Sociocultural Perspective Case Study

from heroine. The patient was having violent outburst, sweating uncontrollably, anxious, angry and hallucinating. The patient kept trying to rip out her IVs and disconnect herself from the telemetry monitor. The patient kept shouting, "get these bugs off of me, these bugs are driving me crazy!" I tried to explain to the patient that there was no bugs crawling on her and that she needed to relax but that did not help. Eventually, the doctor ordered some medication to help the patient relax and decrease her withdrawal symptoms. I would consider this situation to be abnormal because the patients' behavior, thoughts and emotions were not normal. According to our text, a person/situation is abnormal if they exhibit deviance, distress, dysfunction

However, I believe the best perspective that helps define how this patient became this way is "sociocultural perspective." Sociocultural perspective describes how a "persons' behaviors are influenced by social interactions, environmental cues, social pressures and cultural influences (Comer, Ronald J)." In this situation, the patient may have been introduced to drugs at an early age and she formed a habit that she couldn't shake later down the road. More times than not these individuals hang out with other people who do drugs. During adolescence, teenagers are trying to figure out who they are and where they belong in society. The patient may have got involved with a group of friends that experimented with drugs and this could have resulted in her to think, "if everyone else is doing it then it must not be too bad." This is a prime example of an individuals actions’ that are influenced by social pressures and environmental cues. This is demonstrated through sociocultural perspective to help understand abnormal

I understand it has changed dramatically since the Stone Age but I do not believe it is anywhere close to where it needs to be. The emergency department has become home for many mentally ill patients, along with homeless individuals. A lot of the times these patients are referred to as, "frequent fliers" because they come to the emergency department all the time. The person will come to the hospital wanting to get help for varies reasons and sometimes they stay over night but 9 times out of 10 the person is evaluated, given a prescription and sent out the door. To change these factors I believe health care professionals should be trained and educated more on how to handle mentally ill patients. Health care professionals that work in the emergency department should advocate for these patients and collaborate with the rest of the team to come up with a better plan to help these patients rather than treat their symptoms and send them on their way. Also, I think it is important that someone keeps up with these patients. For example, if a mentally ill patient is referred to an outpatient facility to speak to a psychologist I trust there is a record kept for every appointment. In addition, if the patient does not go to their appointment the case manager that follows that individual should follow up and figure out why they missed their appointment and figure out how it can be prevented for future