PTSD Care Service Case Study

Produce a Report about One Individual using a Care Service

Action Plan

I will produce a report about one individual who is using multiple care services.

In this project, I will refer to my care service user as Nathan to protect their confidentiality. Nathan aged 29 was in the Army when he was 18. He was dismissed a couple of years later because of his health. He had experienced some traumatic scenes and was diagnosed with post traumatic street disorder. A few years on Nathan was reliving the events through nightmares and would sometimes feel guilty about what happened and blame his self. He struggled to sleep at night and suffered from anxiety attacks regularly. This has caused Nathan to start drinking more than his recommended limit and has caused him to have seizures. Nathan also has dyslexia. He was diagnosed at a young age with this and has struggled through his school years He had no money, no friends and no job. He was admitted to rehab where they have helped him become sober and has now been sober for 5 weeks. He has also been talking to a counsellor about his mental health issues and goes to a drop-in centre where there is people with the same condition who could support and encourage him to do better in life.

I have chosen this individual for my investigation as I have a special interest in mental health and would like to develop my knowledge on this. I also have easy access to the individual who is happy to discuss his circumstances and help me with my report.

Tasks	Dates
Finish Action Plan	1st February 2017
Research Mental Health by reading the mental health book	6th February 2017
Research the psychological Theories online and in the books	10th February 2017
Complete the Respond the Brief report	15th March 2017
Complete the Evaluation Report	17th May 2017

When I am doing my research for my report I will be using books, internet and the service user who I am investigating. Three different types of sources are appropriate for my research as it allows me to gather a variety of views from all different people with different backgrounds who could be experiencing the condition their self. Sources comes in different levels. Books and the service user are a primary source as they come from the author or the person their self. The internet would be classed as a secondary source as is could be someone getting their information from the primary sources.

Responding to the Brief

2(A) Describe four needs of your chosen individual and explain why they are required to be addressed.

Needs are essential things in our life’s that we cannot live without. The five basic types of needs are: Social, Physical, Emotional, cognitive and cultural. In this part of my report I will only be looking at 4 of the needs for my chosen individual.

Social Needs

Social needs are the need to have conversations and experience a variety of social relationships. Nathan might feel anxious to start, keep and even end relationships with anyone. When Nathan first found out he had mental health issues he may have been worried about revealing his condition to his friends and family so he has excluded his self from everyone. Nathan may need support from others, such as a Social Worker who could help him to gain confidence in communicating with others to allow him to form new relationships and encourage him to go to social groups. Having relationships with others would allow Nathan to have a sense of belonging, his self-esteem would be higher and he would feel good about his self.

Physical Needs

Physical needs refer to fresh air, food, water, warmth, shelter, hygiene, sleep and exercise. These are the basic needs that we need in our lives to promote wellbeing. Living with a Mental health disorder can influence how well you sleep, and poor sleep can have an undesirable impression on your mental health. Anxiety can produce feelings to battle though your mind making it difficult for Nathan to sleep. PTSD can also cause nightmares which will be disturbing Nathans sleep and this will also make him concerned about falling asleep. His Anxiety could also be making it hard from him to get out the house as he will feel everyone is judging him. So, if he is sitting in all day he is not getting the fresh air he needs for his wellbeing.

Emotional Needs

Emotional needs are our feelings. We all experience different emotions including happiness, excitement, sadness and anxiety. Emotional needs include the need for love, security and confidence. If we have these needs, we can express our feelings and people can also try to recognise them. Unmet emotional needs can lead to loneliness, stress, anger and depression. The traumatic scenes Nathan experienced may have caused him to feel unsafe anywhere he goes. His confidence will also be very low as he is not able to build a stable relationship with those close to him. Nathan will be feeling useless and worthless and feel like he is failing at everything he does.

Cognitive Needs

Cognitive needs refer to our thought processes and how we make sense of the world. Cognitive abilities include the use of memory, thinking, understanding, communicating and making choices and decisions. Without these our mental abilities, will deteriorate. Cognitive needs are making choices and decisions, solving problems and learning. Nathan struggled with his education from Primary school to Secondary school because of the dyslexia. He left at 16 with little qualifications to help him get a job so that’s when he applied for the army. The lack of education Nathan had could be the explanation for the way he is dealing with his troubles and the way he is thinking and making decisions.

2(B) Chose four psychological theories and describe one relevant feature from each. Use these features to explain aspects of the development and behaviour of your chosen individual.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

This theory is split into 5 sections. The stages in this theory are Biological and physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation. Maslow believes that all humans are inspired to attain certain needs and that some needs take priority over others. Our most essential need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that inspires our performance. Frustrated and unmet needs can lead to dysfunctional behaviour. Maslow believes that all humans are motivated towards achieving their full potential

One feature of this theory is the lack of ability to successfully meet one level of the Hierarchy of needs which can decrease the chance of achieving higher levels of needs, and can result in challenging behaviour. This theory is relevant to Nathan as he was not achieving any of these needs because of his condition. He was not able to sleep at night as he was scared that he had any flashbacks of the events he experienced. He also did not have a job so he may not have been able to provide any food or water for his self. This could explain some of the dysfunctional behaviour Nathan was showing that was unusual. However now that he is getting help and talking to people maybe he will be able to overcome his fears and work his way up the Hierarchy of needs and try to get a job that will allow him to provide for his self.

Psychodynamic Theory

This theory works on the belief that a person will think and behave in a certain way due to past experiences that they have had in their early years. This theory suggests that the person may have buried their experiences in their subconscious mind. It is therefore believed that behaviour is determined by past experiences. Freud suggests that we have unconsciously developed ways to protect ourselves from feeling anxious. These are called defence mechanisms such as regression and sublimation.

One feature of this theory would be the unconscious mind. This feature helps to describe the three levels of the mind, the conscious, preconscious and the unconscious. The conscious mind are the thoughts that are at the focus of our attention right now. The preconscious mind is all the thoughts that can be regained by their memory. The unconscious mind is the reason for some people’s behaviours. This is the most important part of the mind but it is pushed to the back so people can try and forget them. Nathan may be trying to put the traumatic scenes he experienced in the army to the back of his head as the images were too frightening and painful to keep going through. This theory is good at explaining the reason for Nathan’s theory and a way a care worker could help him to develop into a stronger person.

Humanistic Approach

Carol Rodger’s believes that people can only fulfil their potential for growth if they have a positive view about their self and this can only happen if they are valued and respected by those around them. For a person to grow they need an environment that provides them with self-disclosure, acceptance, being listened to and understood. Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic motive, the propensity to self-actualize.

One feature of this theory is the personality development. The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person. There are two primary sources that influence our self-concept. They are our childhood experiences and evaluation by others. The self-concept includes three components: self-worth, self-image and ideal-self. When Nathan was at school he may have felt different from the other children as he had dyslexia and he wouldn’t have been able to do some of the work they were doing. He would have been building an image up of his self-full of negative thoughts as he wouldn’t have been feeling good enough to be in the school. This can explain why he did not stick in at school and get his qualifications to go on and do a life time job. This theory helps us to understand Nathans developmental stages and his behaviour at this time.

Kubler Ross

The Kubler – Ross Grief cycle is a theory which allows us to understand how grief can impact on someone’s life.

2(C) Describe three relevant sociological concepts and use these to explain the impact of social influences on the chosen individual.

Sociology is the study of the growth, structure and the performance of the human society. It provides sociological concepts which help us to understand things rather than just describe them. Some of the concepts include; socialisation (process from birth to death where we learn the beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours of the group to which we belong to), agents of socialisation including primary; e.g. family and secondary; e.g. education, mass media, religion, work and peer groups.

Primary socialisation

2(D) Describe features of the positive care environment in three care services and explain how they could meet the needs of the chosen individual.

There are three sectors offering help to people. Those are statutory, private and third sector (voluntary).

One of the care services I have chosen is the SSAFA, the armed forces charity. This is a third sector care service. SSAFA have objectives that set out their priorities in the charity and how they can achieve them. Their aim is to deliver suitable, useful and appropriate solutions for their receivers to release their need, pain and troubles by providing high quality services straight to them through trained volunteers offering financial support, professional health and social care provision for the armed forces and their families, professional staff and trained volunteers to help meet specific needs. They also try to achieve operational excellence by introducing a culture of continual improvement by supporting them to reach their full potential through a continual programme of training, mentoring and career development. This care service could help Nathan in many ways. They could help him in a financial way so he can provide food and water for his self and have a roof over his head. He would also be making social relationships if he has a job.

Addaction is the second care service I have chosen that I think would be suitable for my service user. Addaction helps people change their behaviour to try and push them to their best. Addaction isn’t only about supporting people with drug and alcohol abuse they can support people with mental health issues as well.

The last care service I have chosen is Turning point. Turning point aim to guarantee that each person’s support will suit their needs. They help create support plans which meets the needs of the individuals and can help them to achieve their lifetime goals. They support people by helping them find and maintain paid and voluntary employment, encouraging them to join the gym and meeting up with friends or joining local clubs.

They also encourage the individuals to Plan and do something which they have always wanted to do. This car eservice could meet Nathan socially, physically, emotionally and cognitively. If they are encouraging him to go out and meet friends or join clubs he will be socialising and perhaps he may even be starting to think about social relationships again. He will also be getting exercise and fresh air when he is going out. He will also start to feel happy and will enjoy getting out the house. If they are encouraging Nathan to get a job he will also be able to provide for his self and will start to feel safe in his own home.

2(E) Use two of the psychological theories you have described in 2(b) to explain how a care work worker in any of services you have mentioned in 2(d) could demonstrate and apply positive care practice with your chosen individual.

2(F) Correctly reference three different types of sources of information used during the investigation.

References

Catherine Jackson and Kathryn Hill (2006). Mental Health Today a Handbook`. Brighton: Pavilion Publishing Ltd.

Katrina Kudlick. (2013). PTSD Documentary. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBUjLXtedfc. Last accessed 6th February 2017

MIND. (2017). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Available: http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/#.WL12nzammP8. Last accessed 18 February 2015

NHS. (2015). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Available: 00http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx. Last accessed 13 February 2017

Richard Nelson-Jones (2016). Theory and Practice of Counselling and Pyschotherapy. 6th ed. London: SAGE Publications.

Saul McLeod. (2007). Carl Rogers. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html. Last accessed 28 February 2017

Saul McLeod. (2007). Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html. Last accessed 28 February 2017

Saul McLeod. (2013). Sigmund Freud. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html. Last accessed 28 February 2017

Tony Ryan and Jacki Pritchard (2004). Good Practice in Adult Mental health. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.