Essay on Psychiatric Evaluation: Assessing Ms. Z's Mental Health for Educational Pursuits

Psychiatric evaluation is vital for people who have been found to have experienced mental illnesses in the past whenever they need to be assessed for any significant moves in their lives. Therefore, Ms. Z needed to be checked for the possibility of her mental health is stable enough to handle the pressure that comes with the educational level she sought to add to her credentials. According to her test results, her intelligence levels can support the education she seeks to undergo, although the tests done on her personality shows a possibility of her undergoing mental breakdowns, which may cause her to experience another episode of mental analysis (Fava et al., 2016). Therefore, Ms. Z needs to be under constant mental and emotional support for the possibility of her successful completion of the education she seeks to undergo, so that her mental health is not affected and that she will be able to advance in her life careerwise and educationally.

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There are cultural considerations that should be considered when investigating the mental stability of a patient. When a patient is being put under psychological scrutiny, the primary concern should be given to the possibility of their culture playing a role in their unstable mental condition, such as the possibility of their cultural practices being responsible for their mental instability (Lee & Lee, 2017). For example, in the case of Ms. Z, her race could be a possibility for the increased predisposition to mental instability and ill health. While there is significant success experienced when patients are prescribed to the use of antidepressants, there is a possibility that the cultural practices and setup that Ms. Z is the reason why she is unable to overcome the suicidal tendencies and the moodiness that she experiences. Therefore, the cultural backgrounds of patients should be considered when prescribing a treatment plan for mental instability so that the treatments can positively influence the patients.

The first ethical issue which has been covered is that Ms. Z gave her informed consent on the tests to be performed on her. This means that she was fully aware of the tests which were to be completed and gave her go-ahead for them to be performed on her. This shows that the institution where the tests were performed could not be held responsible for conducting any tests on her (Sussman & Dejong, 2018). Secondly, the institution should not avail of her test results to anyone except her or a government office through a written request or a court order. This way, the confidentiality of the patient will be protected, and she will not be discriminated against or stigmatized on account of her mental health.

Ms. Z is above the general intellectual score, and this shows that she is intellectually capable of undertaking the course she wants to undertake. She is scored average on the working memory intelligence, WMI, with a score of 92. This shows that she can remember enough from her lessons and can be considered for the course she wishes to undertake. However, her MMPI scores are worrying since the majority of the readings are below average and show the need for her to be put under a psychiatric program and medication to help stabilize her mental health and, in the process, make her more capable of undertaking the course. Having her take the course in the current mental state that she is in may result in her being unable to see her class due to the pressure associated with the course she wishes to undertake.

References

Fava, G. A., Cosci, F., Offidani, E., & Guidi, J. (2016). Behavioral toxicity revisited: iatrogenic comorbidity in psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Journal of clinical psychopharmacology, 36(6), 550-553.

LEE, B. X., & LEE, G. (2017). 29 Cultural Issues in Geriatric Forensic Psychiatry. Geriatric Forensic Psychiatry: Principles and practice.

Sussman, N., & DeJong, S. M. (2018). Ethical considerations for mental health clinicians working with adolescents in the digital age. Current psychiatry reports, 20(12), 113.