Assessing and Intervening in Mental Illness to Control Physical Illness
Running Head: THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION 1
THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION 2
The Mind-Body Connection
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Institutional Affiliation
Date
Mental Illness and Physical Illness
Introduction
Different studies that have been conducted have shown that poor physical health can contribute to a higher chance of developing some of the mental health problems. In addition, having poor mental health can lead to negative impact on the physical health of the individual. This in the end leads to an increase in the risks of some of the conditions. Research that has been conducted indicates that most of the mental illnesses can manifest themselves as physical conditions. This is through the different physical symptoms. For example, depression can show physical conditions such as anxiety, headaches, back pain or even post-traumatic stress disorder (De Hert et al., 2016).
Schizophrenia and Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis can be defined as a condition which goes hand in hand with the low bone mass. Due to the bone mass, the bones become very fragile and are even more likely to get fractured at any time. Different studies which have been done indicate that most of the individuals who have schizophrenia are at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis and can even end up experiencing the hip fractures (Gehlert & Browne, 2019). A review that was conducted in the year 2015 gave clear evidence of the fact that having schizophrenia and osteoporosis go hand in hand (Nikolić & Petronijević, 2018). The statistics gotten indicated that one in two individuals who had schizophrenia had very minimal bone mass and they were at a very high risk of developing osteoporosis (Nikolić & Petronijević, 2018). However, there is more research that needs to be conducted for the purpose of findings to making a proper conclusion on this relationship.
The Impact of the Relationship
Any fracture that might come as a result of osteoporosis may have a serious negative impact on the health of the schizophrenic patient. It might also affect the happiness of the patient and the general quality of life of the patient. Other effects that osteoporosis can come with include the patient experiencing chronic pain which might come as a result of the fracture, the patient might have long-term disability and they can even die (Radaei et al., 2014).
In conclusion, osteoporosis fracture is not a good experience to any of the patients and it might bring with it severe effects and pain which might last for a lifetime. There is need for a schizophrenic patient to be taken care of to avoid different health conditions which might even lead to death.
References
De Hert, M., Detraux, J., & Stubbs, B. (2016). Relationship between antipsychotic medication, serum prolactin levels and osteoporosis/osteoporotic fractures in patients with schizophrenia: a critical literature review. Expert opinion on drug safety, 15(6), 809-823.
Nikolić, T., & Petronijević, N. (2018). Schizophrenia and osteoporosis. Medicinski podmladak, 69(2), 1-8.
Gehlert, S., & Browne, T. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of health social work (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Radaei, F., Darvishi, A., & Gharibzadeh, S. (2014). The correlation between osteoporosis occurrences in both schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. Frontiers in neurology, 5, 83.