Comprehensive exams for Mental Health Q 128
Which is the best indicator of success in the long-term management of the client?
A. His symptoms are replaced by indifference to his feelings.
B. He participates in diversionary activities.
C. He learns to verbalize his feelings and concerns.
D. He states that his behavior is irrational.
Correct Answer: C. He learns to verbalize his feelings and concerns.
The client is encouraged to talk about his feelings and concerns instead of using body symptoms to manage his stressors. Accurate measurement and improvement of population mental health require the recording of indicators that capture the full spectrum of disease severity.
Option A: The client is encouraged to acknowledge feelings rather than being indifferent to her feelings. Mental health surveillance will require a conglomerate of indicators, and would best be served by including upstream determinants of mental health in addition to downstream symptomatic outcomes.
Option B: Participation in activities diverts the client’s attention away from his bodily concerns but this is not the best indicator of success. The stigma associated with mental health disorders may lead to underreporting of symptoms by participants in the CCHS survey data, as well as by physicians in their billing practices, and thus create problems in predicting the need for mental health services.
Option D: Help the client recognize that his physical symptoms occur because of or are exacerbated by a specific stressor, not as irrational. The use of a standardized set of indicators that takes into account health determinants, the severity of symptoms, and the use of healthcare services would permit more useful international comparisons.