Handling Psychiatric Clients

Please reply to the discussion post below. Please all references 5 years or less. Thank you.
KDs
WednesdayOct 26 at 6:30pm
Week 1 – Collaboration Café

Dr. K,
Describe the stereotypes portrayed in the therapeutic relationship, setting, or content of the therapy sessions.
"Girl, Interrupted" is a true story about Susanna Kaysen and her experience in a mental institution (Mangold, 1999). The first stereotype is Susanna's encounter with a psychiatrist is her father's friend, "doing this as a favor to her father." Dr. Crumble blames her for hurting everyone around her and recommends that she go to a psychiatric hospital after a suicide attempt. He does not allow her to see her parents before he puts her into a taxi and sends her off. The following stereotype is when she is just given drugs without explanation and ordered to take them with an underlying threat that if she does not, something terrible will happen. Another stereotype is when Susanna asks to leave the hospital and is told that she is not allowed to decide when she leaves.
Describe the relationship depicted between the psychotherapist and the client. Does the provider demonstrate professionalism, ethical comportment, and/or therapeutic communication in client interactions? Explain your rationale.
The psychotherapist, Dr. Potts, demonstrates professionalism and ethical comportment when redirecting Susanna's parents to focus on Susanna instead of their needs (Mangold, 1999). A second psychotherapist attempts to build a therapeutic relationship with Susanna while setting professional boundaries. However, Dr. Wick's therapeutic communication is lacking as she points out all of Susanna's flaws without working toward motivational change. The most effective therapeutic relationship was developed between the psychiatric nurse and Susanna when she was able to open up to the nurse after discovering the body of one of the other girls from the hospital. The nurse allowed Susanna to share her feelings without judgment.
Discuss the ways that elements related to ethnicity, religion, race, class, or cultural identity appeared to impact the client-therapist relationship.
Susanna grew up in Boston during the 1960s when women struggled for identity during a time of oppression. This was also a time when doctors had unquestionable authority, and patients were expected to follow doctors' orders.
Explain how popular culture depictions of mental health treatment, specifically psychotherapy, depictions in popular culture might impact the client and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) perceptions of psychotherapy as an effective treatment modality.
Popular culture profoundly influences a person's perceptions (Cameron, 2019). Therefore, a PMHNP needs to understand how pop culture can affect patients' perception of the care they may or may not receive from psychotherapy. Patients may think they will walk into the office, lie down on a couch, and talk about their feelings. They may worry that if they admit they have mental health concerns in psychotherapy, they will be hospitalized for life and forced to take medications that make them loopy and wear a straight jacket. I believe it is a good idea to have a variety of references to share with patients that may help shape and change their perceptions of psychotherapy. While I chose to discuss "Girl, Interrupted" and inpatient psychiatric treatment, a good depiction of outpatient psychotherapy can be viewed in the sitcom "Never Have I Ever." In "Never Have I Ever," the psychotherapist has a solid therapeutic relationship, sets professional boundaries, and uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help the main character (Kaling et al., 2020).
Thank you,
Kerri
References
Cameron, J. (2019). The Effects of Fictional Portrayals of Therapy on Attitudes about Seeking Mental Health Treatment. Proceedings of Great Day, 2018. https://knightscholar(dot)geneseo(dot)edu/proceedings-of-great-day/vol2018/iss1/26?utm_source=knightscholar.geneseo.edu%2Fproceedings-of-great-day%2Fvol2018%2Fiss1%2F26&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
Kaling, M., Fisher, L., Munir, A., Oyama, E., Steiner, B., & Geary, A. (Directors). (2020, April 27). Never Have I Ever [TV show]. Netflix.
Mangold, J. (Director). (1999, December 8). Girl, Interrupted [Film]. Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Co.