Mental Health Problems: Counselling theories

Mental Health Problems
Name
Institution / Affiliation
Counselling theories
Theoretical approaches are a vital component in the therapeutic process. They offer counselors and psychotherapists a framework to understand a patient’s feelings, behavior, and thoughts that support them navigate a patient’s journey from diagnosis to post-treatment. For example, behavioral theory helps counselors interpret the behavior of a patient. The behavioral theory explains that the behavior of an individual is learned (Sharma, 2017). For instance, Ivan Pavlov’s research depicts the classic conditioning that expounds a client's behavior to the environment. As such, behavioral therapists may leverage this theory to change unwanted and negative conduct through behavior reforms such as positive and negative reinforcement.
Cognitive theory plays an essential role in the therapeutic process. The cognitive theory helps in understanding how a patient’s thinking can change feelings and behaviors. This theory helps cognitive therapists to treat patients who have mental illnesses such as personality, depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorders, to name a few (Hofmann et al., 2012). The psychodynamic theory describes that an individual history, such as childhood experiences, shapes current personality. Therefore, therapists can use this theory to analyze past relationships, specifically, stressful childhood experiences in relation to a current client life. According to, revealing past experiences and bringing them to the surface helps in patient treatment and healing.
Besides, therapists use humanistic theories to help patients achieve their highest potential. Most of the used humanistic theories include gestalt, client-centered and existential therapies. Unlike other theories that focus on negative behavior and past experience, humanistic theories rely on all people's goodness and underscore individual self-growth and self-actualization. For example, as developed by Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy emphasizes that individuals control their destinies (Hofmann et al., 2012). In this respect, he believed that all therapists need to support and show genuine interest and care to their clients. Similarly, existential therapists help patients find the true meaning of their lives by emphasizing responsibility, free will, and self-determination.
Goals and objectives
As a nurse, my goals and objectives are to help my patients achieve their highest potential and operative mental health. Globally, substance use, and mental health challenges such as depression, schizophrenia, dementia, psychoses, and anxiety, to name a few, are prevalent health problems. For instance, in the United States, 46.4% of adults experience mental illness during their lifetime (World Health Organisation, 2020). According to the World Health Organisation (2020), over 264 million people across the world suffer from some form of mental illness. Mostly, patients suffering from mental health problems are alienated from their peers due to their undesirable behavior and personality traits. Besides, these illnesses cause feelings of hopelessness, anger, fear, and sadness, especially if the patients do not seek assistance. In the long-term, mental health problems can drive individuals to commit suicide. According to World Health Organisation (2020), over 90% of suicides or homicide are accelerated by mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.  
Since I was young, I have witnessed many patients suffer from mental health problems, with others committing suicide. Inspired by John Green, “There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t” I have always tried to enter people’s low moments in life and make a difference. I aspire to provide all-inclusive patient care that is compassionate, suitable, and effective for treating health problems and promoting health. As such, I will use pharmacological treatments, including the contemporary use of prescriptions and psychotherapy.
Besides, I will use individual psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies to help couples, families, and individuals solve mental health problems. In the long-term, I intend to participate in the psychiatric leadership of interdisciplinary teams and ensure quality assurance and performance improvement. To achieve these goals, I will collaborate with other non-medical therapists to improve patients' mental health. Moreover, I will strive to recognize and appropriately respond to family violence, sexual and emotional abuse to both victims and offenders.
Diagnosing mental problems
Diagnosing mental health problems can be challenging. Often, mental health problems depict the same symptoms. For instance, an individual may be depressed due to family violence, which might ultimately lead to substance abuse and alcohol abuse. In such a scenario, if the therapist focuses on solving the substance problem rather than family violence, the client might continue suffering from the mental health problem. As such, before any effective and appropriate mental treatment can be given, it is imperative to diagnose the mental health disorder first. In reality, effective treatment depends on the specific cause of individual symptoms; thus, it is essential to diagnose accurately and thoroughly.
Establishing mental health problems involve multiple mental and medical health professionals. For effective diagnosis, patients should be evaluated for mental and physical conditions related to the signs bei...