Current Conceptualization of Negative Symptoms

Discuss about the Current Conceptualization of Negative Symptoms.

Introduction

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that impacts a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Persons with schizophrenia might seem like they have lost touch with reality. In the general population, schizophrenia is uncommon. However, the symptoms of the disease are disabling. Common signs of schizophrenia are impaired cognitive ability, hallucination, delusion and disorganised speech. Cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia are poor executive functioning, difficulties in paying attention and poor working memory (Marder & Galderisi, 2017). Fortunately, several treatment options are available for this mental disease. The available treatment options focus on managing the symptoms of schizophrenia rather than healing the disorder. Besides, the National Recovery Framework and the Principles of Recovery focus on hope, healing and empowerment rather than cure (Department of Health, 2010). This assignment is based on the sunnyboy documentary. The documentary explains the story of Jeremy Oxley, a musician who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After years of suffering, Jeremy meets Mary, a nurse who helped to reshape his life. Firstly, the assignment will present an overview of the sunnyboy documentary. Secondly, it will explore how the national principles of recovery apply to the story of Jeremy. Lastly, it will offer an implication of this mental disorder.

The sunnyboy documentary presents the story of Jeremy Oxley, the front man of a successful Australian 1980’s band. Ideally, the central theme of the documentary is the recovery of Jeremy from schizophrenia. Jeremy’s condition has been managed with medication and a supportive social environment. The documentary follows Jeremy as he starts to unravel the demented thoughts and feelings about his past. When Jeremy was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he became internalised, unhappy and could not explain what was happening. In fact, Jeremy exhibited clear symptoms of this mental illness and wanted to be alone. He experienced social isolation and became alcoholic. However, his mental health improved when Griffiths Mary came along. Mary, a nurse practitioner, supported Jeremy as he strangled with illness for several years (The Sunnyboy, 2013). Eventually, Jeremy regained hope, confidence and resumed his music career.

How recovery principles apply in the story of Jeremy

In the story of Jeremy, it is evident that mental health recovery is a personal journey of achieving greater meaningful life. Hence, the principle of uniqueness of individual is manifested in the client’s recovery process. Mental health practitioners focus on the client’s ability instead of their shortcomings, symptoms or difficulties (Xie, 2013). This concept is exhibited by the approach used by Mary when she met Jeremy. Mary helped Jeremy to develop his music and even organised a reunion gig to meet other band members. Notably, Mary fails to support rehabilitation, in which patient’s role in attaining control over their life is always neglected. Instead, she supports Jeremy through a recovery process where active control over one’s life is guaranteed. In the process of recovery, Jeremy is presented with opportunities for choices unlike in rehabilitation where the choices of a client are greatly suppressed. Further, Mary upholds the view that recovery is about social inclusion and being a valued member of the community when she champions the reconciliation of Jeremy and Peter.  The process of recovery is evidently different for each client, and mental health practitioners should thus focus on client-centred approach depending on individual’s perceived needs and goals.

The recovery process of Jeremy exhibits a great sense of autonomy and involvement in normal activities, which can be linked to the principle of real choices. People with mental illness often argue that recovery is a journey marked by an increasing sense of autonomy and greater engagement in normative activities (Drake & Whitley, 2014). This argument insinuates that the recovery process should support and empower people to make their personal choices about how they want to lead their lives. Through the support of Mary, Jeremy decided that he want to pursue music. The client’s choice was meaningfully and creatively explored. In the past, mental illnesses like schizophrenia were viewed as chronic and incapacitating diseases that exacerbated over time. As such, patients with such mental illnesses were discouraged from participating in daily activities and living independently. Most patients with mental illnesses were institutionalised under heavy medication and supervision. Mary and the doctor who examined Jeremy took a different approach. They perceived Jeremy as a person who would be responsible for his life if given an opportunity. Thus, the providers empowered and supported him to take positive risks.  The combination of medication and social services is humane and cost-effective in empowering and supporting patients with mental health to make real choices.

Another recovery principle that is openly portrayed in the sunnyboy documentary is attitude and right. Specifically, the story propagates principle of attitude through Mary. Mary exhibited positive attitude towards Jeremy despite his mental illness, which contributed to the recovery. Empirical evidence suggests that education level, knowledge and experience of mental illness influence mental practitioners’ attitudes in a positive direction (Mårtensson, Jacobsson, & Engström, 2014). Hence, Mary’s attitude towards Jeremy is attributable to her knowledge and experience as a nurse practitioner. Several instances in the documentary can be highlighted as examples of a positive attitude. Firstly, Mary was unafraid seeing someone psychotic. She saw beneath the physical manifestation of the mental illness to the real person within. Secondly, Mary helped Jeremy to seek medication. She intended to help Jeremy recover control of his life by instilling hope. Literature suggests that the first step to managing a client with mental illness is to instil hope (Davidson, Bellamy, Guy, & Miller, 2012). Lastly, Mary provided a secure living environment for Jeremy. The couples share a house that provides a favourable environment for recovery. Apart from attitudes, the documentary also portrays the promotion of human rights for people with mental illness. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) outlines that every person including persons with mental illnesses has equal rights (Ramachandra, Reddemma, & Math, 2013). Jeremy’s rights as a human were upheld in the course of the therapy. Positive attitudes, as well as rights, are fundamental in promoting the recovery of people with mental illness and should thus be promoted across health care settings.

In addition to the principles discussed in previous paragraphs, dignity and respect were portrayed in the story of sunnyboy. The dignity of each person in the society is achieved only when all persons including the most marginalised, are treated as equals (Saxena & Hanna, 2015). Besides, dignity and respect are interlinked with social justice. In the sunnyboy documentary, honesty and respect were manifested in all interactions. Mary and Jeremy met through mutual friends and were open to each other. The highest degree of respect and openness is manifested when Mary discloses her love for Jeremy. Also, sensitivity to the other person’s values, beliefs and culture are evident in the documentary. Successful intervention for well-being concerns needs enhanced knowledge of Aboriginal views and organised change in health care delivery that fosters integration and collaboration between health care as well as the society and acknowledges the significance of social determinants in health promotion and recovery process (Hinton, Kavanagh, Barclay, Chenhall, & Nagel, 2015). A fundamental aspect of dignity and respect as a principle of recovery is to overcome discrimination. When Jeremy was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was discriminated and stigmatised. Mary challenged discrimination by accepting to be associated with Jeremy despite the mental illness. The close association between Mary and Jeremy is a clear show of how discrimination can be challenged to promote recovery for people with mental illness.

An analysis of the sunnyboy documentary reveals how the principle of partnership and communication was applied to promote Jeremy’s recovery from schizophrenia. Vahdat and colleagues argue that enhanced patient participation whereby patients are considered as equal partners in health care decision-making results in better outcomes (Vahdat, Hamzehgardeshi, Hessam, & Hamzehgardeshi, 2014). As a result, a practitioner-patient relationship is desirable in enhancing recovery and healing. Mary acknowledged that Jeremy is an expert in his own life and that recovery entails working in partnership. When Jeremy was diagnosed with schizophrenia, some people told him that he would be on medication for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, this situation changed because Mary was ready to provide the much-needed partnership and support. The partnership between Mary and Jeremy was solidified when the couple wedded. Consequently, the couple started sharing pertinent information and working in positive and realistic ways. Mary started helping Jeremy to achieve his goals and aspirations. In the 1980’s, Jeremy wanted to be a famous musician and reach the rest of the world through music. At the end of the documentary, it is clear that Jeremy is working to achieve his aspirations with the help and support of Mary. The story of Jeremy indicates that partnership is an indispensable principle in promoting fast recovery of people with mental disorders.

The last principle of recovery is evaluating recovery. Various outcome domains which can be evaluated are well-being, emotion, physical health, services, societal and interpersonal (Thornicroft & Slade, 2014). Most of these themes can be applied in evaluating the recovery of Jeremy from schizophrenia. Upon treatment, Jeremy improved in most aspects of his life. Jeremy can track the recovery progress by evaluating his career as well as family matters. There are also mental health system reports on important outcomes that demonstrate recovery. Such outcomes include employment, housing, social, education and family relations. People with schizophrenia do not usually have hope. On the contrary, Jeremy is married, writes music and has hope for the future.

Conclusion

As evident in this paper, schizophrenia is a disabling mental disorder with an array of symptoms. Due to the nature of schizophrenia symptoms, a patient might be at risk of being on medication for the rest of their life. Nevertheless, schizophrenia can be managed effectively with medication and psychotherapy. A personalised treatment plan is thus needed to shorten the recovery period and enhance the outcomes. Conclusively, the story of Jeremy in sunnyboy documentary exhibits how the principles of recovery can be applied to people with schizophrenia.

Bibliography

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