Bias in mental health is a growing concern because it affects service delivery to patients with psychiatry issues. Mental health professionals must recognize, understand, and preempt mental health instances to achieve improved treatment outcomes in their clients ( Merino et al., 2018; Rotenstein et al., 2018 ). Due to psychiatry's demanding nature, I had several challenging moments whereby I was emotionally charged, thus triggering biased thoughts towards patients. However, because of the training that we had on managing prejudiced feelings at our workplace, I handled those emotions before they affected my professionalism.
Description of a Clinical Situation
J.D, a 48-year-old senior psychiatrist at the facility where I do my clinical hours, is reported to exhibit prolonged low moods, something which is not her norm. The common talk around the facility is that she is easily irritable and has developed a tendency to keep to herself. In the past, J.D had always taken care of her health and appearance, but she says and seems to have no reason to bother anymore. This trend has been ongoing for about two months until when I approached her. She shrugged it off as a passing midlife crisis, but after observing and listening to her, I realized that she could be having some serious health problems.
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Feelings, Prejudices, And Biases Experiences and How They Were Managed
However, I could not understand how a senior psychiatrist could not have identified the red flags in her mental health before the condition worsened. I was confused by how such a high ranking mental health expert could let her condition escalate without seeking medical help or recognizing the symptoms. I felt that since she has helped many people address their mental health issues, she must have the knowledge and experience to recognize her condition deteriorating ( Cramer et al., 2020 ). Since I had to help her, I had to separate her career from her mental condition. I had to view her through the lenses of a normal patient who needed urgent help.
Assumptions Made About Children or Families with Mental Illness
A fundamental assumption about people with mental health issues is that their condition can be transgenerational, and risk factors can be family-related. I realized that mental health issues are rampant, and few people realize they are sick after their condition becomes severe ( Stracke et al., 2019 ).
Awareness Developed, Changes to Implement and How Clinical Situation Will Impact My Role as an Advanced Nurse
From this clinical experience, I will always ensure that I do not become biased toward my patients regardless of their career, experience, or age. As an advanced practice nurse, I will be on the lookout for my fellow nurses because they might be going through difficult moments, negatively affecting their mental health and quality of life ( Sukhera & Watling, 2018 ). Understanding that even my colleagues can have mental health issues regardless of their training will help me as a nurse be able to recognize when a coworker has problems. I believe that when a team member has mental issues, the whole team will be affected.
References
Cramer, R. J., Ireland, J. L., Hartley, V., Long, M. M., Ireland, C. A., & Wilkins, T. (2020). Coping, mental health, and subjective well-being among mental health staff working in secure forensic psychiatric settings: Results from a workplace health assessment. Psychological services , 17 (2), 160.
Merino, Y., Adams, L., & Hall, W. J. (2018). Implicit bias and mental health professionals: Priorities and directions for research.
Rotenstein, L. S., Torre, M., Ramos, M. A., Rosales, R. C., Guille, C., Sen, S., & Mata, D. A. (2018). Prevalence of burnout among physicians: a systematic review. Jama , 320 (11), 1131-1150.
Stracke, M., Gilbert, K., Kieser, M., Klose, C., Krisam, J., Ebert, D. D., ... & Christiansen, H. (2019). CoMPARE family (Children of mentally ill parents at risk evaluation): A study protocol for a preventive intervention for children of mentally ill parents (Triple P, evidence-based program that enhances parenting skills, in addition to gold-standard CBT with the mentally ill parent) in a multicenter RCT—Part II. Frontiers in Psychiatry , 10 , 54.
Sukhera, J., & Watling, C. (2018). A framework for integrating implicit bias recognition into health professions education. Academic Medicine , 93 (1), 35-40.
