Free Essay on Concept and Models of Mental Health

From the facts in the case study, it is evident that Louise has been suffering from a mental health illness. Stranges et al. (2014), defines mental health as any mental illnesses in a person or the level of a person's psychological well-being. Further, the authors define mental illness as conditions or diseases that occasions behaviors and or thoughts disturbances which may ultimately lead to the incapacity to handle ordinary demands and routines of the patients' life. Presently, there over two hundred mental illnesses although the common types include bipolar, disorder depression, schizophrenia, dementia, and anxiety disorders. However, most of these mental issues are also closely related to social and emotional instability. Specifically, the concept of social and emotional wellbeing denotes the ability of a person to manage their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors positively consequently being able to maintain positive relationships, enjoy life, and work toward their life goals. In fact, social and emotional wellbeing has been cited as on the way of lowering risk associated with various types of mental illnesses. Thus, the combination of the above definitions leads to a conclusion that mental ill health is the lack of stable emotional, social and physiological capacities that mainly incapacitates a person from functioning optimally regarding their managing their thoughts, emotions and social lives.

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The symptoms displayed by Louise evidence that she is a victim of mental ill health. Specifically, she is likely to be suffering from various types of mental illness like anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, or schizophrenia to mention a few. The justification for this is the fact that her symptoms are not indicative of a specific type of mental illness (Clark et al. 2017). Accordingly, due to this close similarity in symptoms of mental health illnesses are commonly classified through two main systems namely the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) systems. However, even with these systems, mental health experts argue that challenges exist concerning the categorization of mental health illnesses. These challenges concerns are identifying the diverse combinations of factors causing the illnesses and how the illnesses should be diagnosed by noting that the categories are connected (not distinct). Further, another challenge identified regards the thresholds for diagnosis and other reasons like treatment. Finally, the issue of co-morbidity is another challenge since the majority of mental health patients qualify for the diagnosis of several mental disorders (Clark et al. 2017). According to many mental health experts, it is difficult to diagnose a mental disorder given that most symptoms are similar to those of other mental illnesses. For example, in the Louise case, it was hard to diagnose bipolar in the first consultation because other conditions like borderline personality disorder, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and even cases of drug and alcohol abuse equally qualified. Further, given the age of the patient (teenage and early adulthood), it is expected that symptoms like changes in their mood as well as failure to attend to the expected tasks can be argued to be acts of a person seeking attention. Also, for borderline personality disorder, the patient is unable to control their emotions (mood swings) and issues of self-image/esteem which causes relationship problems. In the case of Louise, it is clear that her symptoms started to manifest at an early age of fourteen and her current age is twenty-five which mental health experts may argue is a perfect age where people seeking attention or are cautious about their self-esteem.

To this end, the many overlapping symptoms of most mental illnesses confuse mental health experts leading to the accurate diagnosis especially of bipolar difficult(Anderson, Haddad and Scott, 2012). Besides, most of these mental illnesses may at times coexist, and even their treatment may be close- antipsychotic medications, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, as well as psychosocial treatments and psychotherapy(Anderson, Haddad and Scott, 2012). Also, given that depression is the common form of mental illness mental health experts may start with the treatment of this condition before proceeding to other types of mental illnesses. In fact, it is observed that approximately half the patients with bipolar disorder consult not less than three consultant psychiatrists before getting a correct diagnosis. Also, similar to Louise's case, nearly a third of patients with bipolar conditions receive an accurate medical opinion a decade or more after seeking treatment (Bragg and Atkins, 2016).

The case of Louise is proof that mental health and mental wellbeing is a complex issue that needs closer attention from the government and mental health experts. The challenge of misdiagnosing a mental health condition must be addressed to allow patients to recover fully or to be able to live with their conditions with minimum disruptions (Mantovani, Pizzolati and Edge, 2016). More so, the various misconceptions regarding certain symptoms especially among teenagers and young adults like extreme mood changes and depression need to be equally addressed. Extreme mood swing should be taken seriously and effective intervention taken by the attending physician or the consulting psychiatrist (Bragg and Atkins, 2016). Although regarding depression experts will often diagnose and give treatment through antidepressants and sleeping pills as a way of reducing stress levels, accurate diagnosis of the various types of mental conditions must be facilitated. Accordingly, this will help more patients not to reach extreme points like suicidal feeling which often results from inadequate diagnosis

Bibliography

Anderson, I. Haddad, P. and Scott, J., 2012. Bipolar disorder. BMJ, 345, e8508-e8508.

Bragg, R. and Atkins, G., 2016. A review of nature-based interventions for mental health care. Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number 204. London: England, 1-65.

Clark, L., Cuthbert, B., Lewis-Fernandez, R., Narrow, W. and Reed, G., 2017. Three Approaches to Understanding and Classifying Mental Disorder: ICD-11, DSM-5, and the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 18 (2), 72-145.

Mantovani, N. Pizzolati, M., and Edge, D., 2016. Exploring the relationship between stigma and help-seeking for mental illness in African-descended faith communities in the UK. Health Expectations, 20(3), 373-384.

Stranges, S. Samaraweera, P. Taggart, F. Kandala, N. and Stewart-Brown, S., 2014. Major health-related behaviors and mental well-being in the general population: the Health Survey for England. BMJ Open, 4(9), e005878-e005878.