Introduction
Mental health remains as one of the key public health concerns when dealing with minority communities living within the United States, which include African Americans and Hispanics. The challenge, for the federal government, has been finding new ways through which to ensure that it adopt effective measures through which to deal with the rising cases of mental health issues among the communities. The focus of this report is to examine the case of a 29-year-old African American male diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is one of the leading mental health conditions affecting a significant number of persons. The case study seeks to examine the patient’s biopsychosocial needs, as well as, provide best practices for intervention as a way of dealing with the mental health condition. The idea is that this will be of value towards pushing for a much more effective platform through which to help understand mental health from the perspective of the minority communities.
Case Study
Luke, a 29-year-old African American male, has been experiencing significant shifts in his moods lately attributed to a wide array of factors. Luke graduated from a local community college recently and has been trying to find employment to no avail. He has been experiencing stress and anxiety lately, which have resulted in him experiencing depressive moods that he not able to explain. On the other hand, whenever he is around an environment that he considers as being safe, he finds himself feeling unusually happy during which time he seems to ignore all factors contributing to stress and anxiety. Luke is afraid of seeking a diagnosis attributed to the stereotypes associated with mental health issues within the African American community. Although his doctor believes that he is suffering from bipolar disorder, he has been lagging in the need to take medication or other forms of treatment for the condition.
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Biopsychosocial Needs of the Population
The first notable need for the population, as has been identified, reflects on cultural stereotypes touching on mental health issues and treatment. Passos, Mwangi, Vieta, Berk, & Kapczinski (2016) indicate that African Americans often hold a negative perception and attitude towards mental health; thus, resulting in a situation where most of the persons suffering from mental health issues do not receive quality treatment. In this case, it can be noted that Luke faces a challenge in seeking a diagnosis and treatment for his condition attributed to the cultural perception that is reflected on persons that are diagnosed with mental health issues. That becomes a key challenge in trying to find viable treatment options for the patients.
The second need for the population is on stigma associated with a lack of understanding of the implications that occur as a direct result of mental health issues. Distorted beliefs associated with mental health issues are some of the key contributors to stigmatization of persons that have been diagnosed with specific mental health conditions (Power et al., 2015). The issue is often driven by the fact that communities fail to consider the implications that their lack of understanding of mental health issues may have on the persons affected. That creates a significant need that is directed towards advancing an overall understanding of the impacts associated with mental health. By advancing knowledge on mental health issues, it becomes much easier when seeking to deal with the stigma surrounding mental health diagnosis reflecting on the overall implications for the persons affected.
The last notable need associated with mental health diagnosis and treatment focusing on the population in question is on social support. Achievement of efficiency in mental health treatment is determined by the extent to which a patient receives social support from close friends and family to advance capacity to cope with the condition (Mertens et al., 2015). In most cases, patients find themselves lacking the expected social support to improve on their abilities to cope with the underlying symptoms associated with specific mental health issues. In this case study, Luke’s fear may arise from the fact that he is much more likely to lack social support from his friends and family when dealing with bipolar disorder. Consequently, this serves as a major issue that is pushing him towards not wanting to seek a diagnosis for his condition, as this will only expose him to further biases.
Best Practices for Intervention
In dealing with the challenge, Baker & Cormier (2014) indicate that meeting the needs of complex population may require the individual responders to have both general perspective and specific knowledge that they would use to advance expected interventions. Seeking early interventions for Bipolar disorder is an important aspect considering the condition has no established cause. The implementation of best practices for intervention helps in enhancing proper management of the condition and prevents worsening of the disease. The best practices for intervention of the condition involves preventive and treatment measures that help a patient to overcome the signs and symptoms associated with the condition. The first significant best practice for intervention of involves mindfulness-based interventions that focus on enhancing psychological insight and promotes emotional healing. In this case, bipolar disorder is characterized by psychological issues emotional instabilities that results in the worsening of the symptoms of the condition. The mindfulness-based therapy helps in reducing the stress levels and anxiety among the patients thus overcoming the symptoms that arises from episodes of anxiety in a patient with Bipolar disorder.
Considering that bipolar disorder causes extreme mood changes owing to changes in schedule, it is important to develop and maintain a stable schedule for the patients to help in overcoming the mood swings associated with changes in the schedules. The intervention of developing a schedule is a significant in establishing measures to overcome the emotional highs and lows of a patient. The intervention is a best practice considering that a proper schedule helps in the development of a routine that helps in maintaining a stable mood, which is necessary in the management of bipolar disorder. Another best practice involves engaging in a family-focused therapy, which is an intervention that purpose to ensure that the patients have a proper understanding of communication and problem-solving skills that help in reducing episodes of stress and anxiety when engaging in day to day activities. The intervention helps in preventing the recurrence of the condition.
In the situation where a patient experiences recurrent signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder, it is important to capitalize on measures that seek to provide treatment for the patient. In this case, the use of proper medication is an effective best practice that help in creating an intervention for the condition. According to Melo, Abreu, Neto, de Bruin, & de Bruin (2017), regular use of medication helps in suppressing the symptoms of the condition and gradually provides a lasting solution for the condition. Additionally, engaging in different types of therapy provides an effective intervention for the condition considering that the condition is a mental health issue that may require therapy to help patients during the healing process. The provided interventions have a significant role in preventing the recurrence of the condition and helps in ensuring that patients receive proper treatment for the disorder.
Crisis Theory
The evaluation of the interventions from the perspective of the crisis theory, one of the key aspects to note is that the interventions can be defined as being rather effective in not only promoting prevention but also advancing proper treatment. The consideration of the interventions, as have been indicated, provides insight on some of the ways through which to prevent exposure to risk factors that are likely to cause bipolar disorder. The expectation is that this will help push for a much more effective outcome in seeking to change the way persons respond to specific risk factors to minimize their risks of exposure to bipolar disorder. On the other hand, the interventions reflect on some of the ways through which health professionals would be able to advance treatment when dealing with the population. The main expectation is that this will help push for a much more effective outcome in promoting positive health outcomes.
Conclusion
Mental health remains as one of the key public health concerns when dealing with minority communities living within the United States. The case study focuses on a 29-year-old African American male diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is one of the leading mental health conditions affecting a significant number of persons. The notable biopsychosocial needs for the population include cultural stereotypes, stigma associated with a lack of understanding of the implications that occur as a direct result of mental health issues, and mental health diagnosis and treatment. The best practices for intervention of the condition involves preventive and treatment measures that help a patient to overcome the signs and symptoms associated with the condition.
References
Baker, L. R., & Cormier, L. A. (2014). Disasters and vulnerable populations: Evidence-based practice for the helping professions . Springer Publishing Company.
Melo, M. C., Abreu, R. L., Neto, V. B. L., de Bruin, P. F., & de Bruin, V. M. (2017). Chronotype and circadian rhythm in bipolar disorder: a systematic review. Sleep medicine reviews , 34 , 46-58.
Mertens, J., Wang, Q. W., Kim, Y., Diana, X. Y., Pham, S., Yang, B., ... & Eames, T. (2015). Differential responses to lithium in hyperexcitable neurons from patients with bipolar disorder. Nature , 527 (7576), 95.
Passos, I. C., Mwangi, B., Vieta, E., Berk, M., & Kapczinski, F. (2016). Areas of controversy in neuroprogression in bipolar disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica , 134 (2), 91-103.
Power, R. A., Steinberg, S., Bjornsdottir, G., Rietveld, C. A., Abdellaoui, A., Nivard, M. M., ... & Cesarini, D. (2015). Polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder predict creativity. Nature neuroscience , 18 (7), 953.
