Analysis of Mental Health Issues and Interventions

This report provides an analysis of mental health concerns in Australia, focusing on suicide and depression. It examines the incidence of these issues, identifies at-risk community groups, and explores the factors that contribute to the development of mental health concerns, using a case study of Jonathan. The report delves into ethical principles like beneficence and non-maleficence and their application within the context of the Mental Health Act 2007, offering insights into high-priority mental health risks and urgent interventions. Furthermore, it identifies the mental health problems faced by the individual in the case study and proposes two related interventions, namely Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the application of principles from positive psychology, to address these challenges. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of mental health issues and their management.

MENTAL
HEALTH

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Q1 Concern regarding suicide and depression in Australia...................................................1
Q2 Two factors that develop mental health concern..............................................................2
Q3. Ethical principle of beneficence and non- maleficence and aspects of mental heath act
2007 related to the case..........................................................................................................3
Q4 High priority and urgent mental health risk......................................................................3
Q5 Identification of mental health problem and two related interventions............................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

Q1 Concern regarding suicide and depression in Australia
a) Incidence of suicide and depression in Australia and their impact
Ans. Suicide is major health concern and is one of the leading cause of death in Australia. In
2017, according to channel 10 news around 3000 people committed suicide till 28 May 2017.
With reference to the Australian statistics regarding the suicide around 2400 people commit
suicide every year. People from different community are involved in performing this attempt like
from different age group, employment stream and cultural group (Improving mental health
outcomes for all, 2017).
Some people are facing mental illness along with many difficulties regarding family,
employment and community that pressurise them to end, but some sort of social support and
timely treatment saved their life. One of the major factor that forces people to suicide is
depression.
Clinically depression is an illness that affects the feeling of someone and result in
lowering of mood. There are several causes of depression: it can be due to loss of someone, due
to bipolar disorders, loss of feeling pleasure in activities and many events like unemployement,
relationship breakdown or due to isolation. Severe depression result in development of mental
illness that ends with suicide.
It is estimated that around one in 35 Australian at the age in between 4-17 experience
depression which means 2.8% that is equivalent to 112,000 people. Due to depression one
among 7 Australian suffers with mental disorders that is around 13.9% which is equal to 560,000
children's and adolescents of Australia. Due to mental stress one in 14 people in Australia
become prone to anxiety disorders that is approximately 278,000 youngsters. After getting
affected by the mental disorders many people get positive treatment that help them in
overcoming the situation but in many case people with this illness unable to receive any support
and finally result in suicide (Statistics on Suicide in Australia, 2016).
b) Community groups who are at risk of depression and suicide
Ans. According to Compton and Shim (2015),The average age of people dying due to suicide is
between 15-44 in which rate of male dying is three times more than that of female. Alcohol and
suicide have strong correlation between them, in about 30-50% cases of suicide alcohol is the
prominent substance found during post-mortem. It is considered that around 20% Australians
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male become mental illness due to alcohol abuse and are not able to receive the proper treatment
which results in suicide. Suicide rate of males are higher in rural and remote area as compared to
that in urban areas, which includes the farmers and migrants. Main reason behind committing
suicide is change in climate and various political issues regarding the farming industry, loosing
the farms, many natural disasters their impacts on economy.
On the other hand according to Walker, McGee & Druss (2015), 15% suicides are result
of depression in Australia. Community of people with mental and emotional pain are at the
higher risk of depression the urban areas and the major reason is breakup with family and
partnres. After relationship breakups and family stress people start feeling isolated that develop
emotions pain which result into into depression and in severe case leads to mental illness.
Q2 Two factors that develop mental health concern.
Ans. Two major factors that contributed to the development of mental health concerns in
Jonathan are: feeling of isolation after his mother death and the second reason is the anxiousness
regarding thought of being lay off from TAFE. As per the view of Trivedi and et.al. (2015), the
main reason of isolation was working condition of his father and deteriorating relationship with
Leah. After his mother death Jonathan father have to work more to support the family which in
turn leave Jonathan alone and this emotional pain make his relation with Leah more worse that
develop the feeling of isolation in his mind. But according to Siu and et.al. (2016), main reason
of isolation was affect of his mother death. Jonathan suffered pain of getting separated from his
mother after her death which in turn develop depression in his mind. As to come up with the
family need Jonathan father have to work more and due to this reason he was not able to express
his thoughts and get more mentally ill. Acute mental illness and feeling of isolation creates the
mental health risks in Jonathan.
Second reason behind increasing risk regarding mental health is feeling of anxiousness.
According to Matcham and et.al. (2013), after mother's death Jonathan started loosing his will
which result in the weakness and absence of mind at the work place. That is the main reason due
to which he is unable to complete the assessment given by Technical and Further education
Institution [TAFE] to him. On the other hand according to Pearson and et.al. (2013), after getting
depressed due to his mother's death and feeling of isolation due to his father's working condition
he started getting mentally sick. Due to this reason he was also not able to balance his
relationship with Leah which in turn highly worsen his condition. He become ill and start getting
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tired due to mental stress of the events happening in his life. This is only the reason he unable to
cop up with his work and study, working along with mental stress make his mental condition
more critical and he start feeling fatigue and anxious. Impact of all the situation result in his
inability to complete the assessment at time which in turn increase the feeling of anxiousness.
Q3. Ethical principle of beneficence and non- maleficence and aspects of mental heath act 2007
related to the case
Ans. Beneficence is major part of ethical codes in nursing profession, in which the actions are
performed that give benefits to the patients. In the case of Jonathan he suffering from depression
which result in making him feel that he is a failure. In such situations nurses should deal with
patients very calmly and support them in every argument. According to principle of beneficence
work of nurses in such situation is to provide patient with moral support and convince them to
come up with situation they are facing. Role of the nurse is to encourage him and suggest to get
involved in society and start making friends with whom he can share his thoughts and get
emotional support to easily cope up in harsh situation.
According to principle of non-maleficence patients should not be harmed. It includes the
act that doesn't do bad if they are not doing good for the patients. In this case where Jonathan is
facing problem related to consciousness due to over dose of alcohol and pain killers, nurses
should provide patients with stress management therapies which include meditation and
breathing techniques. In case if patient is not benefited with this idea then also he is not having
any bad affect on his health, such practices are considered under the principle of non-
maleficence.
According to Mental Health Act 2007, patient should be treated with respect and
importance must be given to there wishes and feelings. In case of Jonathan he should be
provided some liberty and must be involved in the planning of treatment which will be beneficial
for him. Involving the Jonathan will boost up his will and enhance the rate of recovery from the
depression he is facing. Following the principle of beneficence and non-maleficence along with
the application of norms of Mental Health Act 2007 enhances the recovery process and lower
down the risk regarding mental health.
Q4 High priority and urgent mental health risk
Ans. Jonathan was brought to hospital in semi-conscious condition which was the result of
attempting suicide by taking overdose of Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. Urgent need of
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concern in this stage is overdose of medicines, it is necessary to reduce the effects as it may
complicate the situation (Statistics by Topic, 2017). Absence of proper treatment may lead to
symptoms like nausea, dizziness, confusion, breathing difficulties, hallucinations, internal
bleeding and may lead patients to coma. It is important to get over the situation before any
further treatment.
Two important intervention which are taken to improve the situation are: first is the
complete body assessment and second is removal of drug from the body. In the emergency
department full body tests are performed like blood test along with lactate, electrolyte and blood
gases test are performed. The latter test is performed to check the oxygen concentrations and
acid-base balance in the Jonathan blood. In case of imbalance it result in respiratory acidosis or
alkalosis having the symptoms of tingling, numbness, chronic lungs problems and obesity. On
the basis of cause treatment procedures are done. Rationale behind doing blood test is to check
the concentration of drug in the body and further treatment can be done accordingly and it does
not cause any impact on patients body.
Second intervention is the involvement of process to remove the drug from the body,
there are various process which are helpful in completing this process. The most common
method is administration of oral activated charcoal. Rationale behind this is, it interrupts with
enterohepatic, enterogastric and enteroentric circulation of the absorbed drugs and on the other
hand unabsorbed drug will get absorbed by activated charcoal. As it is made from vegetable
matter such as peat, coal, wood so there is no such harmful effect on the body. But along with
absorption of toxins and drugs charcoal also absorbed the nutrient from the stomach which may
result into weakness in patients. So after the application of this method patient must be supplied
with nutrients to regain the loss strength. These interventions can be taken by the nurse herself
without taking any advice from health care advisor.
Q5 Identification of mental health problem and two related interventions
Ans. Main reason behind taking overdose and committing suicide is feeling of failure because
of the severe mental illness due to the depression. The major need of concern is the treatment of
mental illness by eradicating the problem of depression. Two intervention which can be applied
to treat Jonathan condition are: application of Cognitive behavioural therapy and second is
following the principle of positive psychology.
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First approach is regarding Cognitive behavioural therapy, it is a short term
psychotherapy treatment which involves the practical approach to solve the problem of patients.
The main goal of this therapy is to alter thinking pattern of person to change the way of thinking
over a problem. In case of Jonathan CBT will help in cognitive restructuring, which will used to
identify the negative thought that arise in Jonathan which contribute to development of
depression. Nurse can clarify Jonathan that blaming oneself even if there is no involvement also
result in depression, thus help in changing attitude of thinking. Second part of this therapy is
enhancing the behavioural activation, that aims to engage Jonathan in more enjoyable activities
and help in boosting up the will and problem solving skills (Valstar and et.al. 2013).
Second approach is regarding the implication of principles for positive psychology, that
deals in enhancing the strength of individual. Nurses can help Jonathan by enhancing the positive
emotions that will strongly help in fighting against depression. This process also help in
increasing the desires and recognition in patient which enhance the life satisfaction and reduce
the impact of depression. Another type of positive psychology is increasing the managing skills
and flexibility of brain that help in fighting against the increasing impacts of depression. Last
but not the least important approach is making Jonathan understand the purpose and meaning of
his life. Life without any mean is worthless, giving life a pathway helps in enhancing positive
thinking which in turn decrease the impact of depression. Nurse should also encourage Jonathan
in creating a social support that can help him providing moral support in any sort of feeling of
isolation or depression. Through these measure Jonathan will be able to recover quickly and
initiate life with new purpose of living without any excess use of medicine. These approaches not
only help in overcoming the situation but also provide him with a lesson of how to deal with any
such situation if it occur in up coming future.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Compton, M. T., & Shim, R. S. (2015). The social determinants of mental health. Focus,. 13(4).
419-425.
Matcham, F. & et.al. (2013). The prevalence of depression in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic
review and meta-analysis. Rheumatology,. 52(12). 2136-2148.
Pearson, R. M. & et.al. (2013). Maternal depression during pregnancy and the postnatal period:
risks and possible mechanisms for offspring depression at age 18 years. JAMA
psychiatry,. 70(12). 1312-1319.
Siu, A. L. & et.al. (2016). Screening for depression in adults: US Preventive Services Task Force
recommendation statement. Jama,. 315(4). 380-387.
Trivedi, R. B. & et.al. (2015). Prevalence, comorbidity, and prognosis of mental health among
US veterans. Journal Information,. 105(12).
Valstar, M. & et.al. (2013). AVEC 2013: the continuous audio/visual emotion and depression
recognition challenge. In Proceedings of the 3rd ACM international workshop on
Audio/visual emotion challenge (pp. 3-10). ACM.
Walker, E. R., McGee, R. E., & Druss, B. G. (2015). Mortality in mental disorders and global
disease burden implications: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA
psychiatry, .72(4). 334-341.
Online
Improving mental health outcomes for all. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/who-we-are>. [Accessed on 31st
August 2017]
Statistics by Topic. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ViewContent?
readform&view=productsbytopic&Action=Expand&Num=5.7.14>. [Accessed on 31st
August 2017]
Statistics on Suicide in Australia. 2016. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.lifeline.org.au/about-lifeline/lifeline-information/statistics-on-suicide-in-
australia>. [Accessed on 31st August 2017]
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