Mental Health Nursing

MENTAL HEALTH NURSING

Introduction

As you start to study psychiatric – mental health nursing, you may be excited and even anxious. The field of mental health often seems a little unfamiliar. The mind is about mental processes, thought and consciousness, the body is about the physical aspects of the brain – neurons and how the brain is structured.

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being, it affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps to determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood, through adolescence to adulthood.

Terminologies

Health

The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being, not merely an absence of disease or infirmity”.

Mental Health

Mental health is a state of balance between the individual and the surrounding world, a state of harmony between himself, with others and their environment.

Mental Illness

Mental illness is a collective term that refers to all the different types of mental conditions, including those that affect your mood, your thinking and your behaviour”.

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illness.

Psychiatric Nursing

Psychiatric Nursing deals with the promotion of mental health prevention of mental illness, care and rehabilitation of mentally ill individuals both in hospital and community.

The word psychiatry is derived from the Greek word “Psyche” means soul or mind; “iatros” means healer.