Six Aspects of Recoveries, Research Paper Example

Abstract

This reaction paper focuses on six aspects of recoveries, the barriers to recovery, factors that promoted recovery and treatment interventions. Personal observations, thoughts and feelings will be expressed also as an optional treatment that will be best for recoveries.

Introduction

In reading the six recovery stories I realized that the diagnoses of these individuals were bipolar disorder, post partum psychosis, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.  In all of these cases, especially, schizophrenia the most common factor affecting all recovery was adherence to counselling. Besides it was unfortunate discovering that these were coping with physical predisposing factors. These included alcoholism, HIV/AIDS hepatitis and obesity. These experinces brought tears to my eyes and inexplicable emotions flowed intensely. My personal question was.

How could some individuals be so mean? The pressure of coping withpsychological disabilities does not make one violent. The right and dignity of anyone is never compromised by a person’s disability or inability to function normally. We really live in an insensitive world! Irrespective of the situation facing an individual it should not undermine the right to personal dignity.  Never judge anyone by the circumstances he /she is facing at any time because no-one knows how their personal reaction would be when faced with the same situation. Perhaps, the person being labeled and judge may be copingbetterunder his/her circumstances than the onejudging would have coped with their mess.Every human expression is dealing with a crisis whether he/she admits it or not. Challenges are not selective. They go where they are most needed. No one is exempted. Everyone has his/her trail day!

Barriers to recovery

My reflection after reading these articles created a  melancholy because it was realized that  once someone is diagnosed with a mental illness he/she is  labeled abnormal, this affects their self-esteem and serves as a barrier to their recovery. They are abandoned by close relatives and friends. Besides, society often places them in institutions away from public interaction abandon. Essentially, hey are considered useless. This isolation acts as a  barrier to seeking help.  The person becomes more depressed and ultimately suicidal losing hope of making a livelihood. According to Holst (2012) the individual cries out, “I know that I needed help, but I wanted it without being locked up, punished, threatened or mistrusted” (Holst, 2012).

Why will a harmless person be locked in a room and treated like a wild animal. The young woman even asked for her medication, but was refused. This kind of response ultimately creates more difficulty for the individual setting back any hope of recover.John (2012 emphasized that “isolation can lead to depression simply by the lack of contact and interaction with other human beings”.  Even in his case, he was personally isolated from his roommate who did not wish to help him deal with his alcoholic addiction. Importantly, it made recovery more challenging, especially, with depression a schizophrenic symptoms.

Inadequate family support is one of the greatest barriers to individual recovery familysupport makes mentally ill people feel wanted and respond to the human need for belonging.  Many mental illness initiate form psychological deprivation in values such as love, affection and belongingness derived from family relationships. One patient confirmed “my husband, who had been viewed as yet another stress in my life decided to divorce me and was able to get temporary custody of our four small daughters” Fox, 1999).  This is the time this client needs her family the most. If family members are seen as stressors, necessary measures like family education can help family members better understand their situation and help clients cope with their illness. Divorcing on the part of the husband rather made this client fell alone and helpless creating more recovery difficulties.

Moreover, the side effects of some medications became a barrier to recovery also.“At one point, side effects from the medications made my mouth twitch with tardive dyskinesia” (Anonymous, 2012). The last thing an individual will want to go through is side effects while battling another illness. Dealing with an illness and having such terrible side effect can even make the individual quit taking their medication for good. This may cause relapses and hospitalization. Hensley (2012) on the other hand also had similar situation with side effect which is weight gain.

One client gained weight from taking her medication and being able to continue living a healthy lifestyle. Besides, she lacked the skills to deal with her weight gain, which made her struggle to mingle with others. This side effect even made her ravenous stating“ no end to my hunger” Hensley (2012). Even some of her liquid diet she tried resulted her in manic psychotic episode that is very bad for recovering.

Factors promoting recovery

“Recovery is a journey not a destination” Caswel (2012). Everyone’s recovery is uniquely different;meaningthat each and everyone’s recovery process wouldn’t be the same as another. However, there are strategies that can promote recovery. Once the barriers mentioned in the previous section are adequately addressed, the recovery process becomes easier.  Some of the helpful strategies are family support, establishing a daily practice and overcoming fear. Family support iscrucial for recovering.  No one should be left alone in time of sickness without emotional support. “Another thing that made a difference with me was my dad involvement” (Holst, 2012, p. 5).The involvement of her dad accompanied her to weekly treatment meetings helped her a lot. She was able to come around and see things in a positive light.

Through family support the rejection and isolation disappeared. Hensley (2012) on the other hand, being able to confront her fear of going public due to her size made a drastic change in recovery. “I confronted my fear of being outdoors and started going for walks around my neighborhood as well” (Hensley 2012, p. 132). At first she couldn’t even go to the gym but once she embraces who she is and learning to find ways to leaving a healthy life promoted her recovery. Also, Holst (2012) daily routine letter writing relieved her from getting frustrated the more. This kept the mind active.

Treatment interventions

There are several treatments that could be suitable for individuals suffering from mental illnesses.Family psychotherapy becan be helpful in improving social ethics and work skills. This is needed to rebuild thelives of mentally challenged peopleand healrelationships with others especially with Fox (2012) who needed her family support. Most family members need this therapy to understand that when someone in the family is dealing with mental illness they are to be embraced with unconditional love.

Conclusion

Personal observations, thoughts and feelings pertaining to treatment options

Finally, these stories are remarkable, but there is one feature of life we all must embrace. Suffering from mental illness does not mean someone has lost their right, of dignity and worth. We must treat everyone with respect.  In the same way we can express ourselves  when visiting the doctor  our doctor, similarly we must give our mentally challenged clients the opportunities of expression in their clinical settings. With reference to Holst (2012) for example, the client was not given the least chance to express herself in the hospital. She was even rejected when asked for her medication. This treatment is deplorable