Discuss About The Veterans Outpatient Mental Health Clinics.
Mental health has become an issue of concern in our modern society with reported cases of social exclusion, stigmatization and negative attitudes increasing among the general public, the mental health professionals as well as to the young generation. However the recent developments in mental health attitudes have existed some decades before the 20th century. The effectiveness of mental health treatment in the society can only be achieved when the community changes their attitude towards the people living with mental illness (Ebert et al. 2015, p.12). People from different fields have been found to have different opinions towards people with mental health issues, but harmful and stigmatizing approaches have been reported to be highly prevalent in the general population. Researchers have developed and conducted different studies to establish the efforts being made to solve this issue however during the first two decades of the 20th century no desirable change has been achieved so far or is observable (Henderson et al. 2014, p. 474). This report, therefore, seeks to provide critical analysis to the attitudes associated and expressed to individuals with mental health issues.
Due to the prevalence of negative attitudes and stigmatizing, many scholars in the past two centuries have engaged in studies aimed at providing practical strategies and solutions to help remedy the situation.in their journal (Wahl et al. 2018, p. 77). The authors analyzed the effectiveness of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), ending the silence presentation on improving the understanding and acceptance of mental health conditions through provision of mental health education (Rogers & Pilgrim, 2014, p. 225) the study focused on the prevalent attitudes of students in America for the last decades in 20th century towards mental health conditions. The study was aimed at changing student’s attitudes on mental health conditions. The results showed a positive correlation between educations on improving the attitudes of high school students on mental health illness. In the journal entitled conceptions of mental illness by Jennifer et al., (2014) the authors have given a comparison of attitudes of psychiatric professionals on mental health to the opinions of the general public. They identified that there are potent stereotypes persisted among the general public however the mental health professionals were found to have significantly more positive attitudes towards people with mental health problems.
The attitudes of mental nursing staff to individuals with mental problems were also analyzed by (Martensson et al. 2014, p. 784) in their journal “Psychiatric and mental health nursing.” These authors were able to establish that employers, employees as well as the workplace environment have a significant impact on influencing the attitudes nursing staff towards people with mental health problems (Reynders et al. 2014, p. 236). The authors also established that the nursing staff working with mental health patients has real positions due to their knowledge of mental illnesses or due to having an experience with a close friend with the same problem.
In their study, (Svensson & Hansson, 2016, p. 311) established that persons lacking knowledge of mental illnesses or having a personal experience of mental illness are likely to have negative attitudes towards the people with mental problems. The authors have also established that it is possible to find negative and stigmatizing attitudes among the healthcare staff (Mårtensson et al. 2014, p. 786). Therefore the significant factors contributing to the adverse and unfavorable reactions to individuals living with mental health problems include lack of knowledge, low education level, less professional experience as well as lack of familiarity with the mental health issues.
Psychiatric care has experienced significant obstacles through increased stigmatization and discriminating behaviors primarily when working with mental illnesses. For positive attitudes to be achieved there is a great need to improve individual and professional contact. Social exclusion has to be a significant setback for people with mental health problems and has continued to reduce their chances of responding to treatment through increased depression and anxiety (Halter, 2017, p. 514). Discriminatory behaviors from family, friends and even from less experienced nursing professionals have contributed negatively to the improvement of mental health problems.
Education level which is enhanced through the creation of awareness and experience with mental health people contribute positively to improving mental health (Funk, 2016). However despite the levels of education and knowledge many people have been criticized for being ignorant of mental health issues. Many families have excluded their members who may be suffering from any mental health problem. Research provides that many people suffering from severe mental health issues have been able to regain their mental health status just because of love is shown to them (Hadlaczky et al. 2014, p. 469). The community at large should stay away from the stereotypes which have persisted for generations in the society about mental health problems and embrace the modern strategies of creating awareness of mental health issues and providing contusive environments for the treatment of mental health patients.
Despite the numerous efforts indicating that there are certain attitudes observed of nursing staff or professionals to individuals with mental health issues, there is a notable difference in the staff’s attitude towards mental health patients (Thornicroft et al. 2016, p. 1128). For the staff or nursing professionals working or offering inpatient services their beliefs are more of negative than positive towards their patients while the professionals providing outpatient services have been found to have positive attitudes (Kopera et al. 2015, p. 630). The reason for the difference has been attributed to the fact that the staff in inpatients has contacts with persons with severe mental health problems, long-term as well as recurrent issues. It is therefore likely for them to develop negative beliefs, hopelessness, and pessimism in the individual staff members (Stuber et al. 2014, p. 492). Consequently, it’s not about the experience in handling mental health issues but also not allowing the problems become part of the professional’s life as this may have adverse effects and reduced efficiency in their service provision.
Stigmatization over the years at the workplace has been reported to reduce. However, research provides that health professionals have not realized the impact their attitudes have on their colleagues. Many colleagues with mental illness live in fear of disclosure of their conditions (Bharadwaj et al. 2017, p. 58). So whenever these health professionals display stigmatizing and discriminatory behaviors at the workplace, their responses have been found to affect their mental health care by other professionals (Clement et al. 2015, p. 17). It is of great concern therefore for researchers to establish the degree to which these behaviors by health care professionals have on the quality of mental health care provided and the possible intervention mechanisms.
The interpretation of this information can, therefore, be used to imply that despite the strategies being developed to enhance the quality of mental health care, human contact behaviors has dramatically impacted the effectiveness of these strategies negatively (Musiat et al. 2014, p. 109). The authors provide us with knowledge of the fact that with increased awareness on mental health problems can be a big step into improving our attitudes towards people with mental health (Schulze & Angermeyer, 2014, p. 303). However, the educated groups including the healthcare professionals are at the forefront of increasing the rates of stigmatization and discrimination. Therefore, a successful strategy will involve more than awareness creation but fight to reduce the levels of stereotypes which have primarily contributed to increased levels of stigmatization and discrimination.
Familiarity with mental health problems through experience can play and has been shown to play an essential role in changing our attitudes. However, there is an excellent need to control our contacts as severe engagements may lead to emotional, behavioral and cognitive biases (Goguen et al. 2016, p. 52). To increase the disclosure of mental illness, there is need to develop trust mechanisms and a support structure to the people with mental illness. The increased number of mental illness has been as a result of non-disclosure of their psychological status due to fear of how they will be perceived and especially at their workplace by their colleagues (Corrigan, 2004, p. 614). Developing positive attitudes is more of being aware or knowledgeable about mental health illness but being conscious of the impact of adverse reactions to people with mental health illness.
Despite the prevalence of mental health problems and the increasing levels of stigmatization and discrimination towards people with mental illness, we can conclude that no amount of significant changes can be seen over the past decades. Despite the various efforts made to improve our attitudes through increased knowledge on mental health awareness, ignorance, and lack of self-consciousness of the impacts our views have continued to grow the problem in our society. There is a need for scholars to identify the degree to which these impacts have on mental health and advocate for effective strategies and mechanisms other than education to change the existing stereotypes and improve our attitudes
Wahl, O., Rothman, J., Brister, T., and Thompson, C., 2018. Changing Student Attitudes About Mental Health Conditions: NAMI Ending the Silence
The authors of this journal have provided an understanding of how the different attitudes of students about mental health conditions can be improved by creating more awareness or providing more knowledge psychological health illness. To achieve this, they analyzed the effectiveness of NAMI Ending the silence presentation which has been used for a while on changing student’s awareness. They provided a survey to 10 students from different regions, and the results indicated that indeed the strategy or the presentation had a significant impact on improving or changing the student’s attitudes towards those with mental health conditions. However, the authors were not analytical enough to provide the reasons why the presentation was effective.
Stuber, J.P., Rocha, A., Christian, A., and Link, B.G., 2014. Conceptions of mental illness: Attitudes of mental health professionals and the general public. Psychiatric services, 65(4), pp.490-497.
The author of these journals has demonstrated their understanding of the attitudes of mental health professionals and the general public towards people with mental health illness. They provide the evidence that many health professionals and staff have positive attitudes towards those with mental illness while the general public is attributed to have a high prevalence of adverse reactions. The general public is greatly influenced by stereotypes and lack of knowledge on mental health while the health professional’s positive attitudes are enhanced by their experience and familiarity with mental health conditions. However, the authors do not provide enough resources to justify the impacts of stigmatization impacts on individual amongst the healthcare staff or professionals.
Mårtensson, G., Jacobsson, J.W., and Engström, M., 2014. Mental health nursing staff’s attitudes towards mental illness: an analysis of related factors. Journal of psychiatric and psychological health nursing, 21(9), pp.782-788
The authors of this journal have been able to provide a framework of analysis that aids in understanding the factors contributing positive attitudes amongst nursing staff which is attributed to their experience in handling mental health conditions. They argue that most of these people have had close friends affected or suffering from the same problem. Therefore have the upper hand in understanding what other people go through. However, the authors do not provide sufficient information on how the nursing staff can help their colleagues in overcoming mental illness disclosure as studies have supplied that many professionals are also suffering in silence due to the fear factor of how they will be perceived by their colleagues
Svensson, B. and Hansson, L., 2016. How mental health literacy and experience of mental illness relate to stigmatizing attitudes and social distance towards people with depression or psychosis: A cross-sectional study. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 70(4), pp.309-313.
This journal has explained more on the impact of mental literacy and experience in mental illness and further relates it to how stigmatizing, and social has impacted people with depression and psychosis. The articles focus on how psychological literacy and experience has positively contributed to the improvement of individuals and general public attitudes on mental health. On the other hand, negative behaviors such as stigmatizing and also social exclusion have increased the negative perception and attitudes to people with mental problems or even to mental health conditions. There is a need therefore for further studies to establish how possible intervention mechanisms can be developed to promote the positively contributing factors and minimize the negative contributing factors.
Schulze, B. and Angermeyer, M.C., 2014. Subjective experiences of stigma. A focus group study of schizophrenic patients, their relatives, and mental health professionals. Social science & medicine, 56(2), pp.299-312
This study was more subjective as the authors sought to provide an understanding of personal experiences of stigma by receiving feedbacks from different affected groups including schizophrenic patients, their relatives as well as receiving feedbacks from mental health professionals. The study I would say was more useful as it provided substantial evidence based on peoples experiences and not opinions. The focus group study, therefore, concluded that stigmatization has to be a key factor contributing negatively to the prevalence of mental health conditions. They advocate for an effective strategy through increased awareness and self-consciousness of the alarming effects of mental health problems globally and the need to provide a favorable environment to those with such conditions to receive proper treatment and counseling.
Halter, M.J., 2017. Varcarolis’ Foundations of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing-E-Book: A Clinical Approach. Elsevier Health Sciences.
The authors of this book have provided an in-depth analysis of the foundations of mental health problems and how the problem can be solved despite the growing prevalence of stigmatization and discrimination for people with mental health illness. They provide an understanding of both inpatient and outpatient prevention mechanisms and how we can improve contacts with these groups of people. They also offer a detailed analysis of the therapeutic relationships with mental health and mostly argue that mental illness is as a result of nature and nurture. They advocate for legislative involvement through the creation of programs aimed at increasing awareness and education the general public on mental health conditions and how they can be minimized.
Clement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N., Morgan, C., Rüsch, N., Brown, J.S.L. and Thornicroft, G., 2015. What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychological medicine, 45(1), pp.11-27.
The authors of this article provided a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the impact of stigmatization on help-seeking initiatives for mental health problems. The reason for their analysis was due to the reported cases in a delay in seeking of professional support for individuals with mental health problems. Therefore they had to review the impact of stigmatization as a critical deterrent in help finding initiatives. According to their results, stigma was ranked fourth among the main barriers to help-seeking. They further provided the attributed factors to lack of a driving factor in finding professional help and were able to establish that disclosure concerns were the contributing factors. There is a need, therefore, to build trust with the people suffering from mental illness to provide an enabling environment for discloses.
Rogers, A., and Pilgrim, D., 2014. Sociology of mental health and illness. McGraw-Hill Education . (UK).pp. 212-254
The above two journals have also been used to provide more understanding on the scope of mental health through the journal of sociology of mental health and illness as well as through providing more information on how stigma interferes with mental health care. The authors of the journal of sociology have expounded on the development of mental health problems and how they can be treated through psychiatric interventions. On the other hand, the second journal focuses on how stigma interferes with mental health care. In this regard, the authors provide that analysis on how stigmatization among the health professionals affects their colleagues and impact on their abilities to offer mental health care to their patients. Secondly, they provide that stigmatization leads to social exclusion towards the individuals with mental health illness and enhances the possibilities on non-disclosure of psychological health status among different groups.
Henderson, C., Noblett, J., Parke, H., Clement, S., Caffrey, A., Gale-Grant, O., Schulze, B., Druss, B. and Thornicroft, G., 2014. Mental health-related stigma in health care and mental health-care settings. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(6), pp.467-482.
The authors of this journal have helped in providing an understanding of mental health related stigma. They focused on establishing whether mental health care providers or professionals stigmatize people suffering from mental health illness with their services. They resolved to provide intervention mechanisms to help reduce this problem. The article and the authors argument provides that the health professionals contact with individuals with mental health conditions enhances positive attitudes however do not reduce stigmatization. The authors therefore advocate for initiating education strategies to decrease stigma especially for general health care professionals.
Garcia, H.A., Finley, E.P., Ketchum, N., Jakupcak, M., Dassori, A. and Reyes, S.C., 2014. A survey of perceived barriers and attitudes toward mental health care among OEF/OIF veterans at VA outpatient mental health clinics. Military medicine, 179(3), pp.273-278.
The authors of article aimed at improving their understanding of perceived treatment barriers to mental health conditions among veterans in Iraq. They conducted a survey among 436 veteran combats and examined their attitudes and beliefs about mental health care treatment and efforts for seeking treatment and possible barriers. The study identified that there were more negative attitudes among the veterans as a possible barrier to seeking treatment. However the authors suggested that outreach and engagements strategies will play an important role in in changing the attitudes and reducing the attitudinal barriers to treatment and care.
References
Bharadwaj, P., Pai, M.M. and Suziedelyte, A., 2017. Mental health stigma. Economics Letters, 159, pp.57-60.
Clement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N., Morgan, C., Rüsch, N., Brown, J.S.L. and Thornicroft, G., 2015. What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychological medicine, 45(1), pp.11-27.
Corrigan, P., 2014. How stigma interferes with mental health care. American psychologist, 59(7), p.614.
Goguen, K., Britt, T.W., Jennings, K., Sytine, A., Jeffirs, S., Peasley, A., Zaremba, B. and Palmer, J., 2016. Implicit and explicit attitudes toward mental health treatment. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 35(1), pp.45-63.
Hadlaczky, G., Hökby, S., Mkrtchian, A., Carli, V. and Wasserman, D., 2014. Mental Health First Aid is an effective public health intervention for improving knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour: A meta-analysis. International Review of Psychiatry, 26(4), pp.467-475.
Halter, M.J., 2017. Varcarolis’ Foundations of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing-E-Book: A Clinical Approach. Elsevier Health Sciences.pp. 514
Kopera, M., Suszek, H., Bonar, E., Myszka, M., Gmaj, B., Ilgen, M. and Wojnar, M., 2015. Evaluating explicit and implicit stigma of mental illness in mental health professionals and medical students. Community mental health journal, 51(5), pp.628-634.
Mårtensson, G., Jacobsson, J.W. and Engström, M., 2014. Mental health nursing staff’s attitudes towards mental illness: an analysis of related factors. Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 21(9), pp.782-788.
Rogers, A. and Pilgrim, D., 2014. A sociology of mental health and illness. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).pp. 212-254.
Schulze, B. and Angermeyer, M.C., 2014. Subjective experiences of stigma. A focus group study of schizophrenic patients, their relatives and mental health professionals. Social science & medicine, 56(2), pp.299-312.
Stuber, J.P., Rocha, A., Christian, A. and Link, B.G., 2014. Conceptions of mental illness: Attitudes of mental health professionals and the general public. Psychiatric services, 65(4), pp.490-497.
Svensson, B. and Hansson, L., 2016. How mental health literacy and experience of mental illness relate to stigmatizing attitudes and social distance towards people with depression or psychosis: A cross-sectional study. Nordic journal of psychiatry, 70(4), pp.309-313.
Wahl, O., Rothman, J., Brister, T. and Thompson, C., 2018. Changing Student Attitudes About Mental Health Conditions: NAMI Ending the Silence.pp. 72-84.
Corrigan, P.W., Druss, B.G. and Perlick, D.A., 2014. The impact of mental illness stigma on seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 15(2), pp.37-70.
Reynders, A., Kerkhof, A.J.F.M., Molenberghs, G. and Van Audenhove, C., 2014. Attitudes and stigma in relation to help-seeking intentions for psychological problems in low and high suicide rate regions. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 49(2), pp.231-239.
Funk, M., 2016. Global burden of mental disorders and the need for a comprehensive, coordinated response from health and social sectors at the country level.
Ebert, D.D., Berking, M., Cuijpers, P., Lehr, D., Pörtner, M. and Baumeister, H., 2015. Increasing the acceptance of internet-based mental health interventions in primary care patients with depressive symptoms. A randomized controlled trial. Journal of affective disorders, 176, pp.9-17.
Thornicroft, G., Mehta, N., Clement, S., Evans-Lacko, S., Doherty, M., Rose, D., Koschorke, M., Shidhaye, R., O’Reilly, C. and Henderson, C., 2016. Evidence for effective interventions to reduce mental-health-related stigma and discrimination. The Lancet, 387(10023), pp.1123-1132.
Musiat, P., Goldstone, P. and Tarrier, N., 2014. Understanding the acceptability of e-mental health-attitudes and expectations towards computerised self-help treatments for mental health problems. BMC psychiatry, 14(1), p.109.
Henderson, C., Noblett, J., Parke, H., Clement, S., Caffrey, A., Gale-Grant, O., Schulze, B., Druss, B. and Thornicroft, G., 2014. Mental health-related stigma in health care and mental health-care settings. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(6), pp.467-482.
Garcia, H.A., Finley, E.P., Ketchum, N., Jakupcak, M., Dassori, A. and Reyes, S.C., 2014. A survey of perceived barriers and attitudes toward mental health care among OEF/OIF veterans at VA outpatient mental health clinics. Military medicine, 179(3), pp.273-278.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download