Mental Health Nursing I

NURS 1300

Unit I
Basic Concepts of Mental
Health
 Objective 1
Define mental health

Dynamic process in which a person’s

physical, cognitive, affective, behavioral,
and social dimensions interact
functionally with one another and the
environment
 Objective 2
Define mental illness

Abnormal mental condition or disorder

that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling,
mood, ability to relate to others, and
daily functioning
 Objective 3
Discuss current attitudes about mental
illness

 Continued stigma
 Mental health parity
 Impetus for research
 diagnostic studies
 medications
 Objective 4
Describe sociocultural influences on
mental health

 Racism and discrimination

 misinterpretation of symptoms
 misdiagnosis or inappropriate treatment
 Fears of stigmatization and breaches in
confidentiality
 Objective 5
Discuss the data collection of the
client with a mental health alteration

Mental Status Examination (MSE)

 description of all areas of the client’s mental
functioning
 includes assessment of appearance, mood
and affect, speech and language, thought
content, perceptual disturbances, insight and
judgment, sensorium, memory and attention,
and general intellectual level
 Objective 6
Discuss diagnostic tests as they relate
to the client with a mental health
alteration

 Basic metabolic profile

 Electroencephalogram (EEG)
 CT scan
 PET scan
 MRI
 Objective 7
Define the DSM-IV-TR

 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders (DSM)

 Handbook for mental health professionals

that lists different categories of mental
disorder and the criteria for diagnosing
them
 Objective 8
Compare voluntary and involuntary
commitment
 Voluntary admission
 similar to medical hospitalization
 patient may leave at any time
 Involuntary commitment
 client is hospitalized without consent
 becomes necessary when mental
illness/condition manifested by symptoms
that make it impossible for affected client to
understand need for treatment
 Objective 9
Describe patient rights as they relate
to the client with mental health
alterations
Mental Health Systems Act of 1980:
Universal Bill of Rights for Mental Health Patients
 Right to least restrictive treatment alternative

 Right to informed consent

 Right to refuse treatment

 Right to confidentiality

 Right to keep personal items

Right to the least restrictive treatment
alternative:
Less restrictive measures should be
attempted before seclusion and restraints
are used

Right to informed consent:

Physician must explain treatment in terms
the client fully understands

Responsibility is with the physician, not the

nurse
Right to refuse treatment:
Except in the cases in which the refusal is
the result of a mental or cognitive
impairment, or the client’s disease process is
such that it is impossible for him or her to
understand the need for medical intervention

Right to confidentiality:
Limits access to a client’s information

Those individuals involved in care are the

only ones with rights to access medical
information
Right to keep personal items:
People in a hospital or other treatment
facility retain the right to keep their
personal possessions unless those belongings
pose a serious threat to themselves or
others

Items that may be dangerous would be held

in a secure place during the individual’s
hospitalization
 Objective 10
Describe basic measures when caring
for the client with a mental health
alteration
 24-hour therapeutic milieu management
 therapeutic milieu involves a manipulation of the
environment in an effort to create behavioral
changes and to improve the psychological health and
functioning of the individual
 goal is for the client to learn adaptive coping,
interaction, and relationship skills that can be
generalized to other aspects of his or her life
 Provision of ongoing assessment of client’s
mental and physical condition
 Administration of medications
 Assistance of client with therapeutic activities
as needed
 Focus on one-to-one relationship development
and maintenance
 Objective 11
Identify basic treatment modalities for
the client with a mental health
alteration

 Therapies
 Medication
 Hospitalization
 Electroconvulsive therapy
Therapies:

 Psychotherapy (“talk therapy”)

 Group therapy

 Family therapy

 Hypnotherapy
Medication:
 Antipsychotics

 Anxiolytics

 Antidepressants

 Antimanics

 Anticonvulsants
Hospitalization:

 ensures safety of self and others

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT):

 electrical shock delivered to the brain to

induce seizures
 Objective 12
Identify legal and ethical concepts
specific to the client with a mental
health alteration
 Patients hospitalized voluntarily retain
their civil rights (except right to bear
arms)

 Confidentiality and privacy

 Defamation of character
 occurs when the sharing of information is
detrimental to client’s reputation