Case study 4: Mental Health and Wellbeing
Part A
Liz is a 10-year-old gal from Cunnamulla diagnosed with schizoaffective. During her referral, Liz had history of attacks on her family members as well as on public spaces. Her attacks have been associated with CD’s mental health challenges. She was recorded to have delusional beliefs, periods of frustrations, bouts of anger, and deep depression. Liz has a troubling family background; she does not have a decent home while her parents spends most of their lives on sedentary jobs. Her father is an alcoholic and sometimes fails to come home for several days or weeks. While under treatment, Liz has been placed under home care by the hospital team.
Part B
In Australia, one in every four people experience mental health problem within a 12-time frame. However, only 20% of men and 30% of women seek professional help. Among these, they fail to receive evidenced based and timely care (Mindframe, 2015). 45%, almost half of the population within the age 16-85 experience mental illness at a certain time. Mental illness prevalence; however, decrease with age. It is 26% among those within 18-24 and only 5.9% among those above 75 years of age (Mindframe, 2015). Notably, mental health is ranked third in Australian disease burden. In the Ottawa Chatter, attention was drifted from disease prevention to health promotion. The Chatter had more emphasis put on positive psychology as well as a drift from dysfunction and pathology to optimum functioning and positive emotions (Mindframe, 2015). The Chatter underscore the fact that good health is not only defined by absence of diseases, but also promotion of individual and social resources stability that will enhance people, families, communities, and organizations thrive in harmony.
The Ottawa Chatter has heavily influenced public health approach to mental health promotion. The principles have been integrated to form the cornerstone of public health intervention programs. Together with positive psychology and mental health is the focus on “positive mental health,” which is an empowering resource, that include essential skills for human fulfilment and psychological assets of wellbeing (Burns, Emma, Marie, Jane, Tracey, Ian, Melissa, Louise, 2016). Public health interventions focus on programs and activities which foster positive mental health and aid in management of mental illness by identifying population based benefits to mental illness programs. Public health foster assessment of positive mental health and outcomes associated with it, such as wellbeing to assess and evaluate public health initiatives (Mindframe, 2015). Therefore, positive psychology has coined an important place in mental health promotion, contributed to health promotion framework, and enhanced positive psychology studies and practice. Among other areas, Australian government and public health bodies have remained committed to eliminating predisposes to mental health.
Efforts aimed at mental health management takes almost a similar pattern among the involved bodies. The programs are identified with four critical areas: positive emotions-gratitude, happiness, and fulfilment; positive individual traits- resiliency, optimism, strength, and character strengths; positive group relations, and enabling institutions-worksites and schools, that promote positive outcome (Mindframe, 2015). Unlike the World War II psychology, that focused on mental health, the new dimensions are holistic in nature. Additionally, positive health is linked to social, economic, and cultural wellbeing.
Mental health interventions call for a collaborative intervention intervention. Apart from the government and various international bodies, health promotion groups such as Psychology organizations based in Australia, addiction organizations in Australia, Australian Counselling Association, Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and National Mental Health Commission that work with various communities and in some regions to help with mental health challenges.
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