MENTAL HEALTH

Mental Health

Mental Health

Health promotion is defined by Simnett (1995) to be "an umbrella term for a very wide range of activities which enhance good health and well-being and prevent ill-health, this include health education and health information, and preventative medical measures".

In attempting to establish critical thoughts regarding defining mental health promotion it is first necessary to establish a shared understanding of what it is to be mentally healthy and to experience wellbeing. Presently most of the debates have focussed on mental illness rather than on mental health, being concerned with conditions such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. Less consideration has been given to issues of well-being, such as isolation, loneliness, low self-esteem and fear, which are often deliberating and have direct effect on the mental and physical health of individuals. Predisposition as well as the conditions in which individuals and communities lives and interacts, directly affects their mental health, according to Heer and Woodhead (2002).

In order to facilitate meaningful debates across professional and sector boundaries, there is a need to address the problem of language and conceptual frameworks in relation to mental health promotion. This could be achieved by involving communities, and taking account of lay perspectives (The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and Mentality 2001) This essay focuses on the National Service Framework (NSF) for Mental Health . This indicated seven standards of treatment and care that people will be entitled to expect throughout the country. Standard one addresses mental health promotion and tackles the social exclusion and discrimination aligned with mental health problems. This mental health promotion activity will be founded on 'standard one' because it was intended to combat discrimination against the patient with mental health problems, and promote his social inclusion. Although the aim of standard one is to ensure health and social service reduce the discrimination and social exclusion associated with mental health problem, however there are countless incidents (as stated by the mass media recently) of individual with mental health problems being sent to prison (for menial / insignificant crime) one wonder if this is a way of avoiding the problem.

For the purpose of this account the patient's name will be altered and he shall be referred to as Alonzo, in keeping with the confidentiality clause of the Nursing and Midwifery Code of Professional Conduct, "to protect all confidential information regarding clients obtained during the course of professional practice" (NMC 2002). Alonzo is a 28 year old male with a psychiatric history of schizophrenia. He was recently discharged from hospital and was maintained in the community by a four weekly Flupentixol Decanoate depot injection, administered at home (his Parents home) by his community psychiatric nurse.

The health promotional activity that the qualified mental health nurse devised for Alonzo was exercise which included 'walking and playing squash'. The walking consisted of walking (four blocks) a distance of 800 meters to the local Leisure Centre, this would take approximately 10 minutes, then they would engage in a game of squash for 1 hour, After which they would ...