Premium
The new brain: concepts, challenges, and opportunities for mental health nursing
Author(s) -
Buchanan David Andrew
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2011.00780.x
Subject(s) - empathy , clarity , mental health , psychology , mental health nursing , perception , psychotherapist , social psychology , neuroscience , biochemistry , chemistry
The new paradigm that the brain is able change itself (neuroplasticity) is acknowledged and teased out in terms of the ramifications for mental illnesses. Parallel studies in pain (central sensitization) and mirror neurones are examined to conceptually clarify these ramifications in relation to mental health, and to expand our understanding of empathy and social inclusion beyond good ideas to being a part of our nature. The paper then focuses on making clear what the concepts, challenges, and opportunities for mental health nursing might be; even advancing possibilities for recovery through better understanding the third space or intersubjective. What ramifications this has for mental health nursing is reviewed in terms of a paradigm change and the necessity for conceptual clarity, as it relates to the uniqueness of the person right before our very eyes. The author contends that to embrace this new paradigm is not only necessary but ethically obligatory, as it opens up new possibilities for understanding ourselves and this changeable person.