NSB204: Systematic Reflection on Mental Health: Self and Others

This essay presents a systematic reflection on personal beliefs regarding mental health and illness before and after taking a unit on Mental Health: Self and Others. The author uses the 5Rs reflective framework (Reporting, Responding, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing) to analyze how their views have changed. Initially, beliefs were influenced by socio-cultural factors, associating mental illness with trauma and severe conditions. The learning experience introduced factors such as financial and biological influences, different mental disorders, and effective treatment strategies like psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. The author aims to implement patient-centered care and recovery-oriented practices in their future practice, emphasizing communication skills to provide adequate service to patients with mental illness.

Running head: SYSTEMATIC REFLECTION
SYSTEMATIC REFLECTION
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Introduction:
Previously I had some personal beliefs regarding mental health and illness. However,
after understanding the unit Mental Health: Self and Others, most of my beliefs have changed
regarding the mental illness and it has helped me to develop better understanding regarding the
matter. In this paper I will reflect on my experience regarding how the unit has helped me to
change my views and develop better understanding through 5Rs reflective framework.
5Rs Reflection Framework:
Reporting:
I believed that events of mental illness is related to the some factors such as past trauma,
sexual abuse, physical abuse, brain injury due to major accident and damage during prenatal
stage and it occurs after a certain age period (Caplan, 2013). I felt that people hesitate to visit
professionals to understand their issues and identify effective interventions to resolve them (). I
supposed to believe that stress, anxiety and depression does not considered as mental illness. For
me mental illness was limited to complex terms like dementia, schizophrenia and phobia
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Like most of the people I also believed that people
suffering from severe mental illness recommended psychiatrist and counseling is done only for
such severe patients. For me treatment of mental health only available in mental asylums that
includes shock, medication and support from the family and friends (Reiss, 2013). Due to this I
always preferred to involve with my family and friends, share my problems and my daily story
with them in order to enjoy their presence around me. I have heard that physical maintenance is
related to the maintenance of mental health. Thus, I used to perform physical activities to

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manage both my physical and mental well-being. I have joined yoga class to maintain my mental
well-being in an effective manner (Kemp & Quintana, 2013).
Responding:
Some socio-cultural believes has influenced my personal perceptions regarding the
mental health and illness. I have seen that people restrict themselves to avail mental health
service after the diagnosis of their illness (Caplan, 2013). This experience has induced me to
develop thinking that most of the people hesitate to visit mental health professionals in order to
identify their issues and resolve them with the help the professionals. Different studies have
indicated different perceptions of mental illness in each community. For example, in some
community it has been believed that mental health issue is the consequence of family conflicts.
In some other community mental health is related to parapsychological event or superficial
phenomenon (Reiss, 2013). Due to such influence a restrictive attitude towards the people with
mental illness has initiated within me. Neither I nor any of my family members have suffered
from mental health issue thus, my personal perceptions have risen from the cultural beliefs and
social circumstances that I have seen.
Relating:
I have related an experience regarding mental health patient with my personal
perceptions. The patient was my friend’s mother. After the death of the father of my friend, his
mother was suffering from mental trauma. She has started to ignore interaction with any one and
became stubborn. Due to such condition the other relatives of my friend have suggested that she
is suffering from parapsychological event. However, as the situation became unmanageable they
have decided to transfer her to mental asylum. The story has induced me to link my personal

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views with socio-cultural beliefs. I believed that culture plays an important role as a determinant
of beliefs (Reiss, 2013). However, with increasing study and improvement in the research
regarding mental health has helped me to understand some important things about mental illness.
For example the relation of depression with occurrence of mental health issues, new treatment
process and therapies, new approaches and importance of maintaining mental well-being ().
Furthermore, media has played an important role in providing important information, promoting
mental well-being through programs and interviews of experts and has attracted me to learn more
about mental illness to understand the underpinning meaning of mental illness (Caplan, 2013).
Reasoning:
After involving in this unit for 5 weeks a dramatic change has occurred to my personal
perceptions regarding mental illness. The lectures and tutorials have helped me to develop better
understanding regarding mental illness. The learning session has helped me to identify important
factors that contribute to mental illness. Some factors were known to me such as brain injury,
past trauma and family conflicts. In addition I have learned about the contribution of financial
factor, biological factor such as genetics and social factors such as discrimination (Caplan,
2013). I have learnt about the stress vulnerable model and how it helps to identify the cause of
mental illness ().It has helped me to understand the correlation between depression and anxiety
with mental illness. The study has helped me to develop emotional intelligence for the patient
with mental illness. My perception regarding the relation between mental health and
parapsychological event has changed as I have come to know about personality disorder in this
session. I have learned about different kinds of mental disorder such as anxiety and panic
disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit
and many others (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Furthermore, I have become

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surprised to know that substance abuse could lead to mental illness and addiction to a specific
thing is also considered as mental disorder and eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa and
bulimia nervosa (Steel et al., 2014). The learning session has introduced me with effective
treatment strategies such as psycho therapy, occupational therapy, effective medication,
cognitive behavioral therapy and electroconvulsive therapy. In addition I have learned about
person centered care and recovery oriented practice to help the people with mental disorder
(Paniagua & Yamada, 2013). It has helped me to counter my personal views and develop
understanding to provide adequate service to the patient with mental illness.
Reconstructing:
In order to provide effective care to the people with mental illness I would like to
interpret my learning through this unit in my practice. I would like to use patient centered care to
develop better understand for each patient and introduce relevant treatment process according to
their need (Lyons, 2015). I would like to utilize recovery oriented practice like partnership work,
acknowledging that each patient is expert in their own life and utilizing their strengths to give
meaning to their life (Gilburt et al., 2013). I have identified communication skill as my strength,
thus would like to use effective communication to understand the problem of the patient and
make them comfortable with the conversation. It would help me to introduce effective
intervention to achieve expected outcomes (Arnold & Boggs, 2015).

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References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
(DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2015). Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional
Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Caplan, G. (2013). An approach to community mental health. Routledge.
Gilburt, H., Slade, M., Bird, V., Oduola, S., & Craig, T. K. (2013). Promoting recovery-oriented
practice in mental health services: a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study. BMC
psychiatry, 13(1), 167.
Kemp, A. H., & Quintana, D. S. (2013). The relationship between mental and physical health:
insights from the study of heart rate variability. International Journal of
Psychophysiology, 89(3), 288-296.
Lyons, A. (2015). Patient-centred care. Good Practice, (11), 22.
Paniagua, F. A., & Yamada, A. M. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of multicultural mental health:
Assessment and treatment of diverse populations. Academic Press.
Reiss, F. (2013). Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and
adolescents: a systematic review. Social science & medicine, 90, 24-31.
Steel, Z., Marnane, C., Iranpour, C., Chey, T., Jackson, J. W., Patel, V., & Silove, D. (2014). The
global prevalence of common mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis
1980–2013. International journal of epidemiology, 43(2), 476-493.

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Zannas, A. S., & West, A. E. (2014). Epigenetics and the regulation of stress vulnerability and
resilience. Neuroscience, 264, 157-170.