Mental Health: Case Study Analysis of Samira's Challenges

This report delves into the multifaceted concept of mental health, defining it not merely as the absence of illness but as a state of complete well-being encompassing emotional, social, and physical aspects. It explores various influences on mental health, including environmental, cultural, and support systems, emphasizing their dynamic interplay. The report analyzes a case study of Samira, highlighting her challenges following the death of her husband and migration from Syria. It identifies risk factors such as trauma, grief, cultural barriers, and physical health issues, as well as protective factors. The report underscores the significance of understanding individual cultural beliefs and providing appropriate emotional and mental support to address mental health concerns, advocating for comprehensive approaches to improve overall well-being.

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1.
Mental health is not only about being free of mental disorders like bipolar, depression,
schizophrenia etc. but it is also about the ability to have a positive sense of wellbeing. Positive
mental health allows individual to enjoy pleasures of life, having faith in their own abilities,
enjoy socializing, work efficiently and productively and cope with several stresses of life. It
prevents from mental illness and leads to greater satisfaction and enjoyment with one’s life.
Positive mental health leads to have capacity to face challenges in life and enjoy life to the
fullest. According to World Health Organization, health is a complete state of mental, physical
and social wellbeing and not only the absence of any illness or diseases (Carr, 2012). Concepts
of positive mental health involves subjective well-being, autonomy, perceived self-efficacy,
competence and ability to recognize one’s emotional potential and intellectual (Srivastava,
2011). It is about increasing competencies of individuals and societies and enabling them to gain
their self-determined objectives and goals. An increasing body of cross culture evidence exhibit
that several behavioral, psychological and social factors can support and protect positive mental
health. Economic and social condition, life experience, workplace and other environments are
the social determinates of mental health.
Good mental health can be characterized by an individual’s ability to fulfill several important
activities and functions which includes
 The ability to express, manage and feel range of negative and positive emotion
 Capacity to maintain and form good relationship with people
 Ability to learn
 Capacity to manage and cope with uncertainty and change
Such support and protection help to resist several diseases, decreases and delays exposure of
disabilities and promotes rapid recovery from diseases or illness. According to Isaac Ray who is
one of the founder of American Psychiatric Association defines mental health or hygiene as “an
art to protect the mind against all influences and incidents calculated to worsen its qualities and
impair its energies”. WHO argued that people from different cultures, sociopolitical and
socioeconomic environments may have different meaning of mental health (Hall, McKinstry,
Hyett, 2016). It acknowledges these aspects of diverse cultures and propose the idea that the
fundamental notion of mental health can remain steady irrespective of its extensive and diverse
interpretation across culture.
Poverty, discrimination, racism domestic or family violence, substance abuse, sexual abuse,
stress full situation like financial problems, death of loved once, divorce, chronic medical
condition etc. are the main factors that increase the risk of mental health problems. Healthier
lifestyles, higher educational attainment, better physical health, employment, greater
productivity, earnings have positive impact on mental health of individual (Mental health: a state
of well-being, 2014). Thus, it is evident that a good mental health is of great significance for any
individuals to accomplish his goals in life.

2.
Samira has been facing physical, mental and social issues after the sudden demise of her
husband. The well-being and mental health of an individual is influenced not only by their
attitude or behavior but also by the social factors or circumstances in which the person live or
find themselves. These factors combine together dynamically and can affect or protect the mental
health of the individual.
Environmental influences:
The wider geopolitical and socio-cultural surrounding has huge impact on individual, family or
community mental health status including access to basic services and commodities, practices or
attitudes, exposure to predominating cultural beliefs and also the socio-economic policies formed
at national level. For example: the crashing of stock market can have significant consequences,
increasing the number of suicides and drug or substance abuses. Inequality, discrimination and
conflict are the determinants of mental health. These determinants interact with each other in a
way that it can work against or for particular individual’s mental health. For example, an
individual’s confidence can grow or diminish depending upon the kind of support or economic
security at group level which can be influenced by social justice, political stability or economic
growth of a country (Young, 2014). As per this case study, Samira is going through several
issues and is in need of emotional and mental support to escape from the present situation. After
the sudden death of her husband, she might be facing financial problems as she needs to take
care of her and children needs like school, medical and household expenses. The complaints of
her 9-year old son behavior at school is adding more stress to her. She has faced several incidents
of violence and threats during her days in Syria which is also one of the major factor that has
affected her mental health.
Cultural influences:
Culture directly influences how individual cope with their issues and how and what kind of
treatment they seek. The perception and attitude towards mental illness varies with race,
ethnicity, cultures, individual, family, community or country. The type of culture and religious
preaching often affects the thinking towards the origin and kind of mental illness and forms
certain perception towards the mental health. People often have mistrustful attitude towards the
health care providers of different culture (Andrade & Sofia, 2016). Stigma is another factor that
is influenced by culture of an individual. Even migration from one country to another is a
stressful life event that influences individual mental health leading to psychological distress
(Mizock, 2017). In addition, to find out whether the mentally ill person is experiencing social
stigma, the view about the mental health can affect his willingness and readiness to seek and
stick to the treatment. Hence, it is vital to understand individual cultural beliefs and their view
regarding mental illness for the proper implementation of effective technique to mental health
care. For example, there are some Indo- American tribes who do not stigmatize mental illness,
while there are some other fractions who do stigmatize some mental illness and there are other
tribe who stigmatize all mental illness.

In reference to the above case study Samira being from different country have her own belief and
culture. It is apparent that she is not revealing the facts and is cautious about the disclosure of her
past experiences in Syria. That information could have been vital in her treatment to mental
illness. Due to the difference in culture and tradition, she might have experienced discrimination
or gender inequality in Australia which further increases the intensity of mental illness.
Support System: There is not any kind of people who can support in the current situation after
the death of her husband (Gans, 2017). She is bound to live her life alone with additional
responsibilities of her children which might have worsen her mental state. She is finding
difficulty to survive in Sydney due to the grief loneliness and worries about cancer. A mentally
ill person always need some kind of emotional and moral support. even her parents and siblings
who wants to move to Australia but can’t due to ongoing conflict leaving her alone and lonely.
Samira is finding it difficult to adapt to the issues arising from her poor mental health. There
should be proper emotional, mental support and security for her, so that she is able to adapt to
these existing issues. There should be proper understanding of her culture and traditions so that
correct and appropriate treatment is provided.
3.
The overall psychological well-being of an individual defines good mental health. The
characteristics of sound mental health includes the way one feel about themselves, the quality of
relationship in their life and one’s ability to manage his feelings and at the same time dealing
with difficulties (Mental illness, n.d.). Mental health is not only the absence of mental illness; it’s
a positive feeling or the way to enjoy life and dealing everyday challenges. The various life
experiences, environment or workplace, socioeconomic culture has significant effect on one’s
mental health. The above case study also shows the difficulties that Samira is facing after the
demise of her husband. She along with her husband and children had migrated to Australia due
to the crisis in Syria with an aim to seek better life for her children. But now after the sudden
death of her husband, her wish to give her children a better life and settling down in Australia
and buying a house together with her husband remains unfulfilled. Her nine-year-old son is
showing aggressive and unpredictable behavior at school which is another major factor that is
stressful for her (Marks, 2009). Her life has become difficult due to several risk factors such as
the grief, loneliness and her worries that she had developed breast cancer.
Risk factors can be defined as the factor that increases individual’s chances of developing
disease. These are the characteristics at the psychosocial, biological, household, community or
cultural level that and is linked with higher chances of negative health outcomes (Mental Health
and Mental Illness, n.d.).

The various risk factors for Samira are:
History of trauma:
The trauma often affects the inner core of an individual and is considered as life altering
experience which lead to have bad influence on individual’s mental health. The experiences of
her past life are Syria forced her along with her husband and children to leave Syria and migrate
to Australia. She had also faced several incidences of violence and threatening when she was in
Syria. Sudden death of her husband is also another traumatic incident in her life. All these factors
had significant impact on Samira’s health which further had deteriorate her mental health.
Grief and bereavement:
The sudden demise of her husband was unbearable and left her alone with all the responsibility
of raising her three children. It was only after her husband’s death she gradually developed
mental health issues. The grief, loneliness and her worry about breast cancer had severe impact
on her mental health.
Cultural barrier:
The perception toward mental health varies with race, community, ethnicity and country from
where they belong. From the case study it is apparent that Samira was cautious while talking
about the violence that she had faced in Syria. She did not disclose all the incidences of her past
due to the cultural difference. She might face difficulties to adjust in culture of Sydney due to
huge cultural difference between Australia and Syria and can be a major risk factor.
Physical ill health:
Physical health issues also have negative influence on mental health.
Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and gender:
Even in the present scenario, there is discrimination of the basis of caste, color, ethnicity and
gender. Samira could have also faced similar issues which adversely affected her mental health.
Similarly, people from different ethnicity also find difficulty in accessing basic facilities of
health care and other services provide by government making her life more stressful.
Family issues:
Apart from the other issues, Samira also had to take care of her three children all by herself. Her
9-year-old son is showing unpredictable and aggressive behavior in school which also might
have affected her mental health.

4.
A characteristic at psychological, biological, individual, family or at community level which is
linked to lower probability of problem outcomes or which reduces the impact of negative or risk
factor on the problem outcomes is also known as protective factor. Similarly, a characteristic at
psychological, biological, individual, family or at community level and is linked to higher
probability of problem outcomes or in other words which increases the impact of risk factor on
the problem outcomes is known as risk factors (Preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral
disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities, 2009). Positive factors are attributes
that includes strength, skills, support, resources, coping strategies in people, families, societies or
communities which assist individual deal more efficiently and effectively with difficult situation
or stressful events and eliminate risk factors in communities and societies (Risk & Protective
factors, n.d.). There are several protective factors that helps people to have positive mental health
are as follows:
 Having supportive and caring people around.
 Capacity to discuss issues with parents
 Presence of parents and other close friends and family members
 Parental and family guidance and support during difficult situations
 Involvement in social activities
 Developed skills for future planning
 Presence of spirituality in life
People who are suffering from mental illness needs constant care and support from their closed
ones and need appropriate and regular medical assistance. These factors are characteristics which
decrease the chance of mental illness when risk factors are present or on their own. Positive
factors are strength that help people to maintain mental health and be more resilient.
Protective factors on Samira’s that can assist her regain positive mental health are as follows:
Individual attributes:
At individual level, the protective factor that helps Samira to gain positive mental health are as
follows:
 boosting her confidence and self esteem
 strengthening her ability to solve problems and by learning how to manage stressful
situations
 improving her communication skills i.e. being extrovert
 improving her physical health and involving herself in physical and fitness activities
 proper assessment and tests of breast cancer as she fears that she might have breast
cancer, so that she can get rid of these negative thoughts
 improving her social skills and start socializing with others and should visit community
center more often as she feels lonely

Hence, at this level if these factors are improved it will surely help in regaining positive
mental health of Samira. In order to tackle low self-esteem, cognitive or emotional stress,
communication skills and medical illness etc. the medical practitioner must focus on the
above protective factors to improve her mental health.
Family level:
She is missing her family and siblings who are in Syria and planning to move to Australia. So
being close to her parents and siblings will help her gain positive mental health as they can
provide her affection, love, warmth which is very important for her in this vulnerable situation
and will provide her with mental and emotional support.
Social support:
Due to the demise of her husband, Samira is finding difficult to live her life due to loneliness,
grief and her worries about the development of breast cancer. So social support of her family and
close friends is very important to regain positive mental health. Finding job might help her to
improve economic condition as she might be having difficulties after the death of her husband
(Clark, n.d.). To improve the social factors, community health practitioner must support her and
her family members focus on good parenting or family interaction developing sense of security
and safety, economic security etc.

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