Strength-based approach for mental health
Introduction
Majority of the mental health system has adopted pathologies-based model when dealing with mental disorder and the risk associated with it. This model is quite expensive, with research showing that billions are spent every year in the health care system to deal with mental illnesses. Pathology based approach doesn’t utilize the resource available in individuals environment to improve the quality of life or to help in the recovery journey. It perspective about mental illness make the experience of the individual difficult and leads to isolation because of the belief that mental illness is chronic, and one cannot recover. The community also view the individual as crazy people. However, with the introduction of individualized strength-based approach, there is reduced stigma for a mentally ill person, and there is hope to recovery. This approach moves the focus away from the shortfalls of mentally ill people and concentrates on the strengths and resources of the individual that can be used to facilitate recovery. In this approach, every opinion of the individual is vital for the recovery process, unlike in pathology-based model, which consider and relies only on the views knowledge of the nurses. In the strength-based approach, nurses intervention focus on psychosocial process, social policies, planning and development, which include counselling, family therapy, and help individuals to access services and other resources in the community. The mental health nurses or workers should be recovery-oriented. Therefore, this study points out the relevance and contribution of a strength-based approach to the mental health system.
Mental health problem is one of the primary issues policy makes focus on because of the impact it has on the community, such as reduced production rate and high cost of condition management. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental illness is the most top cause of disability among all other diseases. Most of the health systems have adopted the traditional medical view of mental health disorder based on diagnostic categories for a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In medica model, mental illness is seen irreversible brain damage, and this has made the majority of people with mental illness to lose hope, develop low self-esteem and isolate themselves. They also live a miserable quality life with the community viewing them negatively due to bad psychosocial functioning, making the recovery journey difficult for them. However, in 1979 professor Aaron Antonovsky comes up with a strength-based approach to support human health and well-being. This approach focuses on a person’s character to promote health rather than focusing on symptoms and pathologies that trigger illness. In this approach recovery journey of a mentally ill person is determined by the confidence of the individual that he/she is capable of recovering. According to studies, acknowledgment of an individual’s strengths aids in preventing or reducing the damage of the disease.
The strength-based approach encourages people in the community to have interests to identify and use their strength to improve the quality of life. Family and friends are required to offer significant support to the ill individual, although personal attitude plays a vital part to help in recovery or to reduce symptoms. Having interest and desire to recover, make it possible. Having hope and confidence that you can recover, act as a motivation factor to this process and one of the first step to recovery. This can be attained through listening and reading stories of people who have recovered and engaging in a positive conversation with people who can help to be healthy. Accepting you have the illness and learn to cope with the changes helps an individual to come up with ways to improve the situation rather than living in denial. Also controlling your life by making a choice to eliminate what makes your mental health symptoms worse and taking what is better to prevent relapse. Adopting healthful lifestyles that can help improve quality of life, for example, engaging in regular physical exercise that help to reduce or eliminate depression symptoms, low mood, and it also helps as an antidepressant. Eating a healthy diet help in well-being by maintaining a stable average weight. These strengths result in better functioning and aid in mental recovery.
However, it is difficult for mental health practices to shift from pathology-based model to a strength-based approach. Usually, there has been a perception that accurate diagnosis aids in administration of the right medication to the individual but in strength-based approach nurses have to take time to interact closely with the individual for them to gain an understanding of their character traits before diagnosis. This is done through education and training. Illness based approach believed that solving the problem makes the life of the individual to return to normal. In contrast, strength-based approach believes in focusing on personal capabilities and sharing of mental distress experience is a form of change that eliminate the old behaviours and expose a new personality. The struggle that the individual goes through the result of a positive outcome and enables the individual to achieve more than they would perform without the experience. The approach relies less on to nurses knowledge for mental health diagnosis and recovery, but it considers the knowledge of the individual as being crucial in this process. However, shifting the attention to strengths doesn’t mean that the illness and the professional expertise of nurses are ignored. It still nurses’ responsibility to assist individuals in utilizing and consolidating their forces to the recovery process. This process is not successful until the individual gets back to their healthy, meaningful life. This can be achieved by helping the individual understand the signs and symptoms of the disease and come up with a plan of action to improve the situation. Majority of the people with severe mental illness resist seeking medical help or any form of assistance thus making it difficult for the nurses to develop a relationship, that can lead to the identification of individuals strengths thus resulting from delaying of the process. In such a case, practitioner shift to advance directives whereby the opinion or wishes of the individual are clarified by some advocating for them. That is if they cannot do so by themselves, .it is through strong focus; the practitioner can respect individuals abilities, value, goal and beliefs despite their mental condition. Due to the standard pathology-based model, these individuals from disadvantaged areas and the low social-economic population may not access medical services early enough.
In contrast, others don’t seek medical services completely due to fear of stigma. This has facilitated an increase in the number of untreated mental illness. Inadequate resource for mental health such as research portals to address the issue of mental health is another excellent barrier of the strength-based recovery process.
This approach involves principles that focus on individuals’ strengths and encourage personal responsibility, self-protection and positive outcome. There is evidence that individuals receiving strength-based practices, their symptoms are significantly reduced and the stay in the hospital for fewer days in hospital compared to these using symptom focus approach. Individuals with mental illness want quality life just as everyone else desires. This is because the mental disorder doesn’t change the aspect of human nature in them. For instance, a mentally ill individual requires proper diet, shelter and clothing. Practitioners should focus on strengths and help people to feel good about themselves and encourage them to believe in their ability for personal recovery. Encourage support from family and friends, bring resources and strengths together to aid in healing. Family and community can organize education sessions and social gatherings between the patient, family and health care providers to create an understanding of their demand and offer them an opportunity to show their strengths. The therapeutic relationship is developed between the health care provider and the person with mental disorder to know how the patient copes despite the health condition and identify the person’s desires, strengths and ability. The relationship is met to challenge the traditional belief associated with mental illness. The individual and the health care provider work as partners as the health care provider offers technical knowledge to influence the utilization of individual’s strengths to help in recovery. The views of the person with mental illness help the health provider, family and community understand them better and support them to recover.
According to research carried out in Australia, 21-24% of the household has a mentally ill person. Thus creating the need for utilization of strengths and resources of the family to facilitate healing.it is the responsibility of nurses to educate family members that the mentally ill people still have an identity, have a voice and need to be loved despite their health condition. Assist them in accepting and understanding the individual’s change in behaviour that involves mood swings and social withdrawal. Show them hope that the individual will recover, and once they accept, they are included in the treatment process. This makes a recovery smooth and quick because the family members are at an excellent position to identify the strengths of the individual that can be used to achieve the goal.
The health provider can develop therapeutic relationships using a strengths-based approach through the evolution of an individual’s strengths. Every individual has unique strengths; there some assets and traits that appear on the list of powers. These include personal character, virtues, personal qualities and cultural.in case an individual has difficulty in identification of strengths the nurse help them to do so, through interrogating them by asking general questions about their hobbies or asked to give an opinion about their personal life. The nurse uses information collected from the person to identify strengths, and after this, a plan is set to utilize them to deal with the condition. This means what matters is what the patient’s view is vital to them rather than what the nurses think is essential for them.
Conclusion
The practice of mental health has shifted its attention from the medical model that believes in controlling mental disorder symptoms to a strength-based approach that focus on the capabilities of the individual. This has helped an individual with mental illness to feel important, and it boosts self-esteem. In this approach, identification and utilization of strengths of the individual are used to help them in the recovery journey by making them realize that they can facilitate their recovery. The interest and the desire of the individual to recover are very vital in this process because the individual is the driver to the recovery journey. This means without the desire and the effort of the individual, and the set goal cannot be achieved. For the individuals who are not able to identify their strengths, they are assisted by nurses by getting information from them by asking questions about their personal life to help them to point out their strengths. Also, the development of a therapeutic relationship between the individual, nurse, family and the community agencies make it easy to understand the demands the individual and offer the necessary support through the incorporation of resources. Although this approach is significant, it faced by varies challenges that led to the implementation of specific policies to help in overcoming the barriers involved.