Hannah Jane Parkinson - Mental Illness Journey Reflective essay sample

• Subject Name : Mental health

Introduction to Mental Illness Journey

Reflection involves analysing and evaluating the experiences or events which helps in identifying the effectiveness or what could be done or needs to be done either to prevent or improve them.

Various modes of reflection can be used to evaluate the past experiences of a particular person as far nursing is concerned. There are basically two types of reflection – reflection –in action and reflection-on-action.

Mostly reflection-in-action is used to observe and reflect on past experiences. The process basically helps in enhancing their existing knowledge, maximize learning opportunities and avoid making the same kind of mistake.

The Gibbs model of reflection is a systematic process which is followed by some steps to ensure a successful reflection. The model consists of six steps that have to be followed when reflecting on a situation. The essay is a reflection about Hannah Jane Parkinson life who has went through mental illness and faced many kinds of physiatrist attacks since the age of 13 and is still in thephysiatrist system for a decade and now she is supporting the cause to raise awareness about mental illness so that people are able to share it with others and can seek help without any kind of fear or hesitation (Husebø et al,. 2015).

Description of Mental Illness Journey

The essay is a reflection of Hannah Jane Parkinson mental illness journey that is a patient suffering from mental illness. The main incident and most horrifying of her life was the one when she went for her regular check-up routine to her physicist and ends up in harming herself due to the physictrctic attack she cuts her wrist in the toilet cubicle and even after that she refuses to go the hospital which caused a lot of a disturbance and tensed environment in the clinic as all the junior phytriscts are clunged to their doors to see her and the police is not able to take her to the hospital because Hannah refuses to go the hospital.

Hannah is experiencing all this since the since of 13. When she was 8years old she used to be absent from school a lot that a social worker wascalled to talk to her and know the reason.

Her depression reached to the top most level that she was diagnosed with a – level depression at the age of 16 when she left her home for almost 9 months. She was on antidepressants till the age of 18 and she decided to move to Russia alone to live her life to the fullest but at the age of 20 she was diagnosed with bi polar disorder.

In her journey of depression she has seen many ups and downs and the most significant she has seen till date is the change in the attitude and thinking of the people regarding mental health because earlier people used to be afraid when speaking about anxiety, depression and now it’s been in its trend to add hash tags and talk openly about these mentalhealth illness.

According to the author of the article mental illness is compared to a broken leg in the last few years. She feels that according to people mental illness is nothing it’s just an illness which does not cause you anything expects for some pain.

The author hasdescribed her past experiences and how people have started talking about mental illness with positivity which she has named as conversation. According to her speaking about mental health is good but people who have suffered it in real can’t just come and take selfies with a bunch of celebrities and ask for help if would have been able to ask for help and speak so openly about their condition they would have not face theconsequences of it at the first placeonly.

According to the author, Instagram stories would not explain people about depersonalisation. She has worked with many organizations which work for such causes. Even she have highlighted about the role of government and private institutions in helping out the people suffering from such illness.(Parkinson,2018)

Feelings in Respective to Mental Illness Journey 

According to me, the author had a harsh and horrifying childhood which continued to haunt her throughout her life. In my opinion Hannah is has a strong will to get cured as soon as possible she feels devasted when people compare mental illness to a broken leg as it can be observed from the first incident she mentioned in her article that she had bleeding wrist and still she refused to seek medical help it reflects two things either she is afraid of been questioned again that why she took such a step or she is tired of people sayings who instead of understanding the problem and pain of the people starts gibing lectures and guidance on how to enjoy their life or just gain attention and try to contribute in the society just by adding hash tags seek help, I am here to help etc. all this won’t help even speaking from personal experience. People need to understand that having anxiety, depression, and bi polar disorder doesn’t make a person insane or they are not diseases which should not be told.

While reading the article I was able to connect to the incidents because they are not hypothetical they are real life incident. It has purely described the true feelings and thoughts of a person who is suffering from such illness.

According to me, the author is right that only social media posts would not help in spreading awareness because now every week is celebrated as mental awareness week which is treated as a way for some celebrities to get popularity or other uses to raise funds for their organizations but only few are concerned about the actual problem.

I feel it takes courage to express your feelings to someone because yes we are afraid to show case ourselves and our thoughts to people, we feel that we might be judged or rejected but this thing eventually leads to making us weak and non-social at times. The government plays a crucial role in order to make laws, policies regarding the availability of treatment to all status of people irrespective of their socio-economic status.

Apart from asking for help, the real picture of today world is that people think it as a trend or formality to post on social media or say to people that if you need any help ask for it, but are we actually getting the help. According to my experience the individuals in the society are not getting proper help, which only makes me more irritated and frustrated by such behaviour of the society.

But in the case of Hannah she is luckily enough to work with an organization “The Guardian” where is been understood, her problem is been addressed with utmost care so that her work effiecney is also not affected. But it’s not the same in every institute let’s just talk about a real incident portrayed in 13 reasons why where the main character is in high school and she is going through a rough time which eventually leads to depression and personality disorder and she is not even able to share it with her parents, the school premises is careless about ragging and what all is going through within their premises such as drug abuse, bullying.

Mental illness is caused mainly due to some impactful incident happened in our life which caused a great impact on the mind of the person and he/she is not able to overcome it such reasons or incidents could be bullying, work pressure, loss of a dear one, breakups, even some time depression is genetic too i.e., it is caused due to the genetic factors of the individual.

At last, I feel that he author has a great will power and got the right, positive environment which eventually lead to her recovery but everyone is not so blessed, so according to me instead of saying the individual ask for help the people around them should try to understand what wrong with them, provide them a positive, motivational environment. The individual should not wait for anyone to reach out to them, they should have a continuous will within them to get cured and help themselves and talk about their problem without the fear of getting rejected or left unheard.

While going the article, I read that the author herself doubts on the treatment provided to her, she is in continuous doubt about the efficiency and professionalism of the doctors from whom she is getting herself treated, according to my experience the doctors are able to understand the problem but they are not able to make the patient understand about their current condition because people get hyper or really upset, even during my internships I have seen people who even refuses to accept that they have some problem related to their mental health they are not comfortable in admitting themselves only, them how they can accept from the doctors to provide them with the best treatment, fortunately the author is strong enough to come up with problem andadmit it that she is not well confidently but instead of doubt on her treatment she should have faith and proceed with her treatment because in the treatment of such cases medications are not so useful than the guidance and own will power is, external factors are not much responsible than the internal factors are responsible for the mental health, the patient surroundings, attitude towards the life, been motivated and first of all admitting that yes they have some issues with their mental health and they want to address it with proper guidance and procedure.

Evaluation of Mental Illness Journey

While studying the article, I came across many different factors which lead to the worst scenario of her case that lead to the incident of wrist bleeding during her check up in the clinic.

The main cause of her depression, anxiety is not yet known but these illnesses have definitely aided to her bi-polar personality disorder. Starting from the scratch of her life, it is sure of that she is in her 20s and not proud of her illness but not even shy or ashamed of it but she was exhausted of it for sure she just want to put an end to her suffering, she have not enjoyed her adolescence unlike others because others were busy in enjoying and dating, the author was facing the worst time of her life in depression which almost led to her absence from school for nine-months. She was so exhausted and tired of it that she left her home and went to Russia to start her new life but even that was not achievable for her with her increasing anxiety and depression rate day-by-day.

Mental illness is compared to a broken leg , a broken leg is easily visible and people even show concern about it but mental illness is invisible it needs to be understood, diagnosed on the basis of the critical study on the patient behaviour, the treatment of such diseases is very long and tiring because instant improvement in the state of the patient is not possible in most of the cases, for other problems a diagnostic process can be followed and instant solution could be provided but for mental health even the doctors needs to be specialised in their particular filed so that they are able to critically examine the state of the patient and accordingly provide thesolution.

The role of society is equally important in the treatment of such illness because many a times a person has a fear and they are not able to tell people that what is actually wrong with them, all the fear, rejection is caused by the mental blockage present in the mind of the society which only understand mental illness as something which is not atallacceptable and the person suffering from it is declared as a mad person without even knowing him/her.

But now with time changing the thinking of the society is also changing which have somewhat helped in clearing this mental blockage from the society, as periods were considered as a taboo or even sex as taboo in earlier times, now mentalillness has become one of them but there are also some people who are concerned about it genuinelyand people have started taking about these topics publicly so that awarenesscould be spread.

But even now the awareness is not able to reach the whole world and many needs to broaden their thinking and state of mind. With the socialmedia been in trend and hash tagsbeen cool people are using it as a platform to spread awareness among people so that they can come up and talk about their problem on such platforms and connect with people by asking for help and even people can help such people by sharing positive thought with them, getting people aware about the causes of mental illness because the series and effects of such illness can be a very horrific scene, frustrating for the suffered himself/herself and even for the people around him/her.

The author was lucky to work with an organization “the guardian” which is an organization she is currently working in as a news journalist and in her 4 years of work, the author has written many acclaimed pieces which are also nominated which clearly shows her desire to work and achieve her dreamsin spite of her mental health.

It could also be evaluated that Hannah has become super moody and frustrated due to her illness which even started to affect her work, as per her office experiences described in the article. She is not able to find the main cause or origin of her such medical condition and what factors led to worsen her condition, it can be seen that many factors are involved as she have mentioned that since the age of 13 she started getting phystriatic attacks, till the age of 28 she was not able to live her life as all other friends of her were enjoying,dating so eventually she has no one who was there to take care of her.

She even blamed the government system by calling it corrupt as she was not satisfy with the service provided at the NHS with too many never ending closures and even doubted on the professionalism of the doctors. She feels that even if everyone is doing their job still the treatment is a slog. The role of government is been questioned because there is no exempt in the purchase of expensive drugs, or even for the treatment it is exempted only for a physical illness. The fault is not of doctors only entirely because they are not able to know the picture because you are just checked in at your worst scenario which does not provide the aid to understand the actual problem in terms of mental illness a sit requires time.

Analysis of Mental Illness Journey

Based on the evaluation and study of the article it can be analysed that Hannah Jane Parkinson has gone through a series of mental illness in her entire life starting with a psychiatric attack at the age of 13 and after that she had been exposed to such attacks many times during her teenage. (Parkinson, 2018)

After critically analysing her case based on nursing intervention it can be intervened that the patient had faced risked self-harm violence which is aided with an evidence of her attempt to suicide which ultimately led to social isolation in her life. During the intervention it can said that Hannah was satisfied with her achievements so far in life.(Conn et al., 2001).

It can also been seen that she seek out for help from her company and she was provide with the help in form of leaves during herattacks, providing positive environment, support from the company and colleagues .

It can be clearly seen that the staff and system of the NHS is not satisfactory because even after the suicide attack the author was send to home where she almost waited for whole day and in end she was discharged and kept on therapy for 16 weeks and house arrested for 16 weeks. This can be seen as a fault of the government because even when her case was medically serious proper treatment and counselling was not provided to her and she was kept on 18 weeks waiting list for her therapy and keep her messages were not been answered.

Taking the example of her story, a major issue can be dealt that people now have started taking it as normal and does not feel to seek for help which eventually leads to worsening of their condition because in the staring everything seems normal only in case of depression, anxiety, they confuse it with mood swings, work pressure and even people think of it as an act to grab attention.

Conclusion on Mental Illness Journey

In the end it can concluded that based on the study of the article written by Hannah Jane Parkinson titled “It’s nothing like a broken leg”: why I am done with the mental health conversation.(Parkinson, 2018).In the article she has illustrated her life story with the help of her real life incidents, clearly stating the journey of mental health illness she is been suffering from, she has beautifully elaborated and tried to explain about the actual feelings of a person suffering from depression, anxiety and bi polar personality disorder.

She have raised some points which according to her are the main hurdles in the way of her treatment and why they need to be addressed at the first place only. In this essay I have tired make my perspective and feelings clear about the issue of mental health on the basis of my studying career in nursing intervention and even provided some of the interventions in the action plan provided below.

Action Plan on Mental Illness Journey

Based on my study of Hannah’s case there are some interventions or steps which could have proved to be effective if they were taken on time and she would have not suffered so much in her life.

First of all, when at the age of 13 she started having physictric attacks her parentsshould have contacted a doctor at the place and her treatment could have started and taken care of at an early stage only.The doctor or phystriatct can interact with the patient in a slow pace and firm tone so that the patient can get comfortable and can explain easily her/his feelings by asking them to express their thoughts, feelings but not directly instead using open-ended questions.(James & Clarke, 1994)

Proper empathy should be shown to the patient and if the patient is not able to do daily tasks of his/her routine then have patience and encourage them to do their daily tasks of personal hygiene as they gain energy.Suicide attempts or thoughts can be prevented by listening and trying to understand what really is going on their minds. Most important thing is to surround you with people or keeping yourself engage in some activities.

The government can help by provided free treatment to the patients who are not in sate of buying expensive medicines and by appointing good professional doctors so for that they need to increase the seats in the medical universities.The patient is in constant need of positive and motivational environment which is supported by theories so the doctor or the nurse needs to know these theories so that they can provide such an environment to the patient (James & Clarke,1994).

References for Mental Illness Journey

Parkinson.H.J. (2018).’It’s nothing like a broken leg’: why I’m done with the mental health conversation.Retrivedfrom https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/30/nothing-like-broken-leg-mental-health-conversation

James, C. R., & Clarke, B. A. (1994). Reflective practice in nursing: issues and implications for nurse education. Nurse Education Today, 14(2), 82-90.

Conn, V. S., Rantz, M. J., Wipke‐Tevis, D. D., & Maas, M. L. (2001).Designing effective nursing interventions.Research in nursing & health, 24(5), 433-442.

Farley-Toombs, C. (2012). The stigma of a psychiatric diagnosis: prevalence, implications and nursing interventions in clinical care settings. Critical Care Nursing Clinics, 24(1), 149-156.

Husebø, S. E., O'Regan, S., &Nestel, D. (2015). Reflective practice and its role in simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 11(8), 368-375.

Chandra, A., &Minkovitz, C. S. (2007). Factors that influence mental health stigma among 8th grade adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36(6), 763-774.

Cocozza, J. J., &Skowyra, K. R. (2000). Youth with mental health disorders: Issues and emerging responses. Juv. Just., 7, 3.

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