Psychiatric Mental Health : Appearance

31 y/o AA male patient seen today for psychiatric-mental health assessment. He is awake, alert and oriented x4. He is calm, cooperative and follows commands during assessment. The patient reports he is depressed, difficulty sleeping and nightmares at night. The patient explained his depression is as a result of deep thinking from a news he received two days ago from his elder brother that his mother is ill. Stressors identified by the patient include losing his job a week ago before the news about his mother; his wife is 6-months pregnant with their first child, who currently works part-time at her present job; patient relates difficulty paying monthly bills and inability to provide adequately for his family as a man. The patient denies mood swings, suicidal/homicidal thoughts and ideation. Patient reports his spouse is at work at the moment and he does not want to put stress on his wife due to her current condition. Patient denies been hospitalized for depression or psychiatric illness; and denies family history of mental illness. Patient reports he is seeking help because he does not like feeling this way using terms of “helpless and loss of worth from his spouse”. Patient reports he needs help with his depression and nightmares before his current condition get out of hands and ruined his marriage.

He is alert, attentive, oriented x3. Normal attention and concentration. Normal fund of knowledge. No language errors noted during this exam. Memory testing reveals some problems with short-term memory and amnesia for the event. Patient also was noted to have difficulty following simple and multi-step commands with a slowed comprehension speed.

Psychotic disorders can be described as a mental health disability in which a person experiences changes in thinking, perception, mood and behaviour which can severely disrupt their lives. Some of the main psychotic disorders include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychotic depression, schizo affective disorder and drug induced pychosis. Some common symptoms when a psychotic disorder is developing include depression, anxiety, irritability, suspiciousness, blunted or flat or inappropriate emotion, changes in appetite, changes in thinking, difficulties in concentration or attention, a sense of alteration to ones self or the outside world, odd ideas and unusual perceptual experiences. Some behavioural symptoms can include sleep disturbance, social isolation or withdrawal and/or reduced ability to carry out work and social roles.

During the session (AC’s) affect was appropriate to contentment; he was not overly emotional but reasonably distressed over his current situation of not being able to control his anger. His rate of speech was somewhat rapid when addressing what happens when he feels of angry. His tone was average throughout. His thought process was logical; yet he did not demonstrate proper insight about his actions. His dress was appropriate for the setting and the weather. He wore a black sweat suit, his grooming was adequate. (AC) was cooperative during the session answering all

For my secondary research I used the website city-data.com and typed in the area code 32082, Palm Valley, Florida. I chose this area because there is a greater number of older residents living in that area. Although my clinic will be available for all populations a greater emphasis will be placed on the helping the elderly. However, the current median age is 48 years old but compared to other numbers the amount of elderly is extremely large (~5,834 people). There are around 30,000 people living in that area with the median household income over the state average estimated at $87,878. There is also a higher percentage of people in that area with a bachelor’s degree (38%). The race in that area is mostly white (~93%), Hispanics (~3%), Asian (~1.6%), and (~1%)

Today, mental disorders are ubiquitous and can be highly detrimental to a person’s physical and emotional well-being. Many individuals who struggle with mental disorders share a background of traumatic events as well as a genetic transfer from another relative. For instance, victims of sexual assault can become very ill in terms of their mental stability. Likewise, environmental causes play a vital role in a person’s psychological patterns. According to the American Psychological Association, too much emphasis is put on the study of mental illness rather than the brain itself.

PO attended group on time, and participated in the check-in re: current mood and news. PO received information re: what appropriate behavior on the job is. PO completed The Job Savvy on “How to be a Success at Work”, and learned the importance of looking good on the job. PO demonstrated his learning by sharing with peers about his work ethic and how to follow rules at work. PO had a positive response to

Andrew comes to each session focused and ready to learn. Andrew is easy going and has a good sense of humor. He appears to comfortable and is easily able to ask questions. It is a pleasure to work with Andrew.

There is a high prevalence of mental illness in America and rural communities are certainly not exempt. (NAMI, 2013) In fact they may have a higher incidence that often goes unreported as well as untreated. Mental illness can include emotional problems, depression, traumatic brain injuries, schizophrenia and other mood disorders. There is a general lack of services available in Vermont for those who suffer from mental health disorders; rural areas present their own unique set of challenges. Rural Vermont areas usually lack public transportation. In addition, many people in the community needing to access services do not have the financial resources

Ms. Lewis was on time for her evaluation. Ms. Lewis appeared neat and appropriately dressed for the interview. Ms. Lewis had no noticeable tattoos. Ms. Lewis was able to establish good eye contact throughout the interview. Ms. Lewis’ posture appeared to be tense when she first sat down for the interview. Ms. Lewis appeared calm but concerned. She appeared to have normal and steady psychomotor activity throughout. Ms. Lewis’ general attitude and behavior appeared positive and cooperative. By the end of the interview, Ms. Lewis appeared to become more relaxed in his posture.

Remote memory also appeared intact. The client presented with appropriate semantic and episodic memory, as she was able to provide reasonable general information, as well as personal anecdotes. No gross impairments in attention or concentration skills were noted. However, the youth struggled with completing the serial sevens task. Importantly, Alexandra was able to recall a normal range of digits, both presented to her orally. When asked to identify similarities between objects, the youth’s responses tended to be concrete in nature. The youth demonstrated appropriate judgment when asked to provide appropriate responses to a set of social dilemmas.

Many pieces of fiction today have examples of mental illnesses and disorders. People watch movies, television shows, and even cartoons that portray characters with mental disorders. This could be why so many people today over look symptoms of mental illnesses because they have become normalized to them. Some pieces over play the symptoms and create a stereotype for certain disorders or illnesses. Despite fiction over playing or normalizing symptoms, it can actually be a great benefit for people who do struggle with an illness or disorder. Mentally ill individuals could form a connection with fictional characters giving the individuals a sense of acceptance, which is something they may not receive from their peers.

GS reviewed chart on this date. Letters of Guardianship were current. Expiration date is December 28, 2018. The Placement Letter in the chart was current and dated July 6, 2017. GS reviewed face sheet. There was no family listed on face sheet. Face sheet has GS Lavira Green as emergency contact.

.I could use visual aids, such as photographs of people living with a mental illness. This would emphasize with the audience because they will notice how their picture makes them look like everyday people. When in reality they are suffering from within. Photographs would also coincide with the fact that people cannot always tell who has a mental illness or not based on how they look. I could also use audio aids to let my audience hear what goes on inside the brain of a mental ill person. My audience will hear the fears, confusion, and the inner thoughts of people who have a mental illness. Audiovisual aids would be an additional aid to use, because it provides pictures with sound. This brings on the credibility because everyone knows somebody

Contemporary accounts of studies in telepsychiatry have suggested that a psychiatric diagnosis can be predicted by ratings of very short segments (two minutes) or thin slices of evaluation. This thesis will present an early investigative pilot study to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of short (two minute) video clips of twenty patients as compared to a longer taped therapist-patient interaction. Based on short video clip excerpt assessments, trained clinicians diagnosed the specific patients. Findings validate the clinical utility of thin slice impressions of patients and this method of consultation could be reliably used to identify patients with poor treatment outcome. These findings sufficiently provide preliminary evidence