Psych-Mental Health Assessment
For this discussion, you will need to place particular emphasis on how comprehensive assessment could help us to arrive at the correct diagnosis.
Please use APA 7th edition format, sources no more than 4 years old. Pay very close attention to the rubric, the instructor follows the rubric for grading, thanks
Sample Answer
Psych-Mental Health Assessment
Delusional disorder refers to a mental illness that affects the ability of a person to tell what is real from what is imagined. The main characteristic of this disorder is delusions which are unshakable beliefs in something that is not true. The false beliefs can be ordinary things that can occur or unordinary things unlikely to occur (Joseph, & Siddiqui, 2019). The delusion lasts for at least one month. Delusional disorder is a rare condition. Approximately 0.2 % of people tend to experience it at some point in their lifetime. The disorder is equally likely to occur in females and males (González-Rodríguez, Esteve, Álvarez, Guardia, Monreal, Palao, & Labad, 2019). For delusional disorder, the onset normally varies from adolescence to late adulthood but can appear later in life. Brief psychotic disorder, on the other hand, refers to a sudden, short-term display of psychotic behavior such as delusions or hallucinations, which normally occur due to a stressful event. According to DSM-5, brief psychotic disorder refers to the sudden onset of psychotic behavior, which tends to last less than 1 month, followed by complete remission with possible future relapses. It is an acute but transient disorder that is characterized by one or more psychotic symptoms. These symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior (Smith, Komisar, Mourad, & Kincaid, 2020). Just like delusional disorder, the brief psychotic disorder is rare. The disorder is more common in women than in men, unlike the delusional disorder, which is equally common to both genders. A brief psychotic disorder usually happens for the first time when people are in their 20s or 30s. People with paranoid personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder are more likely to suffer from a brief psychotic disorder. The main difference between these two disorders is that a patient with delusional disorder tends to experience delusions without any other symptom of brief psychosis such as hallucinations, disorganized behavior, and disorganized speech.
The similarity that exists between the two disorders is that a patient tends to experience delusions. People with these disorders become preoccupied with their delusions which tend to disrupt their lives. Another similarity is that they are both types of psychotic disorders. The two disorders also affect both men and women.
To differentiate delusional disorder from a brief psychotic disorder, it is important to perform a comprehensive assessment to arrive at the correct diagnosis. A comprehensive assessment is vital when diagnosing a patient because it gives nurses insight into the patient’s physical status through the measurement of vital signs, observation, and self-reported symptoms. It involves a general survey, medical history, and a complete physical examination. Health assessments are used by nurses to obtain baseline data about a patient as well as build a rapport with the patients, which in turn help ease anxiety and lead to a trusting relationship (Wilson, & Giddens, 2020). This contributes greatly to a nurse making the correct diagnosis since a patient can explain their symptoms without fear. This involves explaining when certain symptoms started and how they developed. A health provider can know the patient’s past surgeries, illness of injuries, chronic illnesses, hospitalizations, and allergies. A comprehensive assessment helps the health provider be better positioned to decide whether a patient requires additional medical care or diagnostic testing. It also helps differentiate the patient’s normal condition from the abnormal condition of the patient. During the assessment, the health providers may notice underlying or potential health issues that may need to be addressed (Wilson, & Giddens, 2020).
References
- González-Rodríguez, A., Esteve, M., Álvarez, A., Guardia, A., Monreal, J. A., Palao, D., & Labad, J. (2019). What we know and still need to know about gender aspects of delusional disorder: a narrative review of recent work. Journal of Psychiatry and Brain Science, 4(3).
- Joseph, S. M., & Siddiqui, W. (2019). Delusional disorder.
- Smith, C. M., Komisar, J. R., Mourad, A., & Kincaid, B. R. (2020). COVID-19-associated brief psychotic disorder. BMJ Case Reports CP, 13(8), e236940.
- Wilson, S. F., & Giddens, J. F. (2020). Health Assessment for Nursing Practice-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
