Assessing mental health illness: professional roles and suicide risk evaluation

¶ … Mental Health Illness

The ability for individuals to access mental health services in today's society is more wide ranging than every before. Mental health was once governed by physicians, and now by mental health professionals in a wide range of disciplines. Today, mental health professionals are credentialed in multi-disciplines . For example: family and marital therapist, a chemical dependency practitioner, or nurse practitioners. All of these elements are to serve and improve the ability of patients / clients to receive quality mental health care / services, whether it be a small private practice or a large institutional setting, or a community mental health center.

Assessing a client with a mental health illness requires someone in the field who is skilled, knowledgeable, and understand how to use the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for mental illnesses . There are many different types of mental health professionals who are trained in the field to diagnose and treat mental illness. For the matter of clarity and brevity, we will focus on just three. A psychiatrist is trained in the field of mental, can diagnose and write prescriptions. health, . A clinical psychologist who is licensed, can diagnose a mental illness, however they cannot prescribe medications for the illness . A medical doctor who is licensed, can diagnose a mental illness, and prescribe medications, however most medical doctors do not specialize in the field of mental health, therefore might refer the client to someone who works in this field.

Key Elements and Factors

When a client is diagnosed with a mental illness it is imperative that the medical doctor or therapist who is giving the diagnoses understands the criteria stated in the DSM- IV-TR for mental health illness . The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-IV-TR) is a set of diagnostic criteria that indicates what symptoms must be presented, for how long, in order to quality for a diagnosis ( called inclusion criteria) as well as those symptoms that must be present in order for an individual to quality for a particular diagnosis.

Critical Areas to Assess Suicidal Person

According to Schwartz and Roberts (2004) suicide is a national health risk in many counties.. In the United States there's approximately one successful suicide every 20 minutes ( Shea, 1989) . An alarming 40% to 60% of these individuals who successful completed suicide was seen by a doctor the previous month, not a mental health professional ( Shea, 1989; American Association of Suicidology, 2006 ) . In order to effectively intervene in suicidal attempts, it is pertinent for the mental health professional to understand facts about suicide behavior, procedures for assessing an individual's risk of self-harm, and the evaluation of the lethality of client's suicidal gestures . Suicide assessments contain three parts: (1) elicitation of suicidal ideation from the patient ( Shea, 1989), (2) gathering of the data, age, sex, use of drugs and alcohol,

(3 ) mental health professionals decision making itself, in which the mental health professional weighs the danger, and presence of risk factors. In order for suicide rates to diminish or go down, it is essential for mental health professionals to have suicide assessment that are: ( 1) easily learned, (2) easy to retain, (3) no written prompts, (4) the approach should help increase validity when gathering information from the individual (5) the approach should be well maintained in databases regarding suicidal ideation

( Shea, 1989), (6) this approach must be easily taught and ( 7) behaviorally concrete to lend itself to empirical study ( Schwartz & Rogers, 2004) .

For example: you're the mental health professional who is doing assessments in a female prison with inmates who are self-harming, Bonner ( 2001) states one way to rule out suicide attempts is focusing on suicide assessments in relation to inmate problem-solving techniques may serve as one way to detect whether the female inmate should be considered for at risk suicide . According to Bonner ( 2001) conceptualizing inmates who self-harm in one of the three general categories ( 1) those who self-harm as way to cope in problem solving, (2) those who self-harm to overcome deep rooted emotions and ( 3) those who show signs of hopelessness, depression, or want to die . Never put someone who has suicidal ideation in segregated rooms, or strip them of there clothing locking them up in a round rubber room ( Bonner, 2006). This will only create a more distressed individual, and will not solve the problem or the behavior.

Risk Factors

When working with the elderly population, mental health illnesses are usually overlooked by their primary care doctor, because they are to busy focusing on their physical issues, and complaints. Oversight is high in elderly populations leading to more serious risks such as: prescription abuse, suicide, higher mortality rate, and alcohol abuse. Therefore, it is essential for mental health professionals to watch for these signs when they are working with the elderly population

According to the Mental Health Institute ( 2009) gender determines the power and control men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their mental health. . Depression is higher in women, than men; however this could be because women are more likely to seek treatment. Alcohol dependence is a very common disorder among men then women, and is twice as high among the male population.

According to Harris, Edlund, and Larson ( 2006) religious providers play a small part in the individuals health care delivery system. Individuals who are strong believers within their faith are more likely to turn to their religious provider first for help, before seeking help with a mental health professional. Those with serious distress, use of outpatient care and medication are more strongly associated with church attendance, and with the importance of religious beliefs.

Homeless

There are many reasons to why one might end up homeless; however mental illness is prevalent among the homeless population. Individuals with mental illnesses require ongoing access to treatment and rehabilitation services. These individuals are human beings who should be treated with dignity and respect . Poor mental health could also lead to poor physical health, especially those individuals who are homeless. Some homeless people who suffer from the more serious mental health illnesses will self-medicate using street drugs, which can lead not only to addictions, but also to disease transmission from the injection use . Better mental health services would combat not only mental illness, but homelessness as well .

Conclusion

As you look around the mall, classroom, church, family history, friend's family, or place of employment, you're sure to know someone with a mental illness, or someone who might of attempted suicide . Assessing and treating these disorders is essential in the mental health field, more trained mental health professionals are needed, more agencies, and more funding . Otherwise if society keeps assuming that the mind and brain are separate and that mental disorders are " different" or " bad" misunderstanding, mistreatment, and stigma will persist in this society . We need to stop seeing individuals with mental health disorders / illnesses as categories, because we will not see them as individuals .

Reference

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Revised 4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

American Association of Suicidology. ( 2006, February), U.S.A. suicide: 2003 official final data. Retrieved March 19, 2010, from http:/ / www.suiciodology.org.

Bonner, L. ( 2001). Rethinking suicide prevention and manipulative behavior in corrections. Jail Suicide Mental Health Update, 10(4), 7-8.

Bonner, L. (2006) . Stressful segregation housing in psychosocial vulnerability in prison suicide. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 36,250-254.

Corey, G., Corey, S., & Callanan, P. ( 2007). Issues and ethics in the helping professions ( 7th ed. ). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks / Cole.

Harris, K., Edlund, M., & Larson, S. ( 2006). Religious involvement and the use of mental health care. Health Services Research, 41(2), 295-410.

Schwartz, R. & Rogers, J. ( 2004). Suicide assessment and evaluation strategies: a primer for counseling psychologists. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 17 ( 1), 89-97.

Shea, C. ( 1989). A practical interviewing strategy for the elicitation of suicidal ideation. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59, 58-72.

Swenson, L. ( 1997) . Accreditation credentialing, and professionalism: The role of specialties. Journal of Counseling and Development, 74, 117-125.