Criminology

Case study 1 John’s mother is worried about him. Previously an excellent student and an active sportsman he is not doing well at school. He has missed football practice a few times now. He doesn’t seem to want to go out with his mates on Saturday night and doesn’t want to talk to any of them on the phone. His girlfriend broke off the relationship with him a couple of months ago and he has been morose and withdrawn since then. When his mum tried to talk to him about it he snapped that it was “none of her business” and that he was “over it”. John also had a bad bout of the flu and needed antibiotics to treat a respiratory infection after the flu. John is in his final year of school and is mother wants him to do well. She thinks he is studying late at night because she can see that his bedroom light is on and he is on the computer. He finds it difficult to get up in the morning to go to school and is very irritable when she comes in to get him out of bed to get breakfast and go to school. He has been skipping breakfast saying he will eat at school when he gets there. His mum doesn’t know what to do. John is 18 so he is an adult and she feels she can’t force him to go and seek help. She has asked her GP what to do and the GP has said she is happy to talk with John but that he should make the appointment and come in on his own. Case study 2 Mrs Jones is worried about her daughter Katie. She has asked her GP if it is normal for young women to go on diets and to be obsessed about losing weight. Her GP reassured her that it was a usual part of growing up – particularly for girls – and that they usually grew out of it. Mrs Jones is not sure about this advice from her doctor but she thinks perhaps Katie will get over it now that she is working and not under a lot of stress. Katie assures her that she is all right and that she is eating ok now. But when she thinks about it, Katie’s mum hasn’t actually seen Katie eat in the last few months. She skips breakfast and tells her mum she gets a cappuccino and a muffin on the way to work. When she gets home, she tells her mum she has already had a snack before she left work and she had a large lunch anyway. Mrs Jones is still worried but accepts Katie’s assurances. Then one of Katie’s workmates rings and says that Katie has fainted at work and could she come in to take her home. Her workmate says she wonders if it is because Kate hadn’t been eating anything that day. Her workmate says that she also wonders if Kate has a stomach bug or something because Kate has been throwing up at work lately. Mrs Jones goes into Katie’s work to pick her up and bring her home. Case study 3 Julie and Ben have been married for 12 years. They have a son (10) and daughter (3). Julie is a full time carer to their children and Ben currently works two jobs. Julie experienced postnatal depression following both of her children’s births. In the last 6 months Ben has been so pleased to see how his wife is coping and that the depression has lifted and she seems to be enjoying life again. She has become more social, planning lots of activities, running again in the mornings at 4am and cleaning the house into the early hours of the morning. In recent weeks however he has noticed that when he returns home from work at 7.30pm before his night job the children are complaining of being hungry. Ben has started to realise that Julie has not been cooking the kid’s dinner. When Ben attempts to talk to Julie about the children she changes the subject. Ben has also received a call from the bank who tells him that their mortgage payments are two months behind. Ben investigates further and notices that their savings account has been completely depleted. Julie has recently purchased a $100, 000 car. Case study 4 Mark has been an excellent student throughout high school. He has been captain of the cricket team and very popular amongst his class mates and teachers. Last year things seemed to fall apart. His grades fell and he didn't seem to be able to concentrate on study. His mother was concerned and took Mark to the local GP who couldn't really see what was wrong. He gave Mark an antidepressant drug and said he would like to see Mark in a couple of months. The antidepressant didn't seem to help much. Mark's mother noticed a few other things. Mark seemed to have some odd thoughts - he said he could hear things and became upset when she told him she couldn't hear them. Mark became more withdrawn and stopped going out with his friends. He spent a lot of time in his room. His mother thought perhaps he was studying but he wouldn't talk to her about what his school work was about. Sometimes Mark is quite animated. He talks excitedly about science projects and says he has some unique ideas but that he can't talk about them in case someone steals them. Mark has done well in science so his mother thinks he probably does have some good ideas but is puzzled as to why he won't talk about his ideas. His mother doesn't know what to do or where to go for help. His exams are coming up and she is concerned that he doesn't seem to be studying or focussing. questions: 1. What are the psychosocial issues for the person in the case study? 2. What informal supports are available to the person? 3. What professional and/or agencies are involved or likely to be involved with the person? 4. What are the gaps in service delivery for people with this mental health illness? 5. What advocacy needs to happen for people with this mental health issue?