Lesson 1: Mental Health Issues, Signs and Symptoms

Question 1

Person First Language

Answer 1

Putting the person first.

What this means, is that rather than saying: “he is schizophrenic”, you would report “he is a male with schizophrenia”.

Question 2

Stigma

Answer 2

Stigma in the briefest form can be discussed as a negative association/characteristic associated with a circumstance or persons (e.g., those with mental health diagnoses

Question 3

Suicide Ideation

Answer 3

Thoughts an individual may have about death and dying. These can consist of fleeting thoughts of hopelessness, up to a detailed plan about how, when and where they would end their own life. If someone were to follow through with their suicide plan, it is appropriate to say that they died by suicide.

Out of date language:

• committed suicide
• completed suicide
• killed themselves

Question 4

Crisis

Answer 4

Individuals can find themselves in a state of crisis when there is an immediate risk to physical or emotional wellbeing; overall they are at immediate risk regarding their mental health.

Some examples of crisis include: - active suicide plan

• loss of housing
• intense relationship
• stress/abuse/trauma

Question 5

Panic Attack

Answer 5

A rapid onset of intense fear and discomfort.

Physical symptoms and sensations associated with panic attacks can include:

• excessive perspiration
• shaking
• shortness of breath
• chest pain
• nausea
• dizziness
• chills or heat sensations
• numbness or tingling sensations
• fear of dying or “going crazy”

Question 6

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Answer 6

Can include one or more of the following:

• Intrusive memories
• distressing dreams and/or dissociative episodes (re-living the event
• feeling and acting as through the trauma is re-occurring)
• physiological responses to trauma
• psychological distress.

These symptoms exist following the experience of, or witnessing or learning about a traumatic event or events.

Those with PTSD may develop a propensity to avoid specific individuals, situations or activities that could trigger this trauma response in them, they may maintain persistent negative beliefs about themselves, the world, and others in the world (e.g., no one can be trusted), feelings of detachment and a diminished ability to experience positive emotions.

Question 7

Delusions

Answer 7

Delusions are beliefs that exist despite factual or conflicting evidence; delusions are not changeable.

Question 8

Persecutory Delusions

Answer 8

Beliefs about risk of harm, fear of persecution or that others are “out to get you”.

Question 9

Referential Delusions

Answer 9

Personalization; beliefs about specific occurrences, behaviours, gestures or comments are directed at oneself.

Question 10

Somatic Delusions

Answer 10

Beliefs and a preoccupation about one’s body, its functioning and one’s health

Question 11

Delusions of Grandeur

Answer 11

Beliefs about being grand, extraordinary, or magnificent; beliefs of having exceptional abilities

Question 12

Hallucinations

Answer 12

An involuntary perceptual experience that exists despite the absence of an actual stimulus.

Hallucinations can be:

• Auditory (e.g., hearing voices distinct from one’s own thoughts)
• Visual (e.g., seeing something that is not currently present)
• Tactile (feeling or sensing things on or in one’s own body that are not explainable by fact)

Question 13

Disorganized Thinking (Speech)

Answer 13

Tangential thought processes that result in speech not following one clear line of thought; moving from on topic to another quickly without logically connecting thoughts or intent behind said speec

Question 14

Catatonic Behaviours

Answer 14

Absence of reactivity to one’s environment; noncompliance to instructions, rigid, awkward and/or inappropriate bodily posture, and/or lack of speech or mobility

Question 15

Bipolar

Answer 15

Bipolar disorder has various subtypes; generally it includes episodes of mania and depression.

Question 16

Mania

Answer 16

A persistent elevated or irritated mood that results in increased energy and possibly activity.

Mania can include and inflated sense of self, decreased need for sleep, increased and rapid speech, flighty ideas associated with racing thoughts, and engaging in increasingly risky activities (e.g., sexual indiscretions, excessive spending, speeding in the car, trespassing)

Question 17

Depression

Answer 17

Persistent abnormally low mood paired with a lack of interest and/or energy for daily activities (including personal hygiene regimes), social engagements, and responsibilities (e.g., work, spouse, and children).

Depressed individuals can struggle with insomnia (inability to sleep) or hypersomnia (sleeping to excess), feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and an inability to concentrate.

When severe, depression can also be accompanied by serious thoughts of death and dying, an active suicide plan, and/or suicide attempts

Question 18

Scenario - You are talking to a civilian on the side of the road, when there is a loud BAND across the street. This civilian you are talking to tries to et away from you and take shelter behind a post in a nearby building entrance; they refuse to come out when you request them to. The civilian appears distraught and calls you by another name.

Answer 18

PTSD

Question 19

Scenario - You arrive to a local Starbucks after receiving a call from one of their staff that there is a customer who is refusing to leave and is behaving erratically. When you arrive, you observe a middle aged female trying to have a conversation with some of the Starbucks patrons. When you attempt to engage her in conversation yourself, she begins to talk about her cat at home and how the cat has always been a thorn in her side. From here she moves on to talking about thorns, and then flowers that have thorns - this is all unrelated to any of the questions that you have asked her.

Answer 19

Disorganized Thinking/Speech

Question 20

Scenario - You arrive on the scene of a single car accident; the car has hit a telephone pole. As you approach the vehicle, you hear sobbing. There is an elderly male in the car crying and saying he should have been driving faster. When you approach him to assess his status, he asks you to leave him there to die.

Answer 20

Suicide Ideation

Question 21

Scenario - You pull a civilian over for excessive speeding. When you approach the car and request their licence and registration, you observe this civilian to be tapping their hands on the steering wheel and when they respond to your questions their speed is rapid. They note that they haven’t slept in days, but report being “fine” otherwise. This civilian denies haven taken any substances.

Answer 21

Mania

Question 22

Scenario - You show up to a call and when you arrive you see a male sitting on the front porch step. He is complaining about not being able to breath, you observe him taking shallow breaths, he is visibly shaking and he is expressing “I thinking I am going crazy”.

Answer 22

Panic Attack

Question 23

You have a perpetrator in the back seat of your cruiser and you’re about to head back to the precinct. As you move through your regular routine. You set your notepad on the centre console, and you take a sip of water before pulling away. The perpetrator in the back seat then asks you “are you trying to threaten me?” you reply “no” and inquire what they are referring to. They respond “you’re drinking your water with a smug look on your face, you’re telling me that if I get stuck in jail I won’t have anything to drink for days because of who I am”

Answer 23

Referential Delusions

Question 24

Sympathy

Answer 24

Sympathy can be viewed as having compassion/pity for someone; being able to show care and concern

Question 25

Empathy

Answer 25

Empathy goes beyond sympathy; it is more about recognizing and sharing someone’s’ experience.

In other words, empathy is trying to imagine what things must be like from someone else’s perspective.

Question 26

2013 Mobile Crisis Team Coordination Steering Committee Report

Answer 26

According to the 2013 Mobile Crisis Team Coordination Steering Committee Report, it has been documented that de-escalation techniques are of significant importance when addressing emotionally disturbed individuals.

In fact, de-escalation techniques are intended to help police officers build a rapport with individuals at risk, ultimately making interactions more effective and potentially less intense.

Question 27

Common De-escalation Techniques

Answer 27

Common techniques that police officers are instructed to practice can include but are not limited to:

• Assessing threat continuously within the context
• Maintain composure
• Speaking calmly and professionally
• Attend to body language
• Use the person’s name when speaking
• Remain patient while validating the person’s emotional experience
• Provide realistic reassurance

Question 28

Anti-Drug Legislation

Answer 28

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Question 29

Harm Reduction

Answer 29

According to Riley (1998), harm reduction aims to reduce any issues or problems associated with drug use, recognizing that abstinence may not be feasible for certain individuals, especially at certain periods of time in the lives.

By no means does harm reduction condone the use of illicit substances, rather this perspective merely accepts that despite our best prevention efforts, some individuals are still going to use; rather than criminalize these behaviours, harm reduction aims to create safe places for use, while still educating and working towards getting individuals clean.

Question 30

Abstinence

Answer 30

Abstinence for the purpose of this lesson entails a zero tolerance policy; in other words abstinence means that people should not be doing drugs, period.

Question 31

Major Harm Reduction Model - 1

Answer 31

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Question 32

Major Harm Reduction Model - 2

Answer 32

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Question 33

Major Harm Reduction Model - 3

Answer 33

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