The word disenfranchised refers to an individual or group of people who have been deprived of their rights and privileges, for instant, substance abuse. Gay men with depression and people living with disability and substance abuse. Human rights are fundamental privileges that all people have regardless of race, language, ethnicity, religion, or nationality. Freedom of speech, expression and thought, right to life and personal liberty, freedom from oppression and suffering, and the right to live and work and education are all examples of human rights. These rights are available to everyone, regardless of race or gender. The main goal of this research paper is to demonstrate the understanding of a theoretically informed planned changes process in work with a disenfranchised family or individual.
Disenfranchised Population
Mental diseases can be described as ailments that affect one’s feelings, mood, behavior, and thinking. Psychological disorders have been diagnosed in the majority of African American women (Butler & Heimberg, 2020). Lower-income, poor health, dual role strain, and the “double minority status” of race and gender are also risk factors facing depressed black women. Because of the high incidence of chronic disease in this community and the established links between long-lasting sickness and mental health concerns like depression, older African American women may be at an increased risk. The primary disorder discussed in this paper is depression in older black women. Challenges such as economic regression lead to a high standard of life. Most unemployed people, especially women, develop depression, which eventually leads them to more challenging issues.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalytic therapy is a mental theory based on a psychologist known as Sigmund Freud. The main basis is investigating how the conscious mind affects our actions, thoughts, and present feeling. The experiences that one went through in their childhood always influence their current feeling and behavior. The preconscious memory stores information that we can recall or retrieve. The unconscious memory drives a person’s daily conduct and reactions toward particular events. For example, how does one react toward anger and people who intact with them in a rude manner?
Cognitive Theory
Albert Ellis, a psychologist, and Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist, separately developed two similar theories. Their hypotheses guided the evolution of thriving cognitive therapy, and these remedies are still being used today. While the behavioral knowledge hypothesis stresses the surroundings’ involvement in determining behavior, cognitive theory stresses the mind’s cognition. Thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and perceptions are aspects of an individual’s awareness. A person’s disordered thinking, according to cognitive science, leads to extreme emotions, and because of these intense feelings, maladaptive actions emerge. The two individuals believed that peoples’ erroneous underlying beliefs were to condemn their extreme suffering from bad feelings.
Humanistic Theory
Humanistic therapy is a type of psychotherapy that emphasizes accepting one to be real to live a stress-free life. It is founded on the presumption that everybody has a unique view of life and its struggles. Humanistic treatment also postulates that individuals are good-hearted and can make sound decisions for themselves. It is more challenging to reach one’s maximum possibility if one does not hold themselves in high respect. Humanistic treatment entails comprehending better regarding oneself and setting genuine self-acceptance. This is partly achieved by developing total favorable consideration from others. It is easy to feel like one is not good enough when they believe that others will admire them only if they act in a specific way. This feeling of meaninglessness, in favor, can negatively affect how a person sees themselves and the world. Humanism therapy can help people acquire identity and endure rejection or disapproval by equipping a secure space to aim toward individual improvement.
Literature Review
The theory that has more support is Cognitive, as it emphasizes the origin of depression—an individual’s thoughts about day-to-day life influence how they react to certain life events. Specific thoughts lead to the arousal of emotions, resulting in depression and other behaviors—several pieces of literature support this theory and its application in dealing with depression among black women. Through miserable symptoms and disengagement coping, racism based on gender indicates that women are vulnerable and can be easily mistreated either sexually or in regular assaults. The study emphasizes the necessity of considering experiences intrinsically tied to social positioning within neuropsychology. The findings show that psychosocial stress, notably gendered racism, negatively influences older Black women’s perceived mental working and points to medical interventions and social fairness advocacy areas.
The article shows that prior proof of racial and ethnic disparities causes dejection among black women. Most importantly, unequal treatment of pregnant women with depression leads to high death cases. Cognitive theory gives knowledge and skills essential in dealing with such mothers. When provided with mental disorder therapy before giving birth, most women are likely to have safe deliveries. The article’s goal is to study if adding clinical case management to focus on cognitive therapy for depression would reduce dropout rates and improve outcomes for patients. The report compares intellectual group treatment alone with the same medication with clinical case management in a randomized trial (Dagher et al., 2021). Patients who got extra care attention were less likely to stop the medication than those who only received cognitive-behavioral group therapy (Wallace & Ohrt, 2020). Cognitive therapy is critical and applicable in ensuring that women suffering from depression are correctly handled.
The article provides a framework for examining mental analysis applied in black women undergoing depression. It also offers interventions that promote communication and social interaction with other members of society and the surrounding. Black women need social, economic, and emotional support to live normal lives (Jidon et al., 2021). Skills emphasized in this article are problem-solving, communication, and interaction. These themes are addressed to make the article a good source of information on handling depression cases.
Moreover, the concept of culture has been addressed in this article. It entails the accepted norms and practices each person believes in, and skills acquired in this scenario include problem-solving. The critical discussion indicates a unique culture and norm in each person. Their cultural therapy should be flexible in evolving, and clinicians should be mindful of their preferences and disposition to discrimination when working with people from juvenile groups (Rathod & Naeem, 2019). Black women have been marginalized, which has oppressed their emotions and feelings, leading to disorders.
Learnt Knowledge
Since the above theory focuses on the thoughts as the origin of mental disorders, I have learned how to use the concept in therapies among black women with depression. While interacting with the patient, I will ask questions targeting possible causes of depression. I will pay attention to what they have to say as this may reveal what they believe and think. This will enable me to detect some beliefs that are not essential but trouble creators. This area’s overall state of knowledge is adequate since I have obtained essential information. I have learned that people’s attitudes and thoughts can lead to depression issues, especially negative thoughts.
Utilize Theory
Knowledge and skills learned about cognitive theory can be applied in the change process. I will take the following steps in ensuring that the depressed black women are mentally liberated from their situation during cognitive behavioral therapy; I will urge the client to explain or express their feelings and thoughts about whatever is bothering them. It is critical to ask them to recognize any challenging scenarios or circumstances in their life that might have led to depression. A possible cause can be a lack of job due to discrimination issues, making it difficult to satisfy their daily wants. I can give some suggestions and explanations to the concerned individuals for better outcomes. Some people may be depressed and fail to identify the root cause.
I will then pay keen attention to access whether the reasons for the patient’s condition could be possible stressors and ask them to give their views and narrations of events that might have been stressful. I will assure the client that these conversations will be kept private unless there are highly particular circumstances. In the engagement process, I can explain some of the past events that may have contributed to the depression among the reported cases to access similarity. Openness with the client will make the therapy session accessible and successful. I will therefore be friendly and non-judgmental to ease the interactive session.
Precepts, Knowledge, and Strategies to Engage a Client: Reframing or Mental Restructuring
Mental Restructuring involves closely looking into unappealing thought sequences since a general assumption is likely to be made over little things. This thinking can impact one’s activities, even evolving such an identity sign. In this case, when dealing with depressed women, negative feelings should be examined as they can give a clue of what they are going through.
The Use of Exposure Therapy
To handle anxieties and phobias, openness therapy might be employed. The therapist will slowly disclose the patient to things that make them feel afraid or nervous while also giving them recommendations on how to handle the situations in the present. This can be accomplished in modest steps to ensure the main aim of the therapy is realized (Butler & Heimberg, 2020). Exposure can ultimately drive someone to feel less susceptible and more secure in their ability to cope. The main aim of exposure therapy is to examine if what the client says corresponds to a real-life situation.
Stress-reduction and Relaxation Approaches
Some evolved relaxation techniques may be taught in CBT, including exercising in-depth breathing, muscle unwinding, and imagery. Essential techniques for releasing tension and boosting the feeling of control can be learned. This can help with phobias, social worries, and other anxieties. Having a positive social relationship with friends, family, and workmates eliminates pressure, thus, minimizing stress. Engaging in conflicts, gossip, and other time-wasting activities harms depression.
Role of Theory in Social Work
Sociological theories help companionable employees in their efforts to comprehend better complex human behavior in public backgrounds that impact the lives and issues of their clients. Solid knowledge of theory assists social workers in their careers by giving them a sense of direction, intention, and authority via research-based scientific data. Collective units such as families need to relate to each other to promote peace positively. Knowing these theories is essential to health care providers, especially when dealing with black women with depression. Perceiving these individuals as part of a family is crucial as there can be no plan of harm by doing this.
Planned Change Process
Helen Harris Perlman introduced the intentional change approach to social work. She developed The Planned Change Model in 1957 (Wallace & Ohrt, 2020). It refers to the preparation and execution of plans or approaches to change a pattern of behaviors, a situation, or a situation to enhance a client’s well-being or position. Engagement, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and cessation are part of the Planned Change Model’s process.
Follow-up
The initial contact between the case manager and the customer occurs during the engagement phase. The meeting stage has no limited duration, and it can operate anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, dependent on the client and the situation. The social worker must utilize practical listening skills, physical contact, empathy, and empathetic replies during the arrangement phase. They may reflect on what has been said to the client by applying questioning skills.
The inspection step applies to gathering, analyzing, and synthesizing information between the social worker and the victim to reflect the individual’s demands and talents. The specialist and the client work jointly in the planning stage to identify areas of strength and weaknesses discovered during the assessment phase. The client and social worker begin to develop a long-lasting plan to deal with issues of accomplishing the set goals and objectives in the implementation stage. The action phase, in which the two parties work together, is also considered a joint period. Plans on the working procedure begin after the strategies have been examined and implemented.
Continuous worker assessment should be done to keep them motivated and driven. The goals and objectives should be examined whether they are being achieved. In the case of dormancy, new strategies should be put in place by making a better modification plan. In some circumstances, the worker may be demoralized due to many factors, such as low job morale. Lack of motivation is a significant contributing influence to the failure to meet set purposes. Wage increment can encourage personnel leading to an increase in the quality of goods and services. Job promotion strategies can be employed to avoid stagnation and improve skill acquisition.
Important Skills Learnt
The importance of communication skills in dealing with depressed patients is immeasurable since the interaction is key to success. Verbal instructions are done through collaboration, and the nurse should ensure the patient is paying attention to them. Similarly, guidance and counseling services, appointments on next clinic checkup, and how to take medication should be communicated verbally as well. Creating awareness to the patients on techniques they should apply to curb depression is critical. Consequently, illiteracy and ignorance is the leading factor to most illnesses.
Health care providers should use straightforward language to avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding. A higher level of honesty must be maintained, and the provided information should be kept confidential. This can be done by ensuring that the hospital has the technology for storing this data online. This will facilitate easy retrieval by both parties during and after the treatment plan. Strong passwords should be set to protect the records and, thus, the history of illnesses to avoid possible information leakage to malicious people who may desire to hack the systems. The circumstances one faces may dictate the tone while communicating with the sick. For instance, commanding language must be applied when administering medications, and the patients become reluctant.
Another form of interaction among mentally challenged patients is body language. Therefore, a doctor should be conversant with common gestures and know their meanings. This is because they may encounter people with disabilities who need special attention. During the treatment process, a health care provider should pay close attention to the patient’s choice of body language as they may be communicating something crucial. The nature in which a person is groomed also matters as it helps create the first impression of the personality. For instance, cases of depressed women indicate that most of them walk half-naked not because of their wish but due to situations. The patient’s movements should also be kept in mind as they may be indicating something unknown. A well-kept record of the tracks of a client’s nonverbal cues enables nurses to predict the health status. The clinicians keep eye contact while communicating, eliminating panic in the patients while giving the patients the needed information. Most importantly, the sitting position is of great use in the treatment process. The nurse can adjust their positions by, for instance, leaning forward-facing the patient.
Problem-Solving Skills Make a Difference
Problem-solving skill is needed as one interact with others to avoid causing unnecessary tension and fear. Patients can be unpredictable in how they react to situations in the hospital and places of residence. In many cases, the sick individuals encounter allow them to learn more and acquire skills and understanding. For example, suppose a mentally challenged person visits the hospital and says she needs to commit suicide because of hard economic life. In that case, the healthcare providers should give this woman more alternatives and importance of life. The clinicians should be creative in coming up with problems encountered at every interaction session with a client.
Mental Knowledge Learnt
Mental health awareness is an essential factor of psychological health and can improve the well-being of a person and the health of entire populations. The evidence suggests that increased information concerning psychological problems and other emotional disorders reduces issues of suicide and death. Patients develop better alternatives in their minds and decide to go for those that solve their difficulties. Issue of stereotyping due to lack of awareness common due to deficiency of knowledge and skills to tackle them.
The four domains of mental health literacy that should be proposed include gaining an awareness of how to achieve and sustain excellent mental health and understanding mental diseases and their treatments. Reducing the stigma associated with emotional conditions and increasing help-seeking efficacy is critical. Therefore, mental health literacy focuses on three related concepts: information (comprising awareness of the mental disease and emotional well-being), attitudes, and treatment efficacy. The knowledge attained from theories that can be used to intervene and treat patients with mental disorders is also of great importance. Self-acceptance and satisfaction eliminated overthinking, which eased the disorders.
References
Butler, R., & Heimberg, R. (2020). Exposure therapy for eating disorders: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 78, 101851.
Dagher, R., Bruckheim, H., Colpe, L., Edwards, E., & White, D. (2021). Perinatal depression: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Women’s Health, 30(2), 154-159.
Hill-Jarrett, T., & Jones, M. (2021). Gendered racism and subjective cognitive complaints among older black women: The role of depression and coping. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 36(2), 479-502.
Jidong, D., Husain, N., Roche, A., Lourie, G., Ike, T., & Murshed, M. et al. (2021). Psychological interventions for maternal depression among African and Caribbean origin women: A systematic review. BMC Women’s Health, 21(1).
Rathod, S., Phiri, P., & Naeem, F. (2019). An evidence-based framework to culturally adapt cognitive behaviour therapy. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 12. Web.
Wallace, D., Carlson, R., & Ohrt, J. (2020). Culturally adapted cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of panic episodes and depression in an African American woman: A clinical case illustration. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 43(1), 40-58.