EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE PAPER - Essay Example According to Cleary (143), some people who do not suffer from any mental illness hurt themselves and others; however, suffering from psychiatric conditions increases the likelihood of a person doing self-harm. Individuals with personality disorders of any kind are at high risk of hurting themselves; including dual personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. In addition, phobias to various common phenomena cause people to harm themselves in one way or the other, as is depression caused by many pressures of daily living. Schizophrenia reduces a person’s ability to distinguish between real and imagined things, thereby causing a person to harm self or others. In addition, schizophrenic patients tend to be suicidal especially if the patients are young and know what the disease will do to their lives. Final in the list of mental disorders is Munchausen Syndrome, though it results in self-harm to a lesser extent. Recent studies have shown that terminally ill patients ar e also at risk of committing self-harm or suicide in extreme cases, for instance, HIV/AIDS patients. Psychologically, self-harm is caused by any form of trauma including childhood abuse, bereavement, and abusive relationships. Autism may cause patients to harm themselves, while other factors in life in may also contribute, including poverty and unemployment. Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is the only genetic conditions that result in self-harm; however, genetics predisposes a person to conditions like stress and depression that may cause a patient to self-harm. Alcoholics are the most predisposed drug users to self-harm, accounting for over 60 percent of drug users who do so. Harming oneself due to drug influence may occur when a person is abusing the drugs, due to the addiction, or because of withdrawal symptoms resulting from attempting to stop the habit (Laye-Gindhu and