Mind Brain Body and Context Essay 08001633 words 1638
Georgina, a woman in her 30’s, suffers from various medical problems such as a perforated disc in the lumber area of her spine and a history of depression. This essay will discuss the biological, psychological and social factors in relation to these things which impact on Georgina’s occupational performance in fulfilling her life roles. In particular the essay will look at how her back problems impact on her ability to carry out her roles, for example, as an employee, a wife and a mother and also how these problems impact on Georgina’s social life for example doing the activities that she used to enjoy. Georgina’s depression will also be looked at in terms of its psychological, physical and social effects on carrying out her life roles.
The first problem Georgina suffers from is a perforated disc, which can also be known as a herniated disc or prolapsed disc, in the lumber area in of her spine. According to Gutknecht (2007) ‘A herniated disk occurs when the fibrous outer part of a disk tears and the soft inner portion pushes out and puts pressure on nerves as they leave the spine to go into the leg.’. This means that one of the discs in the lower area of the back has been damaged, causing it to rupture. This causes the gel like substance inside the disc to leak out, in turn, putting pressure on the spinal cord. This would be likely to cause Georgina to feel pain not only in her back but possibly in other areas of the body as well, as the damaged disc can put pressure on certain nerves. Most commonly affected is the sciatic nerve; this nerve travels down the spinal cord, into the buttocks and down the back of each leg. Sufferers of sciatica will possibly feel pain, numbness or a tingling feeling in their legs.
Georgina’s back problems would have a great effect on her biologically as she would be in extreme pain. This would make carrying out a lot of her day to day activities very difficult. Seeley et al (2008) say that one of the main treatments for people with this condition is to have prolonged bed rest therefore Georgina would be unable to do most things for quite some time. With this condition Georgina finds sitting for long periods of time difficult, this causes obvious problems as Georgina’s job involves sitting for the majority of the time. This would mean that Georgina will be unable to return to work on a full time basis until her back problems have cleared up. Being unable to sit for long periods of time would also cause problems with other activities for example driving. Tanner (1987 p.38) states that people with this problem will ‘will find that it hurts to bend forwards, but sometimes bending backwards or to the side will be more painful’, therefore her perforated disc Georgina would also have trouble with lifting, which again would cause problems, especially as she has a young child, which she would have trouble picking up and carrying.
Psychologically, Georgina’s back problems would also have an effect. She is finding the stress of coping with a new child difficult and wants to return to work, however this is very difficult for her due to the problems her back pain has caused. She also feels that although her husband tries to be supportive he does not fully understand what she is going through so perhaps he is not giving her as much help as she needs, especially due to fact that he has a full time job of his own, leaving her to deal with the pressure of looking after a baby as well as trying to return to work. Georgina has in the past suffered from depression and the stress of all of these things is making her feel that she may become ill again.
Georgina’s back problems would prevent her with many social barriers. Tanner (1987) states that when suffering from a prolapsed disc, and trying to walk around, pain will build up, particularly if more bending or reaching is attempted. As well as her problems with returning to work she would also have trouble carrying out the hobbies that she used to enjoy. One of Georgina’s main activities in the past was hill walking which she now finds impossible due to the pain in her back. Due to her difficulty sitting for long periods of time and walking she would find even simple activities such as going shopping, meeting friends for a meal or going to the cinema impossible to do now.
As mentioned previously, Georgina has previously suffered from depression, and feels she may be becoming ill again due to the stressful things which are happening to her. We are told by Kohen (2000) that as a woman Georgina is twice as likely to suffer from depression and as she has had it already is more likely to suffer from it again. Depression is different to just feeling low or down as it is a persistent low mood for a long period of time. When people have depression it is often so extreme that they are unable to go about their daily life as normal, also depression differs to just feeling down as the feeling can last for long time rather just a few days. There are many symptoms of depression and it can affect a person in many different ways, according to Ainsworth (2000 p7) ‘depression affects how individuals feel, think, and behave as well as how their bodies work.’
Many of the psychological symptoms of depression would have an impact on Georgina’s daily life and have an effect on her carrying out her life roles if she does suffer from another bout of depression. One of the main symptoms is a low mood, this would impact greatly on Georgina as it would effect her interaction with many of the people in her life such as her husband and child. Another common symptom is feeling of low self esteem. This would impact greatly upon Georgina as she is finding it difficult to cope after having her firs t child and wants to return to work but suffering from low self esteem may mean that she is unable to do this. Another symptom is reduced motivation/reduced enjoyment from activities that the sufferer used to get pleasure from. This would have an impact on Georgina as she used to enjoy doing hill walking and other outdoors activities and now finds these things difficult due to her back pain but she may feel that she no longer wants to even try to do these things anymore.
As well as psychological symptoms, depression also has some physical symptoms which would impact upon Georgina carrying out her activities of daily living. Some physical symptoms that sufferers of depression may experience include a change in appetite (often a decrease), lack of energy, disturbed sleeping patterns and unexplained pains. All of these things would have an effect on Georgina fulfilling her life roles. As a new mother she will already be finding her sleep disrupted by her baby and this could be made worse. A decrease in appetite and a lack of energy would also have an effect on Georgina since as a new mother she will need a lot of energy to look after her baby.
Socially, if Georgina was to suffer from another bout of depression she would be greatly affected. Sufferers from depression often have no motivation and do not get enjoyment out of activities that they previously took pleasure from. In a journal article discussing leisure activities it is stated that ‘A sense of keeping busy in the absence of structured occupation or work and planned time was also valued and the participants felt that leisure went some way towards meeting these needs’ (Craik and Pieris, 2006). However due to depression Georgina may feel like she does not want to take part in any leisure activities. This may mean that she would no longer want to do her hill walking any longer but also that she may not want to do any social activities any more. Georgina may also feel that she suffers from some discrimination as she suffers from a mental illness, we are told by Rogers and Pilgrim (2005) of the ‘negative, narrow and potentially misleading’ stereotypes that people with mental illnesses are faced with, therefore she may be embarrassed about returning to work or socialising.
The problems that Georgina suffers from could be looked at in terms of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF). The ICF is a framework used by the World Health Organisation; it is described by the WHO website as a ‘framework for describing and measuring health and disability’ (WHO 2008). The ICF can be used to describe different factors of illnesses and shows that disability applies to more than just a select few; it recognises that people with illnesses and disabilities can also lead normal lives. The ICF is also important in Georgina’s case as it ‘takes into account the social aspects of disability and does not see disability only as a ‘medical’ or ‘biological’ dysfunction’ (WHO 2008).
In conclusion, there are many biological, psychological and social factors in relation to Georgina’s herniated disc in her back which would cause her problems. The most important of these is the subsequent back pain from this which would prevent her from carrying out many of the day to day tasks that she used to do and enjoy. Also important is Georgina’s history of depression and the fact that she is beginning to feel ill again. If she were to suffer from depression again there would again be biological, psychological and social factors relating to this which would impact upon her carrying out her activities of daily living.
References
Ainsworth, P. 2000 Understanding Depression. [online book] University Press of Mississippi. Available from Accessed December 14th 2008
Criak, C and Pieris, Y. 2006. Without Leisure … ‘It wouldn’t be Much of
a Life’: the Meaning of Leisure for People with Mental Health Problems. British Journal of Occupational Therapy 69 (5) May 2006 pp. 209-216.
Gutknecht, D. 2007. Low Back Pain FAQs. [online book] B.C. Decker Incorporated. Available from . Accessed December 14th 2008.
Kohen, D 2000 Women and Mental Health London. Routledge.
Rogers, A and Pilgrim, D. 2005 A sociology of Mental Health and Illness New York. McGraw Hill Publishing.
Seeley, R. R., Stephens, T. D and Tate, P. 2008. Anatomy & Physiology 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
Tanner, J 1987 Beating Back Pain. London, Dorling Kindersley Publishing.
World Health Organisation, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Available from : {accessed December 15th 2008}
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