Mental Health Resources

ieso delivers therapy for common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, and strives to improve patient outcomes by understanding how these are related to the therapy received by the patient.

To fulfil this mission, we wanted to better understand the health and economic impact of different therapy types, e.g. digital interventions against standard mental health services. In particular, exploring how factors such as waiting and treatment times, and treatment effectiveness, impact patients’ health and mental healthcare costs.

Healthcare professionals make important decisions every day. The ability to make decisions is central to human experience and something we often take for granted. Some decisions are of little consequence, such as what to have for breakfast, other decisions are of greater consequence, such as whether to sell one’s house. For the most part, we make these decisions ourselves, perhaps in conjunction with another person and we act upon that decision. But what if we were unable to decide for ourselves and were reliant on other people deciding for us? How can we be sure that people making decisions about our lives are doing so in a correct way?

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) can affect individuals at any age, yet often develops in the younger population, accounting for approximately 8% of diabetes diagnoses in the UK. Although there has been extensive research into the physiology of diabetes, less work has addressed the psychosocial demands and consequent effects on management and quality of life. This article is a critical synthesis of the literature, adopting the Health Stigma and Discrimination Framework (Stangl et al, 2019) as a theoretical lens through which the multifactorial impact of stigma for individuals living with T1DM is unpacked. 
Having this understanding can help general practice nurses (GPNs) recognise how stigma within T1DM can permeate throughout the five layers of society: individual, interpersonal, community, organisational, and policy. A case study is provided to highlight how nurses working within primary and community care are well positioned to help understand the
causes of stigma for individuals living with T1DM.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a term often used for two common incurable lung conditions, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Breathlessness is the main symptom experienced by patients, which can be frightening and patients can develop symptoms of anxiety, panic, low mood and depression. General practice nurses (GPNs) are ideally placed to address these symptoms. This article describes the importance of considering psychological well-being to improve self-management in COPD and how cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques can be used to assess and manage the psychological impact of breathlessness. Addressing mental health is a key area to improve self-management in COPD and research has found that respiratory nurses were able to learn and deliver CBT techniques to patients with COPD and improve symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as quality of life, while also reducing use of healthcare resources (Heslop-Marshall et al, 2018). GPNs can likewise improve self-management by incorporating CBT techniques.

People experiencing long-term physical conditions are predominantly cared for within primary care settings by nurses. These patients are two-to-three times more likely to develop mental health problems as a result of the detrimental impact of their illness on their physical and social functioning. They are also more likely to disclose mental health issues to nurses working in primary care — therefore, general practice nurses (GPNs) need to be able to recognise both mental distress and mental illness to ensure that their patients receive appropriate assessment, care and management. This article discusses the prevalence of mental health problems in patients with long-term physical conditions and how nurses in primary care settings can recognise, assess and support them.

Perinatal mental health is a critically important part of understanding the journey of life. Pregnancy and childbirth are a time of great excitement and change, which impacts both personally and professionally on the vast majority of the population. For at least 20% of pregnant women, this life event will also bring emotional disturbances and for some it will have an effect on their mental wellbeing for years after the birth. Consequently, it is vital that healthcare professionals recognise the diversity of mental illness that can impact on the childbearing population, including the need to commission effective services and be aware of how best to support women, fathers and their families during this time. This is particularly relevant for general practice nurses (GPNs) and those working in community settings, as well as nurses and midwives working with women who are pregnant, planning a pregnancy, or who have recently given birth. 

Dementia is a progressive loss of the cognitive functions that are necessary for a person to live safely and independently. These include loss of memory, the ability to think logically and communicate effectively with others, and being able to care for yourself. In 2009 a national dementia strategy for England was launched in order to improve public and professional awareness, and to ensure high quality care at all stages, including early diagnosis and treatment (Department of Health [DH], 2009).

The strategy outlined a care pathway for people living with dementia and their families and carers from diagnosis through to end of life. This article will enable the reader to understand the importance of the dementia care pathway in supporting people to live well with dementia, to consider how the pathway is being developed and implemented in primary care and how general practice nurses (GPNs) can add  value within their professional role.

This article provides an overview of eating disorders and the vital role of general practice nurses (GPNs) and primary care teams in identifying, assessing and referring on. It also looks at the role of GPNs and the primary care team in providing supportive care and physical risk management. People with eating disorders are relatively heavy users of primary care services, however it is more likely that they will initially present with another mental health issue. The GPN team can help to support specialists, patients and patients’ families with the management of eating disorders through the development of a compassionate, therapeutic relationship that understands and empathises with the patient and yet maintains firm boundaries, is vigilant about risk and is firmly pro-recovery. GPN teams can be ‘critical friends’ to someone who they may know well, gently encouraging healthy behaviours and being alert to potential warning signs in patients and/or concerns raised by parents/significant others.