Mental Health Case Study
Dave is diagnosed with bipolar type I, a mental illness characterized by extremely low moods and high moods. He, at times, does not have control over his thoughts and actions. Dave is a truck driver who was over speeding when he was pulled over by the police. Dave resists arrest. He is eventually arrested and detained in an inpatient facility. Dave refuses to take medication and becomes aggressive to the staff. However, he makes friends with some of the patients, particularly one lady, and desires to be around her, but the staff would not let him. Dave is frustrated with the system. Driving four days without sleep is dangerous to other drivers and bad for someone’s health. Dave’s frustration is that he is isolated and believes that he is not suffering from any condition and that his actions are okay.
Mental Disorders
Mental health refers to an individual’s psychological and emotional state (Watts, 2017). The psychological state significantly influences the mental health of a person. (Carroll & McSherry, 2015). Mental disorder is not only a matter of diagnosis and treatment, but about deprivation, loneliness, helplessness, stigma, and prejudices experienced by people with a mental health condition. As a result, individuals with severe psychiatric disorders show a relatively high level of poor general well-being. Cigarettes, liquor, and other forms of drugs are much higher in people with mental illnesses than on the broader populace. Necessary therapeutic interventions are required to help mentally challenged people avoid harming them and other people (Tullgren et al., 2020). In mental health practice, the scope of social work is broad and dynamic and requires to be backed by empirical facts. Social workers should raise appropriate concerns, listen, and assess the client’s situation to offer quality assistance. As a social worker, I am conscious of personal standards, patient and family expectations, and clinical judgment.
Recovery
As one progresses from the devastating consequences of mental illness, recovery incorporates the initiation of new meaning and commitment in life. Recovery is an extremely personal and unique experience of transforming a consumer’s attitudes, priorities, emotions, expectations, and responsibilities. My work is to encourage my clients to live a fulfilling, positive, and constructive life regardless of any limitations triggered by illness. Recovery should not take place in solitude but connections with other people. The significance of hope is one key inspiring element of the healing process; a belief that things will improve makes it easier for an individual to face present harsh realities. According to Australian Schools of Social Work (AASW, 2012), mental health awareness is central to social work activities. Therefore, I must be able to interact with Dave reasonably and professionally, even when other agency employees perceive him as abnormal or dangerous (Bland et al., 2014).
Models of Mental Health and Illness
Various mental health models can guide medical interventions for the recovery of a mentally ill patient.
The Bio-Medical Model
The Bio-Medical model is an effective health intervention strategy to help mentally challenged patients to recover. The bio-medical model holds that mental disorders are diseases that need pharmacological treatment to tackle biological abnormalities. It posits that mental disorders are brain diseases and need pharmacological treatment, and outwards symptoms are an indication of inner physical ailments (Tullgren et al., 2020). This model has been substantially adopted in mental health care, and it has been very effective. The biomedical model states there are various causes of psychological issues, including genetics substance misuse or neurological problems like faults in neuro-transmitters or damage in the brain (Maylea, 2017).
Psychological Model
Psychological models provide more insights into interpreting mental health issues. For instance, the Cognitive-behavioral approach has been established through a mixture of behavioral and emotional ideas related to our perception of mental health issues. Cognitive theories have implied that how people regard and communicate with the universe is critical and that emotions and attitudes are influenced by how they perceive the world (Campbell & Davidson, 2012). The key weakness of psychological approaches is that their emphasis appears to concentrate on the victim. Therefore there is a risk that the person may feel misunderstood in circumstances where the causes are beyond their influence.
Social Model
Various mental health approaches provide awareness of our perceptions of mental health problems. Social causation incorporates a connection between socioeconomic deprivation and mental illnesses. Social constructionists emphasize the central role that control plays in developing group-based identities and conceptions (Campbell & Davidson, 2012). The societal response refers to the classification of certain behaviors as mental disorders just because they do not conform to society’s moral expectations.
Integrated Approaches
Integrated approaches seek to incorporate the different facets of the primary models to offer a more comprehensive and potentially more successful analysis and solution to mental health issues. The bio-psychosocial model assumes that the human level can only be interpreted through comparison to the other levels of the related social structures. Stress-Vulnerability model explores mental health issues in terms of vulnerability to stress or childhood suffering. The recovery model incorporates the bio-medical, psychological, and social models to offer a constructive and holistic approach to mental illnesses.
Response to Dave
The known causes of Dave’s Bipolar I disorder are genetics and biological differences. Biological differences are the physical changes in the brain. Dave, therefore, is suffering from this disorder due to physical changes or abnormalities in his brain. I am drawing on the biomedical model because it is useful and applicable in diagnosing a patient and knowing the possible treatment (Campbell & Davidson, 2012). I believe, therefore, appropriate pharmacological treatment would be mood stabilizers. Social integration will help Dave create relationships with people in society, and this will reduce depression and anxiety tendencies. This model will help in addressing Dave’s frustration of isolation. After he understands the importance of medication from the biomedical model approach, it is prudent that Dave is allowed to interact with other patients, especially his lady friend. This helps in facilitating recovery.
Isolation has been proven ineffective in dealing with mentally ill patients; however, in Dave’s case, it was necessary since he refused to take medications and cooperate, thus posing a danger to himself and other patients (Maylea, 2017). I will inform Dave why isolation was mandatory in his case and why he needs to cooperate and follow the doctor’s directives. He needs to understand that due to his condition’s nature, he must first agree to take medications that shall help stabilize his moods. I will inform him that the measures taken are due to his condition’s nature, and he needs to follow the doctor’s directives by taking medication as it shall help him in social integration and in his path to recovery. Allowing him to interact with other patients will eliminate self-stigma and allow Dave to understand that there are others like him (Lawn & McMahon, 2015). Acceptance facilitates recovery.
References
Campbell, J., & Davidson, G. (2012). Post-qualifying mental health social work practice. Sage.
Carroll, A., & McSherry, B. (2015). Making defensible decisions in the era of recovery and rights. Australasian Psychiatry, 26(5), 474-477. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856215614987
Lawn, S., & McMahon, J. (2015). Experiences of care by Australians with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 22(7), 510-521.
Maylea, C. H. (2017). A rejection of involuntary treatment in mental health social work. Ethics and Social Welfare, 11(4), 336-352.
Pilgrim, D. (2007). The survival of psychiatric diagnosis. Social Science & Medicine, 65(3), 536-547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.03.054
Robbins, S. (2014). From the Editor—The DSM-5 and its role in social work assessment and research. Journal of Social Work Education, 50(2), 201-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2014.885363
Tullgren, A., Renouf, N., & Bland, R. (2020). Social work practice in mental health: An introduction. Routledge.
Watts, J. (2017). Is mental illness real? You asked Google-here’s the answer. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/12/is-mental-illness-real-google-answer.