Mental Health Nursing Report: Depression, Suicide, and Community Risks

This report delves into the critical aspects of mental health nursing in Australia. It begins by examining the incidence of depression and suicide rates, highlighting the prevalence of these issues within the Australian population and identifying at-risk communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and young adults. The report then analyzes a case study involving a patient named Jonathon, exploring factors contributing to his mental health risks, such as the loss of his mother and strained relationships. It emphasizes the ethical and legal considerations within mental health care, focusing on the importance of beneficence, non-maleficence, and patient autonomy. Furthermore, the report prioritizes urgent mental health risks, particularly the immediate effects of a suicidal attempt, and outlines nursing interventions to safeguard the patient, including assessing suicidal levels and promoting social interaction. Finally, it suggests therapeutic interventions like Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to address depression and improve the patient's mental well-being. The report provides comprehensive insights into the challenges and interventions related to mental health nursing in the Australian context.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Mental health nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Answer to Question 1
Part a
Incidence of Depression in Australia
According to Mental Health Services in Australia (MHSA), the most prevalent mental
health illness in Australia is depression (Stuart, 2014). It is the major cause of disability in
Australia and around 3 million people experience depression. More than 45 percent of
Australians experience depression and in a year, around 1 million adults suffer from this mental
health condition. Among the adults (aged 16-85) are affected by affective disorders like
depression (6%) of the total population. One in five (20%) experience depression in the last 12
months and in the year 2015, an estimated 4 million people suffer from depression. Around one
in six women and one in eight women suffer from depression levels as reported by Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Only 35% of the total Australians seek treatment for depression
especially men as compared to women. Hospital admissions for depression are rare and less as
much as 1% over a year period (Brown et al., 2012). Postnatal depression is also witnessed
among mothers as they experience mild to severe depression.
Incidence of Suicide in Australia
In Australia in the year 2017, around 3000 suicides were reported that resulted in a great
impact on the family members, friends and relatives. Over the past few decades, about 2100
Australians died every year due to suicide and contributed to 1.4% of total deaths in Australia.
The suicide rates among the children in Australia below the age of 15 years has increased by
92% and mostly among men, regional and rural dwellers (De Leo, 2015). According to
Australian hospital databases, females are more likely to injure themselves as compared to

2MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
males; however, suicide picks have increased for men. In 2015, around 12.6 per 100,000 (3027
of total cases) Australians attempt suicide and likely to increase in the next ten years (Cheung et
al., 2012). This accounts for eight suicide deaths each day in Australia. Suicidal deaths among
men are three times higher as compared to females. The highest suicidal rate is among the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as compared to the national rates. About 52% of
suicide rates were reported among Indigenous people and 1.8% among the non-indigenous
people. There are around 65,300 suicide attempts every year in Australia.
Part b
Community at risk of depression
The risk for depression is highest among the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders
(TSI) in Australia. They are psychologically depressed and the main cause for the depression is
trauma, grief and loss. The impact of colonization, history of invasion, premature mortality, loss
of land, culture, and family separations are the major causes of depression among the
Aboriginals and TSI people (Heffernan et al., 2012).
Age group at risk of suicide
The suicidal rates are high among the Australian young adults and are a serious issue as they
are potentially at risk of committing suicide. It is the leading cause of death among the young
adults of the age 15-44 years and in 2015, one-third of the population (33.9%) among 15-24
years and 27.7% among 25-34 years population. Suicidal rates among the 15-24 years are at the
highest and it is found that it is higher among men than in women. The young adults in Australia
are vulnerable to suicides and occurring in clusters among the youths (Clifford, Doran & Tsey,
2013).

3MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Answer to Question 2
Two factors that contributed to Jonathon’s mental health risks and concerns in the
scenario A are the death of his mother due to breast cancer and as his father has a hectic
schedule, he was unable to spend quality time with his father as he has a positive relationship
with him. After he lost his mother, there were feelings of grief and loss that contributed to his
mental health risk and concerns. He misses his mother a lot and experience grief and loss as his
closeness with his mom and dependence was indispensable. His mother died of breast cancer and
that contributed to his deteriorating mental health condition. He started experiencing grief and
sleep problems. He started experiencing depression and sadness because of that thought of never
seeing his mother again. Moreover, he showed signs of anxiety that affected his relationship with
Leah. They started facing turmoil and on the day f his suicide attempt, she spoke about ending
the relationship (Eisma et al., 2013).
On the other hand, after his mother’s death, his father was the only support. He shared a
positive relationship with his father and wanted to spend quality time with him. However, his
father was busy and was unable to spend time with him and as a result, this started hampering his
personal relationship with Leah, as he was emotionally distressed as a result of emotional
distance. As a result, his relationship was on the verge of ending. Moreover, he started feeling
and weak due to lack of appetite and could not submit his assessments on time leading to
suspension from the training program. These factors contributed to his deteriorating health and
mental status (Ziaian et al., 2012).

4MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Answer to Question 3
Within the professional healthcare team, mental health issues need to be addressed as it has
legal and ethical considerations associated with it. There is a need to protect the patient from
self-harm and protect the public from the client. In the case scenario, Jonathon’s mental health
condition can make him prone to self-harm and provide emotional support by his family so that
they are also protected. In Mental Health Act 2007, two ethical considerations like beneficence
and non-maleficence are important to safeguard Jonathon from risk in the case study. In
psychiatric nursing, they have the ethical responsibility of duty to do good (beneficence) and
non-maleficence that is cause no harm that respect patient autonomy. In the case scenario A,
after his suicide attempt, it is evident that the mental healthcare team has the responsibility to
provide the best treatment and care (beneficence) and duty to do good safeguarding him from
self-harm. As he is prone to self-harm, the mental health professional team has the responsibility
to cause no harm to him and provide best quality of care that balances his safety with choices.
The professional healthcare team has the responsibility to remove or prevent the harm that is to
improve Jonathon’s situation by empowering and providing him emotional support. They have
ethical responsibility to protect him from causing harm and have the obligation to help him and
his family through this crisis (Johnstone, 2015).
Answer to Question 4
The priority and urgent mental health risk are the immediate effect of suicidal attempt
that is affecting his health and quality of life. It may lead to depression and affect his other
areas of life like his relationship with his father and Leah. It is so overwhelming that he is
unable to cope up and end up harming himself to end the deep emotional pain that he is facing.

5MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
On a priority basis, nurses and midwives have the responsibility to safeguard Jonathon.
There is risk for self-directed harm that might be physical or emotional harm to him. There might
also be impaired social interaction due to dysfunctional interaction with his father and Leah.
There is verbalized discomfort and disrupted family interactions that devoted to loneliness and
lack of support system. There is also fear of rejection as Leah talked about ending of the
relationship. These feelings make him prone to distressed mood and feelings of suicide.
It is important for the nurse to assess the suicidal level and precautions that are needed to
protect Jonathon. The rationale behind this intervention is that it would help to assess the risk
level and provide safe environment and supervision required for the client. This has an impact
that it would prevent him from self-harm and getting suicidal thoughts. It is also important for
the nurse to take an active part in the initiation of communication and identify feelings that
lead to suicidal attempt and feelings of suicidal attempt. This is important, as it would help him
to socialize and provide him ample time to talk to people and enhance social interaction. This has
a positive impact, as it would help him to prevent thoughts of suicide and lack of social support
that is greatly hampering his quality of life (Fortinash & Worret, 2014).
Answer to Question 5
The mental health problem for Jonathan is depression. It is important for the nurses to
identify the psychosocial and physical needs and provide relevant interventions. It is also
important that there should be trust and patience along with presence, active listening and beam
with the client attitude. Nurses should assess the reactions and feelings of Jonathon and provide
supportive interventions so that he is able to recognize and deal with his feelings.

6MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Interpersonal therapy (IPT) would be helpful in focusing on the problems in the
personal skills and relationships that have a significant effect on Jonathon who is experiencing
depression. It would also help to recognize the patterns in his relationships that is making him
vulnerable to depression. This therapy is helpful in identifying the patterns and provides focus on
the relationship improvement like grief and loss that is the main cause of depression in Jonathon
(Cuijpers et al., 2011).
Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT) is a psychological intervention would help
him to accept his life situation and embrace the private events that have happened in his life. This
helps to increase psychological flexibility in Jonathon and has a potential impact on him to
enhance his present contact ability to accept his life situations and persist or change his
behaviour-providing acceptance to reality (Pots et al., 2016).

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References
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Cheung, Y. T. D., Spittal, M. J., Pirkis, J., & Yip, P. S. F. (2012). Spatial analysis of suicide
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risk across states/territories. Social Science & Medicine, 75(8), 1460-1468.
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Heffernan, E. B., Andersen, K. C., Dev, A., & Kinner, S. (2012). Prevalence of mental illness
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