Healthcare Essay: Recovery Approach In Mental Heath Care
Question
Task:
You are required to write a healthcare essay of 1500 words on the topic “Discuss the significance of Recovery principles in the provision of care for individuals with mental health problems”. The primary focus of this assignment is to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the “Recovery” approach and its application in mental health care.
Answer
Introduction
The present healthcare essay sheds light on the basic needs and requirements for the psychological needs of people with mental health problems. There are various challenges faced by individuals with mental health problems that need to be mitigated for their wellbeing and benefits. Various social and psychological factors are responsible for their challenges that hinder their proper care and treatment. This essay discusses the significance of the recovery principles in the provision of mental health care patients. A proper demonstration and understanding of the recovery approach and its applications are widely described in this essay.
Basic human psychological needs
There are four basic psychological needs for people with mental health-related problems (Valsiner, Chaudhary, and Benetka, 2017). They are considered the need for attachment, need for control and orientation, need for pleasure and avoidance of pain, and self-enhancement. Attachment is one of the most basic needs, according to neurobiology. Attachments can be further subdivided into two parts that are secure and insecure. People with prevalent mental conditions need secure attachment as a necessity for improving their conditions. They feel a sense of support in the case of secure attachment. The caregivers, friends, family, and relatives of the individual diagnosed with mental conditions should be provided the attachments. Therefore, attachment is considered an integral element of treating people with mental disorders.
Control and orientation is the second most crucial aspect of human psychological needs and their relation to mental health (Pilgrim, 2019). Control and orientation are required as the people affected by mental health need proper guidance regarding their decisions and actions. They cannot function properly due to their mental disturbances, so strong control and orientation are required from the doctors, nurses, and family members. Adhering to this requirement can avert many wrong decisions and adverse situations for the individual involved.
Pleasure or avoidance of pain is the third most important psychological need for an individual with mental problems. We have often seen the pain the agony of people with a mental health condition in their treatments that include various regressive therapies. Therefore, the patients should be provided with pleasurable activities that can enhance the sense of wellbeing. Activities like watching good programs on the internet or fun activities that include physical movement in the form of games and sports can act as stimulation for the people's proper treatment. Physical activeness and pleasure are required on a fundamental level for the avoidance of pain and suffering in the patients' minds (Barry et al., 2019). Pleasuring, the patient also helps in restoring motivation among patients.
Self-esteem enhancement is the final but the most important basic human psychological needs for patients suffering from mental illnesses. The development of self-esteem and awareness is one of the daunting tasks of medical and healthcare professionals for patients with mental illnesses. Self-esteem restoration is instrumental in creating a proper treatment protocol for patients with mental distress. Motivation can be enhanced by the increase of self-esteem among the patients. It provides them with a sense of dignity and equality among the other people of the psychologically sound society. Without proper self-esteem and self-realization, patients can sink into inferiority and insecurity, complex issues that can affect potential future treatment.
Recovery approach
The recovery approach in mental illnesses is a strength-based approach that focuses on and emphasizes resilience and control over a patient's challenges. This particular model helps set new goals, taking part in meaningful recreation and activities for people with mental health problems. The building up of resilience is considered the most powerful tool for recovering people with mental health conditions (Rogers and Pilgrim, 2014). This act helps in the development of self-esteem and identity. Recovery is often considered a process based on a few terms like Hope, connectedness, optimism, identity, meaning, and purpose. Several strategies are based on the recovery model, which has more value than physical health. These strategies include good relationships, satisfying works, personal growth, and a proper living environment. The factors that contribute to a fair recovery process for people with mental health problems help create a proper roadmap for the successful recovery and rehabilitation of the patients.
Recovery models and structures are developed and adopted for the deliverance and designing of many mental healthcare services. Recovery is necessarily not about a cure; instead, it is the implementation of typical methods or therapy that helps in the treatment procedures. Supporting individuals to be live life meaningfully and with contentment is the primary aim of the recovery procedure. Social inclusion and the recovery process are strongly linked through variables like culture, education, work, and leisure activities. The recovery procedures mainly act as a critical point in helping the affected people regain their place in their original communities and lead an everyday life that includes active participation in many activities (Segal, Qualls and Smyer, 2018). The recovery journey ultimately benefits the people to bond with the families, friends, and relatives like they earlier used. It is considered a positive way of connecting and bridging the people with their original habitat and surroundings.
Social challenges faced by people with mental health ailments
There are many challenges faced by people with mental health-related problems during their recovery stages. The biggest challenge for them is social interaction—actions or reactions considered socially acceptable need proper scrutinization. Behavioral problems like getting annoyed, impatient, and angry are considered struggling variables that do not help a recovering patient connect positively with the people of society. Overcoming the fear and anxiety in the case of dealing with people is considered a big challenge. Failing in terms of people connectivity is considered a challenge that most of the patients feel. Prioritization of the individuals is also considered a challenge in the recovery stages. Work, family, and friends become a priority in life in the recovery stages, and the need for individualized time and prioritizing oneself becomes a social constraint (Ryan and Deci, 2017). Identification of moods and feelings is considered a challenge when it comes to social interaction. For example, matching up to the workplace expectations in the instance of reduced or increased work hours or work pressure is tough to cope up.
The consciousness of the symptoms and working hard to manage and mitigate them for smooth social transactions and interactions is a challenge that needs to be achieved. Maintaining proper daily routines and maintaining a standard set up of daily chores and activities on time is a requirement for maintaining a healthy social life. One of the biggest social challenges that a person affect ted by mental ailments pose is the question about the recurrence of the illness. That creates a sense of anxiety and fear among the individuals and discourages them from meeting and interacting with people socially, fearing behavioral changes, and patterns. There are many more social aspects of challenges faced by people with mental ailments that are displayed on a large scale. Limited infrastructure, shortage of human resources, limited community awareness about mental health, social deprivation and discrimination, and elevated levels of social stigma are the challenges that are faced by people with impaired mental health on a broader prospect (Wickens et al., 2015). The consequences affect not only the society but also the individual.
Critical issues related to recovery
Standardized assessments are the best methods used to judge the recovery of people with a mental health condition. Patients are considered to be in a state of remission when they no longer meet illness criteria. However, very few people can recover entirely from mental problems. Proper diagnostic methods are required for the degree and intensity of the ailment and its treatment plans. Characterization of groups and predicting the needs of treatment are essential factors for proving the recovery approaches' outcome. The barriers to effective treatment are considered as proper availability of treatment guidance, financing, and client awareness. A majority of the factors that are related to the recovery of people with a mental health condition are also based on social aspects (Giorgi, 2020). The stigma and social deprivation of some patients act as a hindrance to their treatment policies and protocols. The mental health of the person also weakens as a result of social discrimination against them.
Conclusion
We have already noticed the challenges that are faced by individuals when recovering from mental illnesses. The social problems they face act as a barrier to their proper treatment. They are also sometimes deprived of the basic psychological needs of the human mind, which later on piles upon their mental health condition. A proper and supportive treatment and recovery protocol can help them to lead an everyday life within society. However, we can also say that recovery is best judged by a person living with the experience, so the patient himself is the best judge of his treatment progress. Hence, we can conclude that mental health is mixed because diagnosis and treatment go through some processes that may affect the social life of the patients, which they fear most. That is the reason why some people choose not to use mental health services, but it has a long term negative impact on society as many patients go undiagnosed and ultimately results in a significant rise in mental diseases.
References
Barry, M.M., Clarke, A.M., Petersen, I. and Jenkins, R. eds., 2019. Implementing mental health promotion. Springer Nature.
Giorgi, A., 2020. Psychology as a human science: A phenomenologically based approach. University Professors Press.
Pilgrim, D., 2019. Critical concepts in mental health. SAGE Publications Limited.
Rogers, A., and Pilgrim, D., 2014. A sociology of mental health and illness. McGraw-Hill Education (U.K.).
Ryan, R.M., and Deci, E.L., 2017. Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publications.
Segal, D.L., Qualls, S.H., and Smyer, M.A., 2018. Aging and mental health. John Wiley & Sons.
Valsiner, J., Chaudhary, N., and Benetka, G., 2017. From methodology to methods in human psychology. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Wickens, C.D., Hollands, J.G., Banbury, S., and Parasuraman, R., 2015. Engineering psychology and human performance. Psychology Press.
