Therapeutic Engagement and Psychosocial Interventions

This assignment provides an overview of therapeutic interventions used in mental care units to improve the mental wellbeing of patients. It includes a case study of a patient with schizoaffective disorder and the process of developing skills in using interventions and their implications and consequences.

Running Head: THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
Introduction:
Therapeutic intervention is demarcated as the effort made by the individuals and the
group of the healthcare staff in order to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of the patient,
who requires help but is either refusing it or is unable to take help (Bateman & Fonagy, 2019).
The therapeutic intervention can be physical, psychological and pharmacological depending
upon the health condition of the patient (Das et al., 2016). In the mental care unit, different
therapeutic interventions is used to improve the mental wellbeing of the patient. The assignment
includes the overview of the therapeutic interventions that is used in the case of X (pseudonym)
and process of development of the skills in using the intervention and its implication and
consequences.
Case study:
X (pseudonym) is a 38 year old man, who belongs to indigenous population and has a
past medical history of a mental disorder named as schizoaffective disorder. The patient has been
suffering from depression, anxiety, agitation, aggression, thought disorders, concerning
behaviors and bizarre from last two weeks towards his family members and along with that, it is
also reported that the patient is experiencing command auditory hallucinations. The patient X has
testified that he has used THC and ICE currently. In this short period of time the patient has also
broken up with his partner. By observing the patient, it can be stated that the patient is distressed
and is also experiencing difficulty in concentrating on a particular thing and also gets confused
while answering any questions and provides appropriate response. The risk factor identified
behind his behavior is the multiple stressors such as, the patient has lost his during a car accident
for about 2 months earlier and the grandmother of the patient has also died around 4 weeks ago

2
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
by getting heart attack. Due to his behavior, the patient is not able to engage with his neighbor
and hence lacks support.
Discussion:
Therapeutic intervention in the treatment of the patient suffering from mental illness is
proved to be affective (Schut et al., 2016). As discussed above the patient has been suffering
from different mental complication such as, depression, anxiety, agitation, aggression, thought
disorders, concerning behaviors and bizarre and hence requires help from mental care unit to
lead a standard life.
In the case study, it is observed that the patient does not involve more with his neighbors,
also behaves rudely with the family members, lost his parents and grandmother recently and also
broke with his wife recently and hence has no support. Hence, it is very important to provide
support to the patients so that, he can share his needs and concern. It can be achieved by
maintaining a therapeutic relationship with the patient by engaging with the patient. By engaging
with the patient, the nurse should gain knowledge regarding the needs of the patient and should
also be able to identify the risk factors behind his illness and hence based in that, the nurse
should formulate the care plan (Woolf et al., 2016).
Motivational interview is also one of the most effective therapeutic intervention. The
patient is in trauma due to the recent incident and hence requires counseling. Motivational
therapy is referred to as the counseling approach provided by the clinical nurse and the
psychologists. It is a client centered approach, which helps in eliciting the behavior of the patient
and helps the patient to resolve and explore the ambivalence (France et al., 2016). According to

3
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
the principles of the motivational interview, the nurse should express empathy and provides
support to the patient.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is also known as the talk therapy that provides the patient
with the ability to cope up with the stressors and should be able to handle the situation more
effectively (Dobson & Dobson, 2018). In the case, the signs and symptoms of the patient, it is
observed that the condition of the patient is due to the recent incidents which leads to change in
the behavior as the patient is not able to cope up with the loss and resulted to anxiety and
depression. Hence, by the help of cognitive behavioral therapy, the nurse should talk with the
patient and should help him to cope with the situation in order to reduce anxiety, depression and
other behavioral changes (Zettle & Hayes, 2015).
As discussed in the case study, that the patient have problem in maintaining social
relation due to which the patient is not able to form a healthy relationship with his neighbors.
Social skills training helps the patient to enhance their social skills. It is used by therapist to help
those individual who has been suffering from mood and anxiety disorder (Turner et al., 2015).
In the case study, it is identified that along with the patients, the family of the patients is
also having a rough time. Hence, it is important for the nurse to educate them with the strategies
that can help the patient and their closed ones to deal with the mental. According to Wilson et al.,
(2018), psychoeducation helps to improve the wellbeing of the family and the patient, lowers the
rate of relapse and enhances the recovery if the patient.
Apart from these behavioral therapeutic intervention, the other therapeutic intervention
that helps in improving the health condition of the patient includes, physical activity and diet. In
this intervention, the patient is encouraged to involve in physical activity and should take healthy

4
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
diet. This enhances the mood of the patient and will help him in making social relationship with
the patient (Knapen et al., 2015).
In the case, different stressors have been identified which is responsible in the mental
health condition of the patient, which can be recovered by the help of stress reduction programs.
Dialectal behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, mind-fullness based cognitive
therapy are the type of stress reduction therapy.
The nurse or the healthcare staff should use mindfulness stress reduction therapy for 8
weeks, which helps the patient to recover from stress and anxiety. With the help of dialectal
behavior therapy is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps the patient to change
negative behavior (Grøholt, 2016). With the help of the acceptance and commitment therapy, the
ability of the patient to change their behavior.
All of the therapies mentioned above helps the patient to recover from their anxiety and
depression. It will increase the concentration power of the patient and hence the patient will be
able to answer question more confidently without being nervous. With the help of the behavioral
therapy, the other behavioral complications which is, agitation, aggression, rude behavior,
thought disorder of the patient will also be reduced (Dobson & Dozois, 2019).
These therapy will help the patient to cope up with the situation, and should aids the
patient to overcome from the grief of the death of patient’s parents and grandmother.
Apart from healing the mental complication of the patient, application of these therapies
will help the nurse or the other healthcare staff to enhance their skill. With the help of
engagement therapy, the nurse is able to develop their engagement skill and as well as will also
help to develop the communication skill. By developing the communication skill, the nurse will

5
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
be able to form an effective therapeutic relation with the patients and is able to formulate the care
plan accordingly. Other therapeutic intervention such as motivational interviewing and cognitive
behavioral therapy will help the nurse to develop their patient handling skill and will also aid in
developing the skill by which they can treat the patient by enhancing their mood (Ennis, Happell
& Reid‐Searl, 2015). Psychoeduaction will help the nurse to gather information about the
strategy which helps in getting better health outcome of the mental health issue. With the change
in the health behavior strategies, the patient will get knowledge regarding the diet and the
physical activities which help to get more effective outcome.
Stress reduction program, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, dialectal behavior
therapy and the acceptance and commitment therapy helps the nurse to gather better assessment
skill. All these therapies will help the nurse to enhance their observational skill, communication
skill and other important skill which would help the nurse in future.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that, therapeutic intervention is
considered as one of the best approach in the treatment of the patient who has been suffering
from any mental illness. From the above discussion, that the behavior of the patient is due to the
current multiple stressors which can be effectively treated with the help of the different
therapeutic interventions such as, by establishing professional therapeutic relationship with the
patient as he has no support due to his detachment with everyone, motivational interviewing,
rehabilitation and the cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoeducation and psychotherapy. These
therapy also helps in the development of skills in the nurses so that they can provide enhanced
patient care. Apart from these, the patient can also be treated by altering his health behavior such

6
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
as physical activities and diet, dialectal behavior therapy, stress reduction program, mindfulness-
based cognitive therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy.

7
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
References:
Bateman, A. W., & Fonagy, P. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of mentalizing in mental health
practice. American Psychiatric Pub.
Das, J. K., Salam, R. A., Lassi, Z. S., Khan, M. N., Mahmood, W., Patel, V., & Bhutta, Z. A.
(2016). Interventions for adolescent mental health: an overview of systematic reviews.
Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(4), S49-S60.
Dobson, D., & Dobson, K. S. (2018). Evidence-based practice of cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Guilford Publications.
Dobson, K. S., & Dozois, D. J. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of cognitive-behavioral therapies.
Guilford Publications.
Ennis, G., Happell, B., & Reid‐Searl, K. (2015). Clinical leadership in mental health nursing:
The importance of a calm and confident approach. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care,
51(1), 57-62.
France, C. R., France, J. L., Carlson, B. W., Kessler, D. A., Rebosa, M., Shaz, B. H., ... &
Ankawi, B. (2016). A brief motivational interview with action and coping planning
components enhances motivational autonomy among volunteer blood donors.
Transfusion, 56(6pt2), 1636-1644.
Knapen, J., Vancampfort, D., Moriën, Y., & Marchal, Y. (2015). Exercise therapy improves both
mental and physical health in patients with major depression. Disability and
rehabilitation, 37(16), 1490-1495.

8
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS
Mehlum, L., Ramberg, M., Tørmoen, A. J., Haga, E., Diep, L. M., Stanley, B. H., ... & Grøholt,
B. (2016). Dialectical behavior therapy compared with enhanced usual care for
adolescents with repeated suicidal and self-harming behavior: outcomes over a one-year
follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 55(4),
295-300.
Schut, C., Mollanazar, N. K., Kupfer, J., Gieler, U., & Yosipovitch, G. (2016). Psychological
interventions in the treatment of chronic itch. Acta dermato-venereologica, 96(2), 157-
163.
Turner, D. T., McGlanaghy, E., Cuijpers, P., Van Der Gaag, M., Karyotaki, E., & MacBeth, A.
(2017). A meta-analysis of social skills training and related interventions for psychosis.
Schizophrenia bulletin, 44(3), 475-491.
Wilson, L., Crowe, M., Scott, A., & Lacey, C. (2018). Psychoeducation for bipolar disorder: A
discourse analysis. International journal of mental health nursing, 27(1), 349-357.
Woolf, S. H., Zimmerman, E., Haley, A., & Krist, A. H. (2016). Authentic engagement of
patients and communities can transform research, practice, and policy. Health Affairs,
35(4), 590-594.
Zettle, R. D., & Hayes, S. C. (2015). Rule-governed behavior: A potential theoretical framework
for cognitive-behavioral therapy. In The Act in Context (pp. 33-63). Routledge.

9
THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS