Exploring Personal Views of Mental Illness and Mental Health

Exploring Personal Views of Mental Illness and Mental Health

Introduction

Mental health is a central component of holistic nursing practice, and every nurse, regardless of clinical setting, will encounter individuals living with mental health conditions. Understanding your own beliefs, emotions, and assumptions is essential for providing safe, therapeutic, and evidence-based care. This first journal offers space for honest self-reflection as you begin working through the sensitive and emotionally complex topics in this course.

Instructions

Your journal this week includes two reflective components:

Part 1:

Consider what normal mental functioning means to you. How do you personally define mental illness? What cultural, personal, or educational factors influence these definitions?

Part 2:

Reflect on your thoughts, feelings, and preconceived ideas about individuals living with mental illness. You may find it helpful to consider scenarios such as whether a person unable to work because of major depression, or a person experiencing schizophrenia who may be unhoused or accessing shelters intermittently. In your reflection, address the following questions:

1. What fears, concerns, or uncertainties, if any, do you have about caring for someone with a mental health condition? Do you feel empathy, discomfort, overwhelm, curiosity, or something else?

2. Do you believe society has a responsibility to care for individuals living with mental illness? What should that care include?

3. How do you think mental illness affects the U.S. economy?

4. How do Hollywood and entertainment media influence public perception of mental illness? Are these portrayals accurate, stigmatizing, or oversimplified?

5. Do you have an interest in working with individuals experiencing mental illness? Why or why not?

6. Reflect on implicit bias: Do you notice any automatic assumptions, stereotypes, or emotional reactions that might influence how you view or interact with individuals who have mental health conditions? Where do you think these biases originated, and how might you address them as you grow as a nurse?

Reference

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing 10th Edition CoursePoint 2026. Author(s)

Videbeck, Sheila. VBID: 9781975266882 | ISBN/ISSN:

9781975239152 (Chapters 1 & 3, 5-7)