Diagnostics and Classification of Mental Disorders Essay Example

Introduction

It involves the systems used in the diagnosis of patients with mental disorders as well as being categorized based on the set criteria. In this case, the patients will then be attended quite effective since their mental conditions are well established which has then facilitated organization and proper medical attendance. For the case of my state, its government has tried its best to put in place proper structures and procedures in the prisons where the inmates are to be adequately diagnosed. They will then be respectively classified for organization and ease of treatment purposes. In this regard, some specialized doctors have been hired for attending the patients in prisons: those with mental disorders. It is in line with the run to ensure that the living conditions of the inmates, as well as their health, are well taken care of as citizens of the state. The hired doctors then carry out their activities variously, starting by the gathering of the in formations of all the inmates with mental illnesses. They help in understanding their behaviors and medical health history. Such a practice is in line with the research where the diagnosis and classification of some illnesses has a step involving the gathering of information on the medical history of a patient for proper conduction of its diagnosis and classification for optimal treatment in the long run (Owen, 2014). The classification of the diagnosed patients, as practiced in the prisons in the state at hand, function by aiding in the processing of the findings of the mentally ill inmates such that there shall be the facilitation of exploring the existing services as well as the mental health systems to get specific needs of the patients in particular. Such practices have also been reflected in the research on medical diagnosis and classification.

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Suicide Watches

For the case of the suicide watches, they have been put in place in the prisons found in my state. In this case, there have been the patients experiencing psychological problems, such that they might have been forced to attempt to commit suicide in extreme cases of desperate nature they go through. In such cases, the psychiatrists have been availed in the prisons to diagnose the patients while those who have been noted to have had attempts or having attempted to commit suicide being subjected to practices deemed proper for them to be barred from any future attempts of suicide. They have been subjected to suicide watches: which have also been implemented in most of the prisons in the state. Such is in line with the findings from the research on suicide watches, where the people who have been noted to have the signs or have attempted to commit suicide or to exhibit the signs to commit suicide are subjected to suicide watches. The forms of the suicide watch brought out in the research include the provision of a guard to closely monitor the movement of the subject of suicide and intervene in the event of such an incident arising (Knoll, 2013). Also, there are the practices of stripping the victim of suicide of any material that can be sued in committing suicide, alongside the removal of any dangerous tools such as knives or ropes from the vicinity of such a person, hence making them access nothing used in the commission of suicide in the long run. Such practices are reflected in the research and have been seen to be implemented in the prisons found in the state. However, the practice involving the tying of the victims of suicide using ropes and restraining their movements has been minimally applied in the state prisons. In this case, they are to be released for a specific amount of time to get exposed to the environment under close watch while one leg is tied to the rope being held on the other end by a guard. The victim will then be returned to the bed where all the legs and hands are tied to the fixtures on the wall to limit their movements (Rivlin, Fazel, Marzano, & Hawton, 2012). Such a practice is implemented in extreme cases of suicide from the patients. However, it has not been extensively implemented in the prions in the state.

Correctional Officer Training for Supervising Inmates with Mental Illnesses

The correctional officers in the prisons are vital for the maintenance of proper health states of the inmates. In this case, the state I am residing in has put great emphasis on the training of such correctional officers to gain the required skills. They act as the intermediaries between the mentally ill inmates and the medical health providers, thus vital for the proper progressive health of the inmates in the long run. There has been the establishment of the institutions for training the correctional officers on such aspects as the awareness of the potential emergencies which may arise when working in the environments where there are the inmates. Also, they are being trained on the ways to appropriately respond to any arising emergencies as well as their part to play in such emergencies. Such are in line with the research findings where the correctional officers need to be fully aware of the potential crises in their areas of work, how to respond to them, as well as their part to play under contingencies (Skeem, Manchak, & Peterson, 2011).

References

Knoll, J. L. (2013). Inpatient suicide: identifying a vulnerability in the hospital setting. Psychiatric Times, 30(6), 36-36.

Owen, M. J. (2014). New approaches to psychiatric diagnostic classification. Neuron, 84(3), 564-571.

Rivlin, A., Fazel, S., Marzano, L., & Hawton, K. (2012). Studying survivors of near-lethal suicide attempts as a proxy for completed suicide in prisons. Forensic science international, 220(1-3), 19-26.

Skeem, J. L., Manchak, S., & Peterson, J. K. (2011). Correctional policy for offenders with mental illness: Creating a new paradigm for recidivism reduction. Law and human behavior, 35(2), 110-126.