Mental Illness and Psychosocial Rehabilitation Explained.
Content
- Introduction
- Mental Illness and Disability
- Clinical Characteristics of Psychiatric disability
- Prominent Severe Mental Illness
- Chronic Schizophrenia
- Bipolar Affective Disorder
- Psychological Rehabilitation
- Goals
- Values
- Overarching Principles
- The psychiatrist's social worker's role in a multidisciplinary team.
Introduction
In the domain of disability, mental illness is not a new concept. A person suffering from a severe mental disorder is frequently unable to conduct even everyday regular duties. Along with medical treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation is an effective way to overcome this illness. Psychosocial rehabilitation is the process of restoring a person's social functioning and wellbeing after suffering from a mental disease. This module goes to great length about mental illness and the disabilities that might result from it. Participation of the community is required for the effectiveness of psychosocial rehabilitation. The student will also comprehend how the family and the community can assist the person suffering from mental illness. The module will conclude by discussing the roles of the social worker, counselor, and family therapist in the treatment of mental illness.
Mental Illness and Disability:
Prominent Severe Mental Illnesses:
- A chronically deteriorating course;
- Disorganized behavior such as violence, inappropriate effect, self-neglect, wandering, and thought disorder.
- Diagnosis of schizophrenia or significant affective psychosis;
- At least two admissions in the previous year or six months; and
- Significant functional impairments in at least two of the following areas:
- Basic literacy, self-care, f
- financial assistance (including money management),
- housing (poor quality or unstable),
- lack of social support,
- lack of occupation or employment, and difficulties with interpersonal relationships are all factors to consider.
Psychosocial Rehabilitation:
Psychosocial rehabilitation is a procedure that allows people who are impaired, disabled, or handicapped by a mental disorder to achieve their optimal level of independent functioning (Rangnathan, 1999).
Psychosocial rehabilitation attempts to improve the functioning of individuals and society while minimising disabilities and handicaps by emphasising individuals' choices about how to live productively in the community (Rangnathan, 1999).
1-In terms of symptom management, recovery from mental illness is a crucial prerequisite of psychosocial rehabilitation. Medication adherence is greatly aided by the support of family and the treating psychiatrist. Medication noncompliance slows the pace of psychological rehabilitation.2-Integration in the family and community: This is a major goal that must be attained via all efforts of psychosocial rehabilitation. Integration of a person with severe mental illness into the family and community is a critical factor of psychosocial rehabilitation success.
3-Better quality of life: It must be ensured on par with members of the family and community by providing psychosocial rehabilitation assistance to people suffering from serious mental illnesses.
Values:
A rehabilitation professional who is actively involved in psychosocial rehabilitation adheres to specific ideals that allow goal attainment in integrating the person with severe mental illness into the family and assuring her or his better quality of life. These are the values:
- Self-determination,
- Dignity and worth of every human,
- Individual capacity to learn and evolve, and
- Cultural awareness
Overarching principles:
- Individualization of services: Psychosocial rehabilitation services should be planned to meet the individual needs of people suffering from severe mental illnesses based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education, location, socioeconomic status, and cultural background, the nature of the illness, and function level in day-to-day work. Specific programme planning of psychosocial rehabilitation services for two people with the same disease may differ in terms of their individual psychosocial rehabilitation needs.
- Maximum involvement and consideration should be given to the preferences and choices of people suffering from serious mental illnesses: To guarantee maximal involvement, the decision and preferences of the individual with severe mental illness should be prioritised. In the guise of psychological services, nothing can be imposed on her or him.
- Normalized and community-based services: The scope of community-based psychosocial rehabilitation services is broader, as this is known as door-to-door service delivery with the goal of reaching the unreached. Such services are not only in demand, but are also recognised as a critical need of the day, particularly for broader reach in rural areas and wider coverage of the severely mentally ill population.
- Focus on your strengths: The severity of mental illness is likely to result in a large number of losses. What has been lost as a result of severe mental illness should not be the main focus. The remaining positive potentials of a person with severe mental illness in terms of cognition, emotion, motor activity level, and social interaction should be the emphasis of the total rehabilitation process.
- Situational assessment: There is a situational factor to remaining good potential. To ensure favorable situational assistance, the person's psychosocial milieu, such as family setup, job place, person's social living situations, and so on, may need to be properly recognised.
- The holistic approach to treatment, rehabilitation, and integration: Treatment, rehabilitation, and community inclusion are all intertwined and interdependent. They should not be addressed in isolation. A comprehensive strategy to psychosocial rehabilitation for the treatment of serious mental illness is required.
- Ongoing, accessible, and coordinated services: Psychosocial rehabilitation services should be organized so that they do not overlap. They should be easily accessible in order to meet the needs of people suffering from serious mental illnesses who require ongoing care.
- Skill development and vocational focus: Severe mental illness impairs an individual's behavior, performance, cognition, and social interaction. Certain skill deficiencies are visible in the major types of serious mental diseases. They are the focus of psychological rehabilitation intervention. In the rehabilitation process, there is a continuum of skill training. This includes activities of daily living skills, social skills, and, finally, vocational skills. Through the learning of these skills, a vocational focus should be maintained in order to place the individual in a remunerative position. This gives the individual the impression that he or she is also a contributing part of society.
- Environmental modification assistance: Changing the environment can sometimes help with the rehabilitation process. Support for such environmental change should be made available so that it can be used in a flexible manner.
- Partnership with the family: The individual with severe mental illness in the family is not the only sufferer; rather, the intensity of the illness has a large impact on the entire family. This adds to the stress of having to care for someone on a regular basis. As a result, the family must be involved in the psychosocial recovery process.
- Evaluative assessment with outcome focus: It is vital to evaluate progress in order to determine the outcome of rehabilitation. Typically, development is hampered by relapse, necessitating an evaluative assessment of the outcome.
The Psychiatric Social Worker's Role in the Multidisciplinary Team:
A Psychiatric Social Worker plays an important part in the rehabilitation of people suffering from mental illnesses. The Psychiatric Social Worker gathers the individual's historical background, the episode, the treatment received thus far, primary and secondary caregivers, and familial resources such as family support and financial resources in the family to support the ill person for treatment and rehabilitation. Members of the interdisciplinary team then refer the individual for further evaluation. Identifying personal resources such as attention, IQ, memory, mood, activity level, and so on may be part of the assessment. To conduct assessments, the psychiatric social worker assembles a multidisciplinary team that includes a Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Neurologist, Occupational therapist, Physician, physiotherapist, Psychiatric Nurse, and trainees from several disciplines.
Psycho-education is provided by the psychiatric social worker, in which the social worker communicates the facts regarding the condition to the mentally ill person and her or his family members. Many times, people suffering from serious mental illnesses are unable to comprehend them. It is critical to educate family members about the nature, genesis, course of treatment, and prognosis of the disease. Explain the significance of drug adherence, its side effects, and the negative repercussions of noncompliance. The cost of treatment and the necessity for ongoing care must be addressed to the family.
Family members may wish to learn about the services, concessions, facilities, and bends available to the seriously mentally ill under government provisions, which must be communicated to them.
Furthermore, the Psychiatric Social Worker is responsible for ensuring that the individual is supported by primary caregivers in the implementation of rehabilitation plans and the prevention of relapse. When working with mentally ill people, psychiatric social workers must always uphold the ideals and ethics of the social work profession.
Along with the interdisciplinary team's coordination and reports, the psychiatric social worker plays a critical role in the rehabilitation of people with mental illnesses. To work in the rehabilitation sector under the PWD Act, 1995, the psychiatric social worker must be registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India in the Central Register as a 'Rehabilitation Social Worker.'
Conclusion
A brief overview of mental disorders and psychosocial rehabilitation is provided, including the meaning, clinical characteristics, conspicuous severe mental illnesses, psychosocial rehabilitation, the extent of the problem, and the function of the psychiatric social worker and multidisciplinary team. In the following modules, specific information regarding different characteristics of disability will be explained one by one in order to establish a greater understanding of each aspect of disability in the learner.
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