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How mental health issues impact an individuals life essay
Mental health
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Personal Goal Statement Mental health has become a growing issue in today’s society which devotes healthcare professionals to educate the population on the severity of mental illnesses. As I attended school and worked with families in low poverty communities, I realized day after day that mental illness has been the cause of disorganization from one family to the next. Through my clinical experiences, I know from the bottom of my heart that specializing in psychiatric nursing will allow me to provide the educational opportunities in underserved populations. Earning this degree will allow me to apply advanced clinical judgment to evaluate, diagnose, manage, and appraise holistic plans of care. All in all, I truly believe that mental health will always be an ongoing societal challenge amongst individuals and families. As I work towards this degree, I plan to implement continuous evidenced based practice and therapeutic care to increase mental health awareness. Working in the psychiatric nursing field for eight years has shown me that there is an increasing need for research in improving mental health and decreasing societal stigmas. It is imperative to advance my knowledge and manage the plan of care for a broad mental health population. University of South Alabama’s MSN psychiatric program will allow me to excel in my …show more content…
Pursuing a degree in psychiatric mental health will equip me with the much needed skills, which are essential for the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of persons with mental disorders. Most people in underdeveloped countries lack knowledge on mental conditions. As such, it is common for persons with mental disorders in developing states to go without treatment and care. As a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, I will be able to provide the required assistance to individuals and families with psychiatric conditions in the developing
Mental health disparities in rural America will not magically disappear overnight, or even over a decade. The process will be slow and deliberate as long as there are advocates willing to keep pushing for change. Nurse educators can be advocates of decreasing stigma and discrimination of mental illness through educating their communities, families and patients. Additionally, nurse educators can be a driving force to institute technology driven mental health care services by collaborating with local health care organizations and other stakeholders (Smalley et al., 2010).
Walsh, A. & Clarke, V. (2009) Fundamentals of Mental health Nursing New York: Oxford University Press.
Stuart, G. W. (2009). Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing (9th ed. pp 561). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
In the United States alone, 57.7 million individuals suffer from mental illness. These illnesses range anywhere from mood disorders to anxiety disorders or to personality disorders and so on (The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America). 18 to 25 year olds make up about 30% of these individuals alone (Survey Finds Many Living with Mental Illness Go Without Treatment). These individuals require care from medication to psychiatry or even to confinement. However, of these 57.7 million individuals with mental illness, studies have found that less than one in three of these individuals receive proper treatment (Studies Say Mental Illness Too Often Goes Untreated).
Many graduate nurses will seek jobs in traditional medical settings. Theses settings can include the emergency department, long-term care, outpatient clinics, medical-surgical inpatient floors and intensive care units. Graduate nurses must remember that they will at some point encounter a patient that is also diagnosed with a mental illness in any of these settings. It is imperative that the nurse feel competent in his or her ability to asses and treat these patients. The gradua...
Johnson and, Kathryn, Dawn Vanderhoef. Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Review Resource Manual. 3rd ed. Silver Spring: American Nurse Credentialing Center, 2014. Print.
Rather than preparing graduates in education or consulting as previous graduate nursing programs had done, this program educated psychiatric-mental health nurses as therapists with the ability to assess and diagnose mental health issues as well as psychiatric disorders and treat them via individual, group, and family therapy (ANA, 2014). Thus, the Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (PMH-CNS), one of the initial advanced practice nursing roles (Schmidt, 2013), was born. After Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 led to deinstitutionalization of individuals with mental illness, PMH-CNSs played a crucial role in reintegrating formerly institutionalized individuals back into community life (ANA, 2014). PMH-CNSs have been providing care in a wide range of setting and obtaining third-party reimbursement since the late 1960’s. In 1974 a national certification for PMH-CNSs was created (APNA, 2010). Subsequently, PMH-CNSs began to be granted prescriptive privileges in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1970s, that practice has now spread to 37 states and the District of Columbia (APNA,
The Mental Health Nurse (MHN) role has changed over the last thirty years with scientific experiences suggesting that modern MHNs have further autonomy (Whittington & McLaughlin, 2000). Models of nursing have been offered throughout the history as pathways to empowering practice between the MHNs and service users. The Tidal Model
Mental health is an issue that has been bombarded with unanswered questions and cursed with a social stigma. Throughout history this has created a social divide between mental health issues and the mainstream media. This disparity doesn’t only create a social separation, but a lapse in ethics, making it tolerable to look down on people in the mental health community. Historically, patients have been placed or forced into mental institutions in order to “cure” them of their mental obscurity so that they can function normally in the society, yet for centuries this has proven to be an ongoing struggle for the mental health community. With all of the new advancements in medicine and our ability to cure more physical and mental ailments than
“One in four adults suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in a given year” (~). Society looks at mental illness differently than physical illness. The public stigma that is associated with mental illness can affect the attitude of those with mental health issues and unfortunately, slow down the recovery process. By making the public aware of what mental illness really is, how it affects individuals, their families, and the treatments that are available, the long road to recovery can be shortened.
I have thoroughly enjoyed nursing to this date, and I see nursing as more of a purpose than a career choice and feel privileged to have been able to succeed in it. However, various events and situations in my career and life have strongly persuaded me that I would be most useful to the community if I were to become a specialist in psychiatric mental health nursing. Before my current practice I would of never considered adopting mental health as a speciality although I enjoyed my psychiatric rotation during training. However, since working in my current practice I have seen that the mental health community is underserved and this is heartbreaking to me. Many patients who need assistant and care
Multidiscipline involvement is important within mental health nursing as people with mental health problems have multiple needs, so a variety of expertise is required to meet the needs of these people (Darby et al 1999).
An estimated 61.5 million American Lives, or one in four, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year, and it takes a decade, on average for them to make contact with a health care professional (Pending). One in 17 Americans currently live with chronic mental illness disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder (pending). Despite the new discoveries and advances in science and technology, the social stigma of mental illness prevails. Why is mental illness an issue? Why should healthy people be concerned if their neighbor suffers from acute depression? Those are the questions that the average American faces. Yet, our society remains naïve when it comes to mental health. The roots of this issue are found in the lack of information and lack of mental health accessibility.
Varcarolis, E. M., Carson, V. B., & Shoemaker, N. C. (2006). In Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (p. 283). St. Louis: Elsevier Inc.
As I outlined in my own career goals mental health care is not easily access by many people, this has led to many people going without care and experiencing the often harsh consequences of doing so. Many of the mentally ill find themselves unable to hold down jobs, have relationships, keep a home, or care for themselves, and this often causes them to turn