Mental Health in the Community Authored by Dr. Holloway (Essay Sample)

Mental Health in the Community
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Mental Health in the Community
Question 1
The individual formulation-based approach, medical practitioners, focus on analyzing an individual’s problems, circumstances, origins, and seeking therapeutic solutions to the issues identified. This approach is practical compared to the categorical approach because it provides benefits without the dangers. However, the method also presents some clinical and research challenges. One of the clinical challenges is that one cannot apply the standard treatment practices that are already available because people have different experiences when it comes to mental disorders. Therefore, there will be a need to conduct new research based on the signs presented by the individual to ascertain the most appropriate medicines or interventions. Thus, the individual formulation-based approach demands unique medical procedures that could be expensive and time-consuming. Consequently, the delays presented by the need for more research could worsen the patient’s condition.
Question 2
The actual value of psychiatric diagnosis is that it allows medical service practitioners to be able to predict the cause of illness, response to the various treatment approaches, and an understanding of the quality of life and level of functionality in the community. Therefore, a psychiatric diagnosis is a source of empowerment and not enchainment for service users. All medical or clinical actions accorded to patients should be evidence-based. Both historical and contemporary medicine is evidence-based, which makes it conscientious, explicit, and judicious. The psychiatric diagnosis provides health service providers with a framework on which to base their analysis. It allows them to know where to begin their research and thus save time and resources. Proper clinical practice should not use the available medical information as the sole guide in administering the treatment. Instead, the practitioners should use the information as a guideline towards determining the best approach to treatment. Therefore, a psychiatric diagnosis is a source of empowerment.
Question 3
User involvement has become a shared goal in all areas of clinical practice. While some groups are appropriately involved in providing clinical services to patients, some minority groups are bound to have inferior opportunities. It is, therefore, essential to consider whether an evaluation of a health service provider, especially in mental care, has been appropriately involved in providing services. The assessment can be done by evaluating certain factors, which include evaluation of the organizational policies, processes, procedures and practices. Different organizations have different approaches to user involvement. Therefore, it will be essential to assess the target organization’s policies and guidelines on user involvement. Besides, it is also crucial to determine the individual is included or excluded in the mental service provision. It is also essential to assess the specific strategies for involving the excluded groups and how the organization is implementing imaginative ways of working together.
Question 4
Epistemological evidence on the comparison between high and low-income countries shows that the disease affects the individuals in both countries similarly. Members in both countries are bound to suffer from mental conditions occasioned by the daily life stressors and hereditary disorders. However, the difference between the two countries arises in the way the members respond to the situations. High-income countries have better mechanisms of handling such problems as they are equipped with well-trained personnel, better resources, and can provide more personalized services to facilitate the recovery of the patients. On the contrary, low and middle-income countries suffer from inadequate manpower, insufficient resources, and are less likely to provide personalized services. Therefore, individuals from low and middle-income countries tend to suffer more from the condition compared to those in high-income countries. This data is essential for policy and service provision as it guides the relevant stakeholders in knowing the measures that they should take and the policies to implement that will help manage the condition especially in low and middle-income countries.
Question 5
There are several challenges associated with evidencing good community care. One of them is that it is difficult to establish facts. Most of the research on mental health revolve around medication instead of care. Therefore, it is often difficult to prove to obtain sufficient facts that will back the community care approach instead of the medication approach. Another challenge revolves around the complexity of the process. Various interpretations often characterize mental health challenges, and people tend to come up with different ideas, which renders the problem even more complicated (Holloway, 2019). Because each party is bound to come up with different interpretations, establishing proper evidence of the effectiveness of community care becomes difficult. Evidencing good community care is also challenging because of varying ideologies. Researchers and scientists tend to show some bias towards historical accounts, which makes it impossible to find objective evidence on good community care. Based on these challenges, it is difficult to get proper evidence to support community care.
Question 6
Mental disorder can be understood in various ways using different models. Among the four broad models used to understand these conditions include a disease model, a psychodynamic mode, a cognitive-behavioral model, and a social model. Dysfunctional behaviors, such as phobias are part of the mental disorders that can be understood based on these models. Explaining dysfunctional behavior based on the cognitive and behavioral models, the behavioral model posits that dysfunctional behavior are learned. According to this model, humans learn through conditioning given the fact that they are usually equal at birth, but the environmental factors determine their behavior. On the contrary, the cognitive model posits that what shapes people’s behavior depends on how they interpret events surrounding them. The model argues that people engage in cognitive distortions, cognitive biases, and suggests that this is the main cause of psychological distress that people feel, which is then reflected through dysfunctional behavior (Holloway, 2019). Therefore, according to the behavioral model, a person experiences phobia by connecting consequences associated with his or her behavior through positive and negative reinforcements. On the contrary, for the cognitive model, an individual develops a phobia out of the interpretation that they give towards given stimuli.
Question 7
Metabotropic communication involves an information flow system that involves receptors for glutamate complexes with G protein stimulating the production of certain intracellular messengers. It includes the input of specific neurotransmitters, including serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine, among others. This communication system differs from the ionotropic communication because the ionotropic mainly relies on ions such as Na, Ca2+, among others. However, activation of a metabotropic receptor leads to a series of intracellular events that may also result in the opening of the ion channels, as well as other intracellular events (Holloway, 2019). However, under this form of communication, the second messenger chemicals were more involved. Therefore, after activation, the chemical messengers bind to the metabotropic receptors to prompt the development of the biochemical response from the neurotransmitters. The G-coupled receptor involved activates a second messenger that regulates the number of proteins released or interferes with the ion channels in the skin. These receptors often remain open for the possibility of axis and other long-lasting effects.