Case Study Analysis: Mental Health of Lucinda and Recovery Model

This case study analyzes Lucinda's mental health, focusing on her postpartum depression and the factors contributing to her condition. The analysis begins with a Mental State Examination (MSE), highlighting behavioral observations and insights into Lucinda's feelings of guilt, anxiety, and concerns about her role as a mother, referencing the DSM V criteria for depression. It then explores the Stress Vulnerability Model, identifying her traumatic past pregnancy and feelings of inadequacy as key stressors. The study also emphasizes the lack of family support as a contributing factor. Finally, the analysis outlines a recovery plan based on the principles of hope, empowerment, and respect, as well as the importance of patient involvement and self-determination. The plan suggests strategies to support Lucinda's choices and encourage active participation in her recovery process.

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Question 1-
Mental State Examination (MSE) is a psychological screening test that helps in
determining mental state of the person by analysing various components considering both
subjective and objective data of the patients. Therefore, the two components identified in the
case study of Lucinda are behaviour and insight of the patient. Behaviour is the primary
observation done by monitoring psychomotor activity, their movements and eye contact. Lucinda
was observed to be mentally incompatible for delivering the second baby since she had faced a
lot of issues and complications with her first pregnancy. Moreover, she thinks herself to not be a
good mother and therefore have a feeling of guilt inside her. She was also noticed to have
anxiety and finds trouble breathing that indicates her severity of clinical depression. If a deep
insight of Lucinda is made, it can be noted that Lucinda was not confident of her role as a mother
because of her incapability of taking care of her first child. Although, she was often found to be
tearful when talking about Emily indicating her concern about the child, she was ignorant and
not able to pay attention as her child was noticed wearing a short sleeved onesie on a cold day.
She was even noticed being tearful when speaking about caring for Emily and found to be
wringing her hands indicating her being upset and nervous. She was also guilty because of not
taking care of her child and often thought of going out of family, from Emily and her husband’s
life.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM V) outlines the criteria
for the diagnosis of depression (Sachdev et al., 2015). According to the DSM V, Lucinda was in
a very bad phase of depression. She was depressed most of the day, almost every day and lost
pleasure in every activity. Lucinda was demotivated did not want to get out of bed which
signifies that she had a reduced physical movement and a slowed process of thought. She felt

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
exhausted and tired which is a sign of clinical depression according to the DSM V and felt guilty
and worthless because of not being a good mother, which gives a clear understanding of her
current mental state.
Question 2 –
Lucinda has experienced a painful and frightening pregnancy when her first child was
born with forceps extraction and she had a posterior presentation with prolonged labour. Now,
she is when pregnant with her second child, she was frightened whether she will be able to cope
up with the pain and distress she had during her first pregnancy. She feels exhausted for caring
Emily, her first child, and she may fear that this pregnancy will again have a negative impact in
her life. She was so careless and anxious at the same time that she forgot to give a warm cloth to
her child in a cold day that indicates her being restless and worried about getting pregnant.
Therefore, the two factors that were evident in the case study contributing to her current mental
state in the context of Stress Vulnerability Model are her past experience of traumatic birth and
incapability of being a good mother, good at household work and helping her husband
financially.
Besides that, she was also emotionally not ready to give birth to a child. She had to drop
off her studies and work because of her past pregnancy and could not help her husband
financially. She had realization and felt guilty of not taking care of Emily. She was not feeling
confident to give birth to this child because of her past experience and she believed that she will
not be a good mother to the child to be born since she was never a good mother to Emily. Her
family was also not there when she needed support. Her husband had to work for long hours and
could not give enough time to the family and her mother could not visit them since she could
afford the cost of air tickets. Though her husband, Jerome has a supporting family, but lived at

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port Macquarie. She needed mental support at that point of point which she was devoid of. She
stayed alone and somehow developed symptoms of depression gradually and progressively with
time. Had there been a family involvement and support to give her guidance and mentally
support her by taking care of both her and the child, there would have been no such scenario of
mental health issues and the family would have been in a much better condition. Lucinda was
found with tears when talking about caring her child, Emily, which shows that she is concerned
about her child. She was only feared and anxious of the fact that she cannot be a good mother to
her next child since she believed that she was not a good mother to Emily.
The Stress Vulnerability model, proposed by Zubin and Spring, 1977, identifies each
individual’s unique social, biological and psychological elements that includes, vulnerabilities
and strengths to deal or cope with stress. As the case study reveals, Lucinda was anxious and
stressed because of past medical history. She was vulnerable towards stress and therefore was
not confident of giving birth to her second child. It has been found that, stress for a prolonged
period of time can impact human health and causes mental illness to develop gradually (Goh &
Agius, 2010).
According to the case study, Lucinda was pregnant with her first child at a very young
age when she started to study accounting. She continued her study till she delivered the baby but
had to defer her studies and work to take care of Emily. She wanted to continue her study again
as she immigrated to Australia for studying accounting and help her husband financially, on
realising that she is pregnant with another child, she got stressed that she will have to take more
time off studying and feels guilty of the fact that she will not be able to help her husband. The
feeling of guilty, loneliness and stress contributed to her current mental health condition.
Question 3-

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When it comes to treating individual with mental illness, recovery means promoting,
retaining and gaining hope, understanding and considering both one’s abilities as well as
disabilities, respecting, engaging in an active life, considering personal autonomy, meaning and
purpose in life, social identity and a positive sense of self (Health.gov.au, 2010). It is to be noted
that recovery and cure are two different processes and are not synonymous with each other.
Recovery includes both the internal conditions a person experiences and describes themselves
being in the recovery such as hope, empowerment, healing and connection, as well as, the
external conditions facilitating the recovery process, that is, implementation of human rights,
recovery oriented service and a positive culture of healing (Health.gov.au, 2010). Therefore the
three principles of the recovery model are hope, empowerment and respect. In the context of
recovery model, hope is defined as a perception of a person that the goal can be met. It can also
be stated that dispositional hope is a general cognitive set that applies to almost every situations
and are relatively constant across time, whilst, state hope differs across particular situation and
time (Copic et al., 2011). According to Picton et al., 2018, empowerment and self-determination
in people suffering from mental illnesses are inhibited by discrimination, stigma and social
isolation. Therefore recovery should focus on partnership and inclusivity for enhancing
empowerment among the patient’s with mental illnesses. Hence, for Lucinda, recovery plan
should include strategies for involving her in activities that will enable her to self-reflect and
increase her self-determination (Picton et al., 2018). Mental health of a person is also affected by
social acceptance, respecting their views and points and treating them with dignity. Therefore,
the recovery model for mental illnesses should include protecting the patient’s rights and
exterminating discrimination that are considered to be crucial in the recovery process
(Store.samhsa.gov, 2019).

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Lucinda should be engaged in the process of self-empowerment by supporting and
empowering her choices about how she wants to live her life. Her perceptions and point of view
must be encouraged, supported and acknowledged by the care giver by actively listening to her
concerns. The therapist or the care giver must understand her emotional needs and through active
and effective communication understand and access her needs and promote in retaining hope
through emotional support. The helper must treat Lucinda with care and respect by being
compassionate, courteous and honest in every interaction (Schrank et al., 2014).
Mental health assessment aims at providing voluntary and independent self-asserting
treatment based on the ability to cope with one’s life. Patients are not commonly and sufficiently
involved in their treatment, therefore, an increased patient involvement is the goal of the
recovery process (Samuelsen, Moljord & Eriksen, 2016). Patient involvement not only motivates
and facilitates the patients for accessing their rights and take active actions in the recovery
process. The approaches for recovery are structured in such a way so as to enable the patients use
their own resources and actively take part in their own life (Samuelsen, Moljord & Eriksen,
2016). Patient involvement is important for re-establishing and preserving hope. The
understanding of regulation of emotions is a better way of recovery rather than focusing only on
symptoms. The experience of patients of being in control as well as being emotionally robust
leads to the regaining of authority and being self-empowered. Patient’s participation in the self-
referral-treatment process contributes to person based effective health service that takes into
consideration, person’s choice and voice. It is the responsibility of the care providers to impart
sufficient environmental empowering and contribute in creating hope in such a way that patients
can master their own lives by being self-empowered and re-establishing and preserving hope
(Gilburt, 2013).

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