Reflective Practice Critical Essay - The Common Mental Health Issues Of Youths

Introduction: Reflective Practice Critical Essay – The common mental health issues of youths.

Generally, mental health is the state of equilibrium between a person and their socio-cultural environment that guarantees the work, relationships, and intellectual participation to achieve well-being and quality of life. I think, the term “mental health” is a manner analogous to that used in the “health and fitness”, but the mental health reaches more complex than the merely organic functioning of the individual dimensions. Mental health has been defined in many ways by authors from different cultures. Concepts of mental health include subjective well-being, autonomy, and emotional potential, among others (Storrie, Ahern, and Tuckett, 2010).

However, the accuracies of the World Health Organization states that there is no “official” definition of what is mental health and that any definition will always be influenced by cultural differences, assumptions, disputes between professional theories, how the people associate your environment with reality, etc. Instead, a common ground on which coincide theorists is that “mental health” and “mental illness” are not two just opposite concepts, ie, the absence of a mental disorder recognized not necessarily indicate the presence of mental health and, conversely, suffer a particular mental disorder is not always and necessarily a bar to enjoy a reasonably good mental health.

According to Witmer, and Sweeny, (2011), since it is the observation of the behavior of a person in his daily life the main mode of knowing the state of his mental health issues such as managing conflicts, fears, and capacities, its powers, and responsibilities, the maintenance of their own needs, the way it manages its own tensions, the relationships and the way that leads an independent life, the concept is necessarily subjective and culturally determined. Mental health is related to the intellect, emotions, and behavior in different situations of everyday life (Dix, 2012). It also helps the youths to determine how to manage stress, along with other people and make important decisions. Like other forms of health, mental health is important at all stages of life, from childhood and adolescence to adulthood. The deficit in the mental health helps to many somatic and affective illnesses such as depression or anxiety.

Reflective Practice Critical Essay - The common mental health issues of youths

The common mental health issues of youths:

The issue of mental health, and not only concerns aspects of aftercare apparent emergence of mental disorders but also corresponds to the area of prevention of these with the promotion of socio-cultural environment determined by aspects such as self-esteem, interpersonal relationships and other elements that should already come from the primary education of children and youth. This concern applies not only to experts, but part of the responsibilities of government of a nation, training in the family, a healthy living environment in the neighborhood of the responsibility assumed by the media and conscious guide to mental health in schools and workspaces and study in general (Myers, Sweeny, and Witmer, 2010).

From the views of the psychodynamic theories, it can be stated that mental health issues and pathological aspects are constituent parts of every individual. The personal constitution of each subject involves skills or other healthy and pathological aspects, the proportion of the same variable among people. Thus, according to Wilfred Bion, the ability to tolerate frustration would be a first sound capability that would allow the individual developing the beginning of the thought process and understanding of the world and of himself.

The function of thought would be the basis of mental health. This is favored by a contained environment (maternal function or caregiver) that allows tolerating frustration and to initiate the development of the mental apparatus, the base of mental health, sometimes there are children or adolescents with mental health problems and is recommended to be a psychologist or talk very clear with him (Wang et al, 2011).

According to me, mental health can be defined as a state of being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, with the ability to cope with the stresses of everyday life and work productively. In most countries, mental health services suffer from a serious lack of resources, both human and financial. Most healthcare facilities available currently go to specialized care and treatment of the mentally ill and to a lesser extent, to an integrated mental health system.

Instead of providing care in large psychiatric hospitals, countries should integrate mental health into primary care; provide mental health in general hospitals and be developing community mental health services (Wang et al, 2011). Promoting mental health requires implementing medical, social and above all government programs with the same goal, to promote mental health across the life cycle to ensure mentally healthy children and prevent mental disorders in adulthood or old age. Mental health is a state of psychological and emotional well-being that allows the subject to employ their mental, social and emotional skills to function successfully in everyday interactions.

David Rosenhan and Martin Seligman exposed some elements that characterize psychological abnormality in 1989. By common sense and parsimonious explanation, some of these elements are described, in order to make explicit the complexity of mental health and illness.

Suffering : The “sorrow of the soul”, the lack of comfort, discomfort that is consistent, in some cases it is due to biological factors, there are a physical cause and bodily dysfunction; International, pain, and psychological distress are derived from ideas, existential events, memories and other things that are not tangible and related to current issues.

Maladaptive behavior: An effective and negative feelings of the youth which refers to the behavioral part, ie, to what he does. Adaptation describes an individual’s ability to interact with their environment, to tackle problems successfully and fit and function before any changes in environmental demands if the change is not possible (Smith, Segal and Segal, 2011).

Loss of control: The control of mental health refers to the predictability over time that shows an individual with respect to his conduct. Connotes the ability to anticipate the reaction of a person known to a particular event (Weare, 2010). A person with self-control is very predictable: but there must control act in a rational and purposeful. The loss is characteristic of the person with explosive nature as they are known colloquially, is associated with episodes of aggression that can get to the job loss.

Things to consider by the paramedics which dealing with the youth with mental health issues:

The scientific consensus on the conditions of mental health disorders includes neurobiological and particularly neurochemical aspects. Other functions of the brain identified as contributors to mental health conditions include the circadian clock, the neuroplasticity, the ion channel, the signal transduction, the cognition, the brain networks and others aspects. Brain scans show physical changes in the neuroanatomy of disorders like schizophrenia.

Studies also include observation of environmental factors and the level of development of individual relationships. The best medical evidence, as they are defined by the National Institute for Health and Medical Excellence in the United Kingdom as a treatment guide indicate that bipolar disorder, for example, requires a combination of medication, psychotherapy, self-help and social support. For its part, the mental health agencies now promote stimulating methods of self-help and self-improvement.

As a paramedic, I think the social acceptance is very important for the people with mental health problems. The social acceptance of people with mental health conditions has proven to be the best support and the best prevention of mental disorders. Unfortunately, people with mental health conditions are in many countries victims of discrimination even by their own family unit, are not easily accepted in the workplace, in the studio, and in the community.

The lack of knowledge about what it means to a mental condition is another factor that affects the same phenomenon of marginalization. The prevalence of serious problems in mental health conditions in youth is double that of the general population in addition to forming the group least seek help in this regard. Young people have a high potential to minimize future disabilities if social acceptance is broad and receive accurate and timely support services. The recovery from the conditions occurs primarily within the field of social acceptance. Discrimination and stigma make it more difficult the recovery process for people with mental illness in regards to keeping the job, get health insurance and find a treatment.

Functions or duties of a paramedic:

Actions that can be taken by the paramedic:

Assessment of the patient’s condition to determine the procedure and the decision to use medical rescue operations
laying the patient in the proper position
the pursuit of basic and advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Instrumental restoring and securing a patent airway (including the use of oropharyngeal, laryngeal mask, laryngeal tube), airway suctioning
take oxygen reactive ventilatory support, mechanical ventilation
endotracheal intubation in cardiac arrest, without the use of muscle relaxants
automatic or manual based shock on ECG
performance study of electrocardiographic aspects
monitoring of the respiratory system, the activities of the circulatory system (non-invasive methods)
cannulation of peripheral veins of upper and lower limbs and the external jugular vein
administration of drugs by intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intratracheal, oral, doodbytniczną, and intramedullary inhalation using a kit
decompression of tension pneumothorax by puncturing the pleural
a collection of blood venous and the capillary for laboratory tests
determining the level of critical parameters, including levels of glucose and electrolytes and capillary blood
dressing wounds, damming bleeding, immobilization of fractures, dislocations, sprains, immobilization of the spine
receiving birth of a patient sudden out of the hospital
segregation of medicine
take safety measures to reduce the health effects of events
preparation of the patient and patient care during transport
administration of the drugs listed in the Annex to Regulation.

Actions that may be taken paramedic under the supervision of a physician

endotracheal intubation in cases other than sudden cardiac arrest, using muscle relaxants
the performance of electrical cardioversion and external pacing
assisting with minor surgery and other procedures
catheterization of the bladder
setting probe gastric and gastric lavage
administration on the order of a physician drugs other than those listed in the Annex to Regulation.

Theories related to mental health and duties of paramedics

I think that as a paramedic, I need not separate the reality of mental health and physical health. The relationship between biological diseases and mental illnesses has an obvious connection, as noted by Benedetto Saraceno at the Symposium “mental and physical health throughout life” of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO):

“The complex challenges of comorbidity of mental and physical illness would be much better served worldwide with comprehensive strategies aimed at patient care and the community (…). Experts have to communicate because it is clear that the comorbidity between the physical and mental demands a vertical intervention, not horizontal.Clinical comorbidity is the rule, not the exception.”

At the same symposium, the PAHO Director Mirta Roses presented a statistical report about mental problems and morbidity in the Americas. Roses say that if in 1990 there was an estimated number of 114 million people with mental disorders in America, this will rise to 176 million by 2010, and the worrying thing is that only a minority receive treatment. Roses said that according to the diagnostic that PAHO had made in Mexico, in people with mental illness, 80% of patients diagnosed had not received any attention. Also, a quarter of the adult population in Latin America and the Caribbean has suffered from a mental problem; at least five million people suffer from epilepsy and of these only 1.5 million receive some care.

According to Dr. Glasser, public health model is a model deliberately established to service millions. Glasser presents this model in an “extended” version. This focuses on how strategies are to be implemented by mental health professionals and institutions hiring professionals in the area. Also, this involves the establishment of industry mental health professionals and specialist nurses in psychiatric and mental health counselors who serve without diagnosis or perform only first-line medications without professional help. Lately, there have been several interesting theses about the theme of the professional role in mental health teams. Eliana Beatriz Hidalgo et.al, in his thesis “ZOOM: A look at the hospital psycho role,” ask about aspects such as representations and explicit and implicit demands, teamwork, and other characteristics that define the role of a paramedic within the mental health team in the hospital context.

Cultural and religious considerations

An important element of my duties as a paramedic is cultural and religious considerations. The concept of mental health is a social and cultural construction but can be defined or determined by some common elements. For this reason, different professions, communities, societies, and cultures have different ways of conceptualizing its nature and causes, determining what mental health is and deciding which interventions are deemed appropriate. However, scholars have identified different cultural and religious backgrounds and different experiences that can determine the methodologies used during treatments.

The holistic model of mental health generally includes concepts based on perspectives of anthropology, education, psychology, religion and sociology, as well as theoretical concepts such as individual psychology, sociology, clinical psychology, health psychology and the psychology of development. Many mental health professionals have begun to understand the importance of religious and spiritual diversity in mental health. The American Psychological Association explicitly states that religion must be respected, while the American Psychiatric Association says that education in religious and spiritual matters is also a necessity. Thus, while dealing with mental patients, a paramedic must respect religious beliefs, and, must avoid taking steps or behaving in any way that offends the patient, or his family, friends, etc.

An example of the welfare model was developed by Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer and in the same, the following five vital areas are included:

Essence or spirituality.
Work and leisure.
Friendship.
Love
Self Control.

Besides, there are twelve sub-areas too:

The sense of value.
The sense of control.
Realistic sense.
Emotional awareness.
Fighting ability.
Problem solving and creativity.
The sense of humor.
Nutrition.
Exercise.
The sense of self-protection.
Control of tensions own.
Sexual identity and cultural identity.

All these points are identified as the main characteristics of a healthy functionality and main components of mental wellness. The components provide paramedics with a means of responding to the mental health-related issues.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be stated that the mental health issues are quite common in youths and they should be treated properly by the paramedics in order to get rid of the situation at earliest. The issue of mental health, and not only concerns aspects of aftercare apparent emergence of mental disorders but also corresponds to the area of prevention of these with the promotion of socio-cultural environment determined by aspects such as self-esteem, interpersonal relationships and other elements that should already come from the primary education of children and youth. Often the paramedics do not fulfill the needs of the youths with mental health issues but they should be treated properly. So, I think, there are a number of do’s and don’t for the paramedics which should be complied with by the paramedics.