trauma which can be seen from the
fact that she had painful experience of pregnancy. When she was pregnant with her fist baby, she
has faced many difficulties at the time of delivery and she gets anxious when she thinks about
those experiences. It can be noted that the model of vulnerability is can be used by analyzing the
symptoms of Lucinda’s mental status and schizophrenic disease can be evaluated (Zubin &
Bonnie, 1977). Therefore, Lucinda is suggested to take medications that will balance the
neurotransmitters which can lower the possibility of psychiatric disorder. Therefore, this can be
protecting steps for reducing biological vulnerability through trauma as the contributing factor.
Moreover, stress can be the second contributing factor which led to the mental status of
Lucinda. Stress takes place when a person is suffering from pains or challenges in the day-to-day

PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING 3
life. Stress arises when a person loses interest in the activities and finds no purpose in the life
(Janis, 2016). As a result, the person starts to feel anxious about the negative incidences in the
life and often feels lack of involvement and meaning in life (Hungerford, Hodgson, Jong,
Bostwick, & Clancy, 2018). Similarly, Lucinda is suffering from stress since she came to know
that he is pregnant with the second child. She had painful experiences of her first daughter
delivery and took a long time to get physically ready to take care of Emily. She has stress that
she is already facing troubled in the parenting of Emily and also believes that she is not a good
mother. Now that she is pregnant again, she is stressed about the birth of the unborn baby and
often feels unmotivated. Further, by using trauma care model, increasing the possibility of
recovering from stress can be a protecting factor for treating with stress (Seaward, 2017). It can
be noted that it is not impossible for healing with stress. Lucinda should develop coping skills for
handling stress and should also try to reduce the effects of vulnerability. Getting engaged into
interesting activities and increasing involvement with the people can protect the negative effect
of stress.
Question 3
Mental Health Recovery refers to gaining hope for the future and having interactions with
the people in order to enhance social life which can lead to addition to the meaning in life (Slade
& Longden, 2015). However, the recovery-oriented practice can be suitable for the mental
wellbeing of Lucinda as she is being suffering from stress. There are principles of this recovery
oriented language which elaborates using of prompt attitude and showing positive regard to the
condition of Lucinda will be helpful in dealing with the mental illness of Lucinda (Roberts &
Thekkepalakka, 2009). Further, treating her with respect can be a successful option for making
her feel involved. Respect is concerned with expressing honest opinion about the patient and
giving due acceptance to the values and beliefs of the patient in order to create a sense of
belongingness. However, respect can help Lucinda in feeling motivated (Davidson, 2016). As
Lucinda is suffering from high mental stress and often feels low when she thinks about her
experiences. Thus, giving her honest opinion regarding her condition and diverting her attention
to her strengths can create integrity. Rather, disrespecting her thoughts and opinions can lead to
decrease in the hope and can severely affect her mental health.

PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING 4
Moreover, empowerment relates to enhancing or endorsing the skills of others in order to
keep them motivated and realize their skills and abilities. Similarly, when treating a patient,
empowerment can be a good recovery practice that has to be adopted for healing the mental
illness of the patient (Rubin & Babbie, 2016). However, as Lucinda has been going through
hardships and has terrible experiences of the past, therefore empowering her skills and
supporting the choices that she had made throughout the life can be a very beneficial step
towards her immediate recovery. Empowerment can provide her a purpose in life and can be a
major factor in the promotion of her mental wellbeing (Evans, Nizette, & O'Brien, 2016). This
can be done through giving her motivation to fight with her problems by showing her the right
path and often expressing that she can regain life and can have a future ahead with her family.
Hope refers to the addition of meaning in life when someone has gone through hard
experiences and a positive attitude to for moving forward. Thus, hope has a major contribution in
the mental health recovery. When a person is suffering from stress, often loses interest in daily
activities and forget their purpose in life (Slade & Longden, 2015). Therefore, creation of hope
can lead to positivity and showing the positive side of the hurdles can be a successful recovery
for the mental health (Dixon, Holoshitz, & Nossel, 2016). Similarly, Lucinda has lost purpose in
life due to her stressful experiences. She feels exhausted when she thinks about her unborn baby
and has a perception that she is not a good mother. This thought has continuously stressed her
and made her unmotivated. Thus, hope can build a purpose in the life. Hope can be a positive
inner feeling that will motivate her and also it can be a helpful practice for finding peace and be
patient even in her problems and difficulties.

PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING 5
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