• You are asked to think about the mental health status of the client making reference to the Mental State Examination.
• Make sure you think about the Mental State Examination (MSE) here and not the overall mental health assessment structure. You will learn more about this in session 2. We want you to think about the present state / presentation of the client in terms of the components of the Mental State Examination such as: appearance and behaviours, affect, mood, thought form, thought content, perception, judgement and insight for example.
• We also want to see that you can think about the client’s presentation with reference to the DSM V. You can do this by thinking about the specific criteria for diagnoses. Show that you can consider the criteria and how they may be relevant for this particular client in the case study. For example: you might want to suggest the client has depression or anxiety so show you have considered the criteria for depression or anxiety which are relevant and how.
• We are expecting that you will have more literature other than the MSE and DSM V for question 1. You should also use other research papers.
• It’s a good idea to aim for 250 words for the Mental State Examination (MSE) and 250 words for the DSM V sub section.

Question 2

• Asks you to show your understanding, using literature, of the Stress Vulnerability Model. It would be reasonable to use 100 words for this as the maximum marks for this is 2.
• You are also asked to think about 2 contributing factors where you should make reference to the case study and literature.
• You should use 200 wordsto identify and discuss, critically analyse the literature for each contributing factor.
• A good way to think about contributing factors are possible stressors which could have impacted on how a person thinks, feels and behaves. For example: having a new baby could be a contributory factor as it creates change in the couple’s relationship; may change the time a person has for themselves and their hobbies; may challenge a person’s sense of self; may increase anxiety; lack of sleep as a result of caring for a new baby can result in changes to a person’s energy and mood.

Question 3

• Question 3 asks you to show your understanding of the mental health recovery model / theory and to relate the recovery principles of respect, empowerment and hope to the client in the case study.
• Ensure you relate your answer to the client in the case study and include relevant literature.
• Recommended use of words – 125 words for recovery model / theory and 125 words for each of the principles – respect, empowerment and hope.
• To help direct your thoughts for this question, you might want to ask ‘how can the health professional show respect or exercise a respectful to the client in this particular case study and how could this support his recovery?’ You might want to consider how his family can show a respectful attitude towards the client to better support his recovery or how could his employee be respectful give his current situation to support the client. Thinking about the wider community approach to mental health concerns may also be helpful here. i.e. how can the language used by members of the community support his recovery. ie non-stigmatising language. How can a health professional facilitate self-respect for the client?
• You may want to ask these questions in relation to empowerment ie. how can a health profession, family, employer and the wider community offer greater empowerment to the client to support his recovery? How can this be helpful and why?
• Also, how can hopebe helpful for the client, particularly given his current presentation and concerns for self and possible self-harm and suicide? How can a family member, employer and community members support greater hope for this client and why?