How can you help a person who is diagnosed with a mental illness

[Toshiba]

Hey everyone

just wondering if someone was admitted to a mental health unit due to depression and it is majorly affecting their physical health i.e moving very slowly, which is damagin to their physical health and seems to think of them selves as failures etc how would you be able to treat this person in regards to making them better physically and emotionally?

Is a therapeutic relationship between the nurse and the client enough?

Just not to sure how to deal with this in a nursing care setting .. as a nurse what can you do?

Thanks

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

If you are a student nurse you should chat with your clinical instructor about this.

[pinkiepie_RN]

As a nurse, the therapeutic relationship is important in helping a patient with mental illness, but so are psychotropic medications as prescribed, time speaking with the psychiatrist and group therapy offered on the unit. It is not solely the nurse's job to help the patient, but that responsibility is shared with other members on the treatment team, including the tech, PT/OT, etc.

[MattiesMama]

I'm just a student myself but my instructors are really big on using Maslows heirarchy...so I would say that you need to adress his physical issues before you get started on the psychological. You didn't really state what his overall health status was, so it's hard to say what he needs specifically...but if he's not suffering from any life-threatening condition and he's eating and sleeping ok, I would say that physical activity is a good place to start. It's good for your body and it releases endorphins which are natures anti-depressants. From there you can move on up the pyramid to safety (yes he's an inpatient so he is technically safe but he may not feel that way) and then to love/belonging which would include therapeutic communication/relationship.