summer 2023 week 12 journal

I remember handling a 32 year old patient suffering from a major depressive disorder. She complained of a frequent feeling of hopelessness and sadness accompanied by a loss of interest in most of the activities she engaged in daily. Additionally, she explained that of late she gets irritated over small matters and was sleeping too much both during the day and night. The 26-year-old also revealed that she had lost her appetite, felt restless, and had been battling suicidal thoughts.

I felt that I handled the situation well since I first talked to the patient which made her comfortable expressing her feeling and concerns without fear. I sympathized with her emphasizing that she was not the only one battling depression. Sympathizing with the patient is an effective action to assist depressed patients as the patients feel that the health practitioner better understands them and do not judge how they feel (Craske, et.al 2019) I encouraged her to express her feelings including anger, guilt, and sadness. I reminded her that just like many have emerged survivors having successfully gone through the treatment process so she can. I appreciated her for taking the first step to recovery by visiting our psychiatric clinic and scheduled for her weekly counseling sessions. She attended all her counseling sessions and was always eager to meet me as I was there to assist her by listening, guiding, and encouraging her to express how she felt. Expressing emotions paves way for the healthcare provider to offer alternative ways of addressing overwhelming emotions (Craske, et.al 2019). In addition, I encouraged her to engage in her favorite hobbies whenever she felt overwhelmed by negative emotions. Also I gave her a wide range of resources including support groups to assist her to overcome feelings of worthlessness, isolation as well as hopelessness. The interventions were effective since within a couple of months she had recovered fully and regained her worthiness and confidence to overcome any challenges that she encountered.