Health and social care: Unit 20 case studies – Understanding Mental Wellbeing
Case study 1:
Jane is 21 years old and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia which is a psychotic disorder.
Jane had a normal childhood, but gradually became withdrawn as she reached later
adolescence. Jane studied medicine at a university. But was removed off the course because of
her mental health. Jane use to spend time with her but she eventually stopped and stayed in
her room all day. She's stopped socializing with her friends. She has no social life. In the case
study it said that she could be heard shouting and telling someone to stop speaking to her in
her room. But no one else is in her room.
Eventually Janes parents took her to her to the G.P. Jane had also stopped looking after herself.
She stopped dressing nicely and her clothes were dirty she hasn’t changed her clothes in
several days. The G.P. had contacted the local mental health team and Jane was admitted to
the ward. Jane had also self-harmed herself with a razor and the G.P. was concerned that she
was going to do it again. Jane also refuses to take the medication stating that she is not ill.
Case study 2:
Michael is 29 years old and has been diagnosed with clinical depression. Michael and visited the
G.P. many times complaining about aches and pains, lack of energy and disturbed sleep
patterns. The G.P. could not find anything that’s causing these symptoms. Eventually Michael
became less motivated, gave up his job and his mood became lower. Michael lived with his wife
Louise. She was concerned about Michael because he had seen his deceased mother.
Louise left home and told Michael that he is too miserable, and he should cheer up. Michael
refused to go out with friends then eventually his friends stopped contacting him. Michael had
refused help and attempted to take his own life. He was admitted a compulsory order. Michael
had said that there's nothing in his life and there's no point getting out of bed. He still refuses to
join activities. Michael does not chat to the service users in the ward due to hid sadness will
upset them.
Factors that influence Mental health and Wellbeing
Factors can have a positive and negative influence on someone, for example, pregnancy and
birth. This can have an impact on early adulthood life however at the end of it you're going to
have a baby that you are going to love for the rest of your life. Not all factors can lead to
negative ways. During pregnancy you might struggle to sleep, or you might feel sick but after a
while they will stop. A factor that might have a negative influence is low self-esteem. When
someone has low self-esteem, they tend to stop socializing and they stop going to school, it just
brings the person down which is not good because everyone needs to socialize for their own
health.
,Home/family environment, this is an environmental factor. It can have a big effect on someone
as well because if you live In a home that’s small and you have 5 siblings then it would be hard
because you won't have any space to yourself and the children will be running around
everywhere which will be very difficult. Another factor that could affect someone mental
wellbeing or health is if your parents are constantly arguing at home then children normally
think it's their fault and lower their self-esteem. Family can also have a positive and negative
effect on people because if you live in a tight home with lots of siblings you won't have time for
yourself and will be stressed, however knowing that you have a family at home supporting you
will have a higher self-esteem.
Pregnancy and birth are an endowment factor which effects early adulthood or adolescence.
Pregnancy can have a negative effect on adolescence and early adulthood because some
women may be scared which can put them into a lot of stress. Some adolescence when they
are pregnant, they are scared because they don’t know what they would do or their too young.
This can have a negative effect on the person.
Sleep is a biological factor, making sure that someone gets enough sleep is very important
because if you do not get enough sleep we will struggle to wake up in the mornings and do our
day to day routines. If someone also sleeps during the day then they won't communicate with
anyone because they are sleeping during the day and up at night. If you don’t have enough
sleep, then you are also less motivated to do your usual routines like, go to work or go to gym
etc. You may also have a low mood because you are very tired so sleep can have a negative
effect on someone's body and mind. When someone is tired, they won't be able to think and do
their job which may stress them out.
Stress is a psychological factor. Stress can lead to long term illnesses like, heart disease, obesity,
diabetes. This could reduce their self-esteem and they may not want to socialize with any of
their friends or that they can't leave the house because they have so much things to be doing.
Stress can also stop you from doing your day to day routines and this can lead to depression
because if you're constantly at home and not socializing with anyone then you reduce your self-
esteem.
Healthy relationships, this is a socio-economic factor. If someone has a healthy relationship,
then they are happy, you will have a better mental health/wellbeing because they are not in
stress. When a relationship ends the people in the relationship get upset because of the
outcome and it normally leads them to stress and they do alcohol and drugs. It normally takes
them to the wrong route, and they do things that effects their mental health and mental
wellbeing. Healthy relationships can have a positive and negative outcome. When someone in a
relationship they are happy because they have somebody that loves them and that will support
them. However, when they get into an argument which may reduce the self-esteem of the
people in the relationship and they will be stressed.
, Alcohol/drugs, this is a risk factor. It has a big effect on the mental wellbeing and mental
health, because it can lead to depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Substance
use disorder is a serious condition in which the use of alcohol and drugs both lead to physical
and psychological problems that affect the individuals working or home life for the worse.
(BOOK). Alcohol has a negative effect on early adult hood because some people think that drugs
and alcohol relieves their stress which makes them do it most days but what they don’t know is
that it is having a negative effect on the body.
Family support system is a protective factor. Having a family support system is very important
because adolescence when they have a bad day they tend to want to go home and get their
love and support from their family, however some adolescence don’t have a family which
means they don’t have anyone to speak to and they keep their own problems to themselves
which means they build up stress.
The ICD is used to diagnose mental illnesses and it's like a classification system which helps the
nurses to help use the right diagnostic and giving the best type of treatment. The professionals
use the ICD to find out information about the symptoms.
DSM
The DSM stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders. It is used
by Americans to diagnose people with different mental illnesses. The first DSM was made in
1952. The only criteria in the DSM-1 was homosexuality. The Americans made the DSM by using
the information of their own country, so the DSM cannot be used internationally, and it won't
be effective and is not reliable for people who live internationally, because they have done
research based on people in their own country and it won't be accurate to the other people
who live internationally because we all live in different environments. The impact on the DSM is
it will help the patient to receive the correct medication. The DSM also is a diagnostic tool
which helps the patients to be diagnosed with the right diagnoses. The DSM is useful, and it is
used with a criterion, however the DSM has a verity different disorders which can confuse the
professionals and can lead to misdiagnoses. Some patients may be diagnosed when they didn’t
need a diagnosis, they just needed therapy and someone to speak to. The reason to why mis
diagnoses can happen is because professionals don’t always ask the patient about their external
factors and they only ask about their symptoms. If the patient has been having symptoms for 2
weeks or longer the professional may ask them questions that they don’t want to answer, and
the professional may not answer it which means they won't get the information they need.
When the patient is diagnosed with the DSM the professional will tell them what they must do
to maintain everything, if they maintain and take their medication when they need to then they
will be able to go to work, socialize with friends and do their day to day lifestyle. The
professional might tell the patient that they need to change their diet which can reduce the
likelihood of the patient getting obese and many other risk factors. It is important that if the
professional tells you to go to activities like gym you should consider it because if a patient goes
