Mental Health Disorder: A Comprehensive Analysis of Causes, Treatments

This report provides a comprehensive overview of mental health disorders, tracing their historical development and defining key concepts. It explores the prevalence of mental illnesses such as anxiety, mood disorders, and schizophrenia, detailing their symptoms and potential treatments, including psychotherapy, medication, and lifestyle factors. The report highlights the impact of various factors on mental health, including genetics, environment, and lifestyle, while also discussing the role of nurses in assessment, intervention, and patient care. It emphasizes the importance of early intervention and the need for continued research to improve treatment strategies and address the global burden of mental health disorders. The report also touches upon the challenges faced by healthcare professionals and the importance of removing stigma associated with mental health.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH
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Title: Mental Health Disorder

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According to Bertolote (2009), the origin of mental health can be tracked since the
invention and development of public health. Mental health as a word could be found in the
English dictionary even before the 20th century but mental health as a discipline found in
1946, during an International Health Conference in the New York, where the WHO and the
Mental Health Association were founded. Before the founding of mental health there existed
the concept of “mental hygiene” which first came in to existence in the 1843 in a book titled
designed to explain on health and duration of life. In 1950, in WHO congress, the definition
of mental health and mental hygiene were nailed. Mental hygiene was described as any
activity or technique focusing on maintaining and encouraging mental health. Mental health
was defined as a condition affected by both social and biological factors, causing its
fluctuation and makes one attain their instinctive and conflicting drive so as to maintain peace
with others and bring a positive change in their physical and social environments.
Thirunavurakusu, Thirunavukarasu and Bhugra (2011) define mental health as one’s
behavioural, emotional and cognitive health. This term could also be used to mean the
absence of mental health. Mental health affects one’s day to day life, physical activity and
even their relationship with the environment. A person with a good mental health, they have
the ability to enjoy life and achieve an equilibrium between life struggles and activities,
therefore achieving psychological resilience. Thirunavurakusu et al. (2011) claim that mental
health and mental wellbeing are an integral part in having a satisfactory, happy and
meaningful life. Researcher and health care professionals are working hard so as improve the
mental health patients, though their attempt has been met by different setbacks. These
obstacles have been as a result as poor understanding and lack of mind medical
conceptualization. The understanding of human brain by health care professional has been
affected by different vested interests as a result of the mental health conceptualization having
implications which reach far domain s such as religion, politics, social and personal lives, law

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and the state policy. This definitely led to troubles in the psychiatric diagnosis and stigma in
the practice. There is a need by health care professionals, according to Thirunavukarasu
(2011) to conceptualize mind and mental health if they are to be honest in their study and
promotion of mind and mental health in the society. This mental conceptualization would
also be important in removing the existing stigma and confusion associated with psychiatric
illness and activities. Thirunavukarasu suggested a utilitarian mental health concept with its
core concept being conceptualizing mental health. This was termed as manas so as eliminate
the existing misconceptions and beliefs about the mind. The current mind and mental concept
are as a result of the existing Cartesian medicine concept that recognizes the mind as a
platform that the body interacts with.
Manas is a combination of 3 different components, including thought, intellect and
mood, with each existing in every manas at all times. The mood comprises of what is being
felt by an individual, the thought is all that which one is thinking and the intellect includes
one’s computational activities. Everyone has only one manas which ceases to exist when the
person’s existence is terminated. The manas cannot affect anything that it does not form a
part of and still nothing can directly affect the manas unless it forms part of the manas. The
manas controls the behaviours and if not affected then the condition cannot be considered
psychiatric (Roberts, 2018). The manas health state is called mental health. Manas can be
considered as an attribute of self just like the body.
According to Nordqvist (2017), everybody is at a risk of contracting mental health
issues regardless of their age, gender, social status and ethnicity. Research shows that 18.5
percent of the Americans are reported with mental health complications, with more than 9.8
million adults associated with mental health issues in 2015. The most common mental
illnesses include mood, anxiety and schizophrenia disorders. Anxiety, which is the common
mental disorder is due to severe fear of certain things or conditions. People having this

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disorder try to distance themselves with the anxiety triggers. Graham (2010) thinks panic
disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder are some
examples of anxiety disorder. Mood, affective or depressive disorders are characterized by
sudden changes in moods. Examples include bipolar disorder, major disorders, seasonal
affective disorders and persistent depressive disorder. Schizophrenia is a complex mental
disorder which attacks an individual between the age of 15 and 25. The victim has
fragmented thoughts and faces difficulties in processing information. This disorder has both
positive and negative symptoms. The positive ones include hallucinations, thinking disorders
and delusions while the negative ones include flat moods, absence of motivation and
withdrawal.
The early signs and symptoms of mental disorder includes withdrawal from people
and things that previously mattered to an individual, differences in one’s eating and sleeping
habits, uncharacteristic emotions, confusion, delusions, thought of harming oneself, inability
to complete tasks and hallucination (Silvanus & Subramanian, 2012). There exists different
ways to treat mental health disorders. A method used in treating a certain mental health
disorder may not apply to another victim with the same disorder. Some treatments are more
effective when combined in treating a certain disorder. Some of the strategies taken to treat
mental illnesses include psychotherapy medications and self-help.
There also exist theories that claim that mental health could be affected by life style
factors (Young, 2014). Among these are exercise and body activity. Exercise does not only
control body weight and protecting the physical health of an individual but it could be
effective in treating and preventing mental health issues. Exercise is also important in
reducing muscle pain. There is no measurable amount of exercise considered to cure mental
health but frequent exercise helps improve one’s moods. In the past, therapist could not find
and correlation between smoking and mental health and therefore did not pressure their

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clients in quitting smoking. It has recently been discovered that most people suffering from
mental illnesses are smoker and quitting this activity has positive effects on one’s mental
health. Young (2014) thinks that when smoking one takes in a lot toxins where some could
contribute to mood problems. One’s diet has a direct effect on one’s health, which in turn
affects one’s mental health. Good physical health is important in maintaining a good mental
health. A person struggling with their physical health are at a risk of attaining mental illness.
Sometimes physical health complication can be direct cause of mental health problems. Any
kind of abuse within one’s environment, be it physical, psychological or sexual abuse can
lead to mental defects.
Cirulli, Laviola and Riccen (2009) claim that mental disorders would soon be
recognized as among chronic and disabling disorders. Most people do not appreciate the
relationship between mental disorder and other infections, making is a more burden to
research on these disorders. There exists some health conditions that further the risk for
mental disorder and comorbid diseases make it more complicated to obtain help, diagnosis
and treatment. Cirulli et al (2009) further suggest that the leading cause of mental disorder is
early exposure early stress. It could also be as a result of maternal conditions or issues arising
from one’s nutrition. The existing medical and psychological interventions have proven to be
efficient for most mental defects, with most of the patients responding positively to
treatments. However, the existing treatment strategies and policy seem to be insufficient,
calling for more research and therapeutic strategies and interventions as far as mental health
is concerned. Travasso, Rajaraman and Heymann (2014), in there research discovered that
mental health disorders contribute to 12 percent of the burden of diseases in the world.
Mental disorders are also a risk factor to communicable, non-communicable infections, and
bring injuries while affecting child and maternal health. According to the WHO (2010), much
has been done as concerns treatment and prevention of communicable and non-

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communicable infections, but less has been directed to mental health disorders (Patel, Boyce,
Collins, Saxena and Horton, 2011). According to the Registrar General and Census
Commissioner (2011) 31 percent of Indian population lives urban areas with almost a third of
this population living in slums. These poor conditions causes environmental, domestic and
working challenges which at the long run lead to mental health issues. This led to Gruebner et
al. (2012) drawing the conclusion that life stressors are risk factors to mental health disorder.
Mental health nurses provide mental health assessment, interventions, therapy,
medications and assistance to patients with mental disorders. According to the video, the
client shows restlessness. She sometimes seem to be responding to some stimuli in the room
the health professional tries to question the client so as to assess her conditions and to what
extend it could be of harm to her. The client claims that she could hear voices and see people
with cameras in the room. This is hallucination. This made her to go sleep and spend time
alone carrying a knife to protect herself. She experiences command hallucinations which
command her to behave in a certain way. At this point the health professional has to question
the client further so that she explores any possible risk. The health professional detects that
the client is possible of hurting her partner. The client also seems to be attentive but she
sometimes cannot capture what the health professional is saying. She seems that she cannot
remember the last time she took her medications. After the assessment the counselor
concludes that the client may be having mental illness and that she was capable of hurting
herself and others. The client is also under substance use. She therefore hands her over for
further assessment. The counsellor involves the client in making her treatment decisions. It is
also noticeable that good communication skills are important here. These nurses help mental
health patients in managing their conditions so as to live productive lives (Balaji et al. 2012).
A mental health nurse would first interview their new client so as to obtain information
concerning the patient’s history, any other existing diseases, their habit and symptoms to their

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conditions (Poongothai, , Pradeepa, Ganesan & Mohan). These nurses work hand in hand
with the treatment team so as to come up with an individualized patient plan so that the
patient could receive quality and maximum care and have a normal life. The psychiatric
nurses are responsible for offering advice to the patient and their families concerning the
disease. They can also help the patient in dressing, grooming and taking their medication,
depending of the patient’s condition.
According to Waidman, Marcon, Pandidni, Bessa and Paiano (2012) the role of
mental health nurses cannot be overlooked in the provision of primary care to the mental
health patients regardless of the many challenges they face. According to Cunningham
(2009), as the population of older adults increase, there is an increase in mental health
conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The behaviours of the
Alzheimer’s disease patients pose a great challenge to their families, nurses and caregivers
Alicia et al. 2018). It could be difficult to manage these behaviours in the home settings as
could lead to exhaustion (both mental and physical) and also could frustrate the caregiver.
Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions would provide, with the nurse
advice, would present better results. A mental health nurse is responsible for managing and
assessment of clinical risks. Clinical risks include negative conditions that could occur from
the patient such as suicide, neglect, self harm, violence, exploitation and harming others. The
mental health nurse should assess the likelihood of these events occurring, when to expect
them and their severity (Clifton, Hemingway and Felton, 2018). The process of assessment
and management of patients with mental health disorders is collaborative and involves
doctors, nurses and therapists. It is also important that the nurses use specialized
communication skills so as to create an effective therapeutic relationship with their patient.
However, psychiatric nurses are faced with different challenges in their field. First,
since the long, these nurses faced stigma from their non-psychiatric nurses. They point out

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how their patients are and the sense that they do not fit in the mainstream of other patients.
The stigma also comes in on how the mental health care nurses approach their patients, which
is completely different from how other health professionals do it (Trenoweth, Docherty,
Franks and Pearce, 2011). But according to the psychiatric nurses, the approach to patients
should not at all create ant stigma. Nurses and psychiatrists have complained of the
increasing burden in dealing with mental health patients. Other barriers to mental treatment
could include concerns about privacy and confidentiality, lack of awareness and exposure as
pertains severity of mental disorder and high cost of treatment.

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