Mental Illness Reflection Essay

I have found through my AS Psychology lessons and from personal experience with family members, that mental illness is a topic that interests me immensely. In my lessons I learned how mental illness is treated and theories about how it is caused, such as the biological approach which suggests that mental illness is caused by changes to the brain or neurotransmitters. For example, there is evidence to suggest that depression is caused by the lack of serotonin in the body.
My interest in mental illness stemmed from when I found out my aunt suffered from schizophrenia. I noticed the detrimental effect it had on our entire family and this made me want to help in some way. I feel that nursing would be one of the best ways that I can help.
I feel that this personal experience has prepared me for when I will inevitably come across a patient who has a mental illness and I believe it will help …show more content…
During my time at the residential home I learned that communication is one of the most vital skills that any care provider must have. They need to be able to communicate with both the residents and their team to enable them to provide the best possible care while making the residents feel comfortable. I believe that I had achieved this by the end of my time there as I had helped with the care of some of the residents and I felt I had gotten to know some of the residents on a personal level. I also feel that I developed good observational skills because I often had to work out what the residents wanted because most suffered from dementia and often did not have the ability to comprehensively tell me what they needed. This meant that I had to interpret their body language to work out what they needed. I believe that this skill will be useful for nursing because I will treat patients that do not have the ability to communicate