BY FUNWELL NYANGA

QUESTION 18
MENTAL ILLNESS
1. Define mental illness
2. State five predisposing factors of mental illness
3. Outline 5 signs and symptoms of mental illness
4. Explain five Prevention of mental health related stigma
MARKING KEY
DEFINE MENTAL ILLNESS.
A mental illness or psychiatric disorder is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant
distress or impairment of personal functioning.
Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a
combination of these). Usually associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social,
work or family activities.
PREDISPOSING FACTORS OR CAUSES OF MENTAL ILLNESS
 Genetics (heredity)
Many mental disorders tend to run in families, suggesting that people who have a family member
with a mental disorder are more likely to develop a mental disorder. Mental disorders do occur in
people who have a first-degree relative with the disorder, such as a parent, brother, or sister.
 Different Brain Chemistry and Structure some mental disorders have been linked to an
abnormal balance of special chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters like dopamine and
glutamate, and possibly others. Chemical abnormalities
Are known to play a role in some mental disorders like schizophrnerve Neurotransmitters help
nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other. If these chemicals are out of balance or are
not working properly, messages may not make it through the brain correctly, leading to symptoms
of mental disorder.
 Brain Defects or Injury
Defects in or injury to certain areas of the brain has also been linked to some mental disorders.
 Prenatal Damage Some evidence suggests that a disruption of early fatal brain development or
trauma that occurs at the time of birth – for example, loss of oxygen to the brain may be a
factor in the development of certain conditions, such as autism.
 Alcohol and substance abuse. Long-term alcohol and substance abuse, in particular, has heen
linked to anxiety, depression, and paranoia.
 Psychological Factors. Psychological factors have been identified and linked to mental
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL ILLNESS
 Decrealization: Feelings of unrealness involving the outer environment.
 Depersonalization: Feelings of unrealness, such as if one is “outside” of the body and observing
his own activities.
 Suicidal and homicidal ideation: Suicidal and homicidal ideation requires further elaboration
with comments about intent and planning (including means to carry out plan).
 Anhedonia: loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities
 Amnesia: Amnesia is a partial or total loss of memory.
 Apathy: Can be defined as an absence or suppression of emotion, feeling, concern or Passion.
Further, apathy is an indifference to things generally found to be exciting or moving.
 Neologisms: Invention of new words by the patient.
 Clanging association: Speech based on sound, such as rhyming and punning rather than logical
connections. Perseveration: Repetition of phrases or words in the flow of speech.
 Ideas of reference: Interpreting unrelated events as having direct reference to the patient, such
as believing that the television is talking specifically to them.
 Tangentiality: Thought that wanders from the original point.
 Circumstantiality: Unnecessary digression, which eventually reaches the point.
 Echolalia: Echoing (repeating) of words and phrases.
 Flight of ideas: Accelerated thoughts that jump from idea to idea, typical of mania.
 Loosening of associations: Illogical shifting between unrelated topics.
 Pressured speech: Rapid speech, which is typical of patients with manic disorder
As a nurse working in the mental health unit, what measures would you put in place to try and
reduce stigma against the mentally ill patients?
PREVENTION OF MENTAL HEALTH RELATED STIGMA
 We need to translate the existing mental health policies and develop institutional and care
practice plans and activities to improve mental health and reduce the burden of mental
disorders.
 We need to support the new legislation which intends to guarantee human rights, ensure mental
health integration into general health care like what has been stipulate in the Mental Health
Act No. 6 of 2019.
 We need to advocate for inclusion in our health care settings – mental health agenda in all
clinical activities (budgeting, drug supply and programming).
 Ensure the availability and access of essential medicines for people living with mental
disorders by including psychotropic drugs in the general health care essential drug kit.
 Since medicines are often not available in health-care facilities, patients and families need to
be helped to access them.
 Talk openly about mental health. “Mental illness touches so many lives and yet it’s kept as a
great secret for the people who are suffering from mental illness.
 Educate yourself about mental health. “Challenge people respectfully when they are
stereotypes and misconceptions. Speak up and educate them.”
 Be conscious of your language. Don’t use mental illnesses as adjectives. “Saying someone is
“retarded” or use words like crazy, psycho, lunatic, etc.
 Encourage equality in how people perceive physical illness & mental illness. “We should
explain mental illness as similar to any other illness. When someone acts differently or
“strange” during diabetic shock we don’t blame them for moral failings.”
 Show empathy & compassion for those living with a mental health condition. Listening is one
of the most important ways one can show empathy.
 Listening without judgment or preconceived notions about mental illness and being open to
what the person is sharing will go a long way.
 Stop the criminalization of those who live with mental illness. The criminalization of mental
illness has wide ranging and devastating consequences. For example: individuals with
 psychiatric diseases like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are 10 times more likely to be in a
jail or prison than a hospital bed.
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