Free Essay on Health-Related Topics in Psychology: Health Risk Behavior and Pain

In the course of my studies as a student of psychology, we learned about a variety of health-related topics as they apply to the field of psychology. I was particularly drawn to two topics that were of great interest to me. The first topic that drew my attention was when we covered the health risk behaviors. Here I learned a lot concerning certain practices that we could indulge in that could present risks to our health. Most notably, drug and substance abuse ranked among the top in the practices that could present risk to health.

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During my placement course, I was assigned a responsibility to care for a patient named Rosa, who had a similar problem. From the previous assessment notes, it was reported that Rosa was engaged in drinking which was a health risk behavior. As a practicing psychologist, I would find the kind of behavior elicited by Rosa challenging to deal with as it would likely to affect the quality of care given to patients. Patients with tendencies of alcohol addiction are likely to be disoriented due to their dependencies on such a substance. As I noted from Rosa's case, she would indulge in drinking to help her face psychological challenges such as the anger towards her husband. Formulating therapy sessions on such patients could be a difficult task owing to their presumptions that alcohol would often offer solutions.

I also believe that such health risk behaviors are likely to aggravate underlying medical conditions of such patients. For example, Rosa had been diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2. This condition could be made worse by her drinking habit (Justus, 2018). The main challenge would be struggling to treat one condition which is only made worse by the actions of a patient. For me, I feel that such kinds of treatments would have little to help the patient get better. More frustrating is that I would be struggling to help treat a patient who shows little concern about her health.

In strategies to help arrest such situations, I believe that therapy sessions catering for guidance and counseling can be of great use. By counseling patients on the dangers of drinking or even smoking, a positive result could be achieved in reducing such health risk behaviors. Also, I believe that developing a cordial relationship with a patient can be of great help in influencing their behaviors. I believe that by winning over the trust and friendship of a patient, she would be more likely to take seriously the kinds of advises given. I hope to practice the same during my placement course to help the many patients who grapple with similar conditions of substance addition that I will interact with in the course of my internship.

Another health-related topic that was of interest to me was that on pain. I was in particular fond of this topic having been involved in an accident and fractured a rib. As I can recall, the kind of pain that I experienced before my recovery was so excruciating that I that dreaded simple tasks such as exercise therapy. From such an experience, I anticipate that pain will always present a great deal of challenge to me in the various sessions I am to have with patients in their treatment process.

First, I anticipate that many of these patients will always tend to be reluctant in engaging in the formulated treatment plans such as exercise therapy. For instance, I made a note from Rosa's assessment notes that she showed reluctance to engage in the exercise therapy that had been formulated by her previous psychologist. I expect the same to be the case in the patients I would probably meet suffering from severe pain during my placement course. By self evaluation, I tend to be an impatient individual who is less likely to stomach repeated coercion of patients to engage in therapies that are for their own good. This personality trait, will most probably affect my relationship with the patients under my care who will require constant appeal to engage in tasks. Also, I am more likely to let patients have their way, skipping therapy sessions, which will slow down their recovery process, and paint a bad picture on my assessment report by my supervisor.

To mitigate these challenges, I intend to check on my personality to make sure that I am not so hard on patients who are less likely to comply with the conventional treatment procedures. I also intent to use this opportunity as learning curve by consulting widely with the hospital staff on how to manage particular conditions such as dealing with difficult patients. Having been through the same path, I actually understand how much it hurts when one is experiencing for instance a fracture pain. I hope that this experience will arouse the empathetic feeling in me to help the various patients that will be under my care effectively manage their painful episodes.

References

Justus, N. (2018, May 25). Effects of Alcohol on Diabetes. Retrieved from Thediabetescouncil.com: https://www.thediabetescouncil.com/effects-of-alcohol-on-diabetes/