What is life? Today in this country nearly one in every four Americans suffers with some sort of mental illness. The thought of that can be shocking to some, but others may brush it off as just another statistic left aside for the next to worry over. But, few really take into consideration that a mental illness can become the source of reasoning behind so many horrible cases ranging from depression to murder to the worst things one can think of. A mental illness isn’t just a simple illness, there are varieties of illnesses that can affect a person, such as; anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia, OCD also known as obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, eating disorders, and the terrifying list continues with so much more than just these examples. Mental illnesses can become developed before birth, during adolescence, early adulthood and even be hereditarily developed. Away from the fact that anyone at any age can develop a mental disorder, the actions these disorders can drive one to do are horrendous. Besides the outrageously mind boggling amount of undiagnosed people who live in the U.S. alone, most doctors do not even know how to identify many mental illnesses specifically for what they are. The kind of effects or reactions one can experience because of the specific illness can be agonizingly, horrific especially if ones doctor cannot specify the problem correctly. More research must be done to increase mental illness awareness and diagnose those who are struggling to live a normal life. Ways in which we can increase the awareness to help, and learn can actually be quite simple. “Toddlers slashed to death? A veteran who set himself on fire in front of the Capitol?” the main reason behind most of these incide... ... middle of paper ... ... Much can be done to help spread the awareness to stop neglect, substance abuse, sexual abuse, depression, traumatic events and suicide. All in all, although the fact that one in every four Americans are mentally ill is a disturbing fact to think about, it is a statistic that can be reduced with the help of more informed doctors to prevent accidental or unneeded prescriptions and to help the extensive research needed to identify a disorder more precisely. Also, the establishment of more awareness and psychological treatment centers where ever possible can be the answer to more than what one may expect to achieve towards finding the answer towards aiding one of society’s biggest problems. “The victims of mental illness are crying out to us – loudly, publicly and covered in blood. This has got to be the year we listen.” (Dvorak “Devastating toll of mental illness”)
The. The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America.
Mental illness is an increasing problem in America. Currently about 26.2% of Americans suffer from a mental disorder. A mental illness/disorder is a medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, and ability to relate to others and daily functions. Mental illness can affect humans of any age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. However the care that is needed to effectively cure and help the people affected by the illness is not equal for everyone here in American, especially for African Americans.
Mental illness is more common than one would like to believe. In reality, one in five Americans will suffer from a mental disorder in any given year. Though that ratio is about equivalent to more than fifty-four million people, mental illness still remains a shameful and stigmatized topic (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). The taboo of mental illness has an extensive and exhausting history, dating back to the beginning of American colonization. It has not been an easy road, to say the least.
There are so many types of mental illnesses that affect people every day. When some people think of mental illnesses they think of the ones that would cause people to have physical symptoms as well, but that’s untrue, there are many more that you would never know anyone has if you were to see them on the street. As defined by the 2008 encyclopedia “a mental illness is any disease of the mind or brain that seriously affects a person’s ability or behavior. Symptoms of a mental illness may include extreme moods, such as excessive sadness or anxiety, or a decreased ability to think clearly or remember well.” A mentally ill person has severe symptoms that damage the person’s ability to function in everyday activities and situations. Every nation and every economic level can be affected by a mental illness. In the United States alone about 3% of the population has severe mental illness and to add to that number about 40% of people will experience a type of mental illness at least once in their lives. Some cases of mental illnesses can go away on their own, but some cases are so severe that they require professional treatment. There is so much more available to help people recover from their symptoms than in the past.
Having an illness can have an affect on an individual either physically or mentally. Anyone can be a victim of a mental illness such as, children 's, adults and senior citizens, it is not rare. There are hundreds of different types of mental illnesses and with more to be discovered in the near future. Struggling to accomplish a certain assignment or not being able to speak properly, can all be signs of someone who is suffering from a mental illness. Major depression, autism, anxiety and Schizophrenia, are just some disorders that can affect an individual’s state of mind, and over time if not not cured, it could become highly dangerous, but medications and therapy play a key role in controlling it. For some individuals enjoying life becomes
“ I WISH I WOULD JUST DIE ALREADY!” screamed Jane as she opened the pill bottle and hesitated to take them all. Jane had been showing these signs if depression that no one noticed. If her school would’ve screened the students for suicidal tendencies and mental illnesses they could’ve prevented her from getting that far. Screening helps people identify who may and may not be at risk of suicide. Schools should screen children and teenagers for mental illnesses and suicidal tendencies, because if it’s not treated it can worsen or cause other problems, provide more help, lower suicide rates.
As our country moves from a society made up of mainly manual laborers, to a society of white-collar workers, Americans find themselves with more and more leisure time. Often, if everything is going well in the world, society will look for problems to take the place of those that have been eliminated. For example, during the past ten years, Americans have had few really big problems, there have been no close to home wars, the economy is doing well, and unemployment has been dramatically down. Because of this, people have had large amounts of free time and energy, which was previously spent trying to work out larger problems and issues. For many people, this time is spent looking within themselves and often noticing things within their personality and psyche that would have been overlooked by earlier generations (onhealth.com/ conditions/cause). Statistics of today would lead one to believe that the occurrence of these illnesses has increased, however; awareness and the willingness of the victim to receive help has increased instead. There is less of a stigma attached to seeking mental health care than there has ever been before in this country. People are more willing to recognize and obtain help for their problems instead of ignoring them and going on with their lives as if nothing is wrong. With the continual exposure of the general public to these diseases, society is sure to place even a lesser degree of shame on the sufferer and his or her family.
In the past, mental illness was taboo to discuss and there was fear surrounding the topic. However, remarkable strides have been made in figuring out the causes of the disease and weighing the most effective treatments specialized for each specific disease. According to the American Psychotic Association, “A mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.”
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching by the University of Nottingham displays to the audience the process and the realities of a personal interview with the patients. The process begins with “taking the history,” in other words, finding out the patient’s history of the ongoing illness. During the interviews, one starts to realize whether or not the patient is aware of his/her sickness. The video for Mania and Psychosis, both males believed that they were not ill, on the other hand, the lady in Depression knew she was sick and wanted help from the doctor. The harsh realities are displayed upon the actual doctor and the patient themselves. For example: after seeing the three videos, the young man in Psychosis seemed normal to me; however, he believed that the secret service of England was after him. The young man is roughly two years older than I am. His demeanor presented a very
Mental disorders are rapidly becoming more common with each new generation born in the world. Currently, nearly one in two people suffer from some form of depression, anxiety, or other mental health problem at some point in their lives (Editor). With so many people suffering from their mental illnesses, steps have been taken in order to get help needed for these people but progress has been slow. In the medical world, hospitals are treating those with physical problems with more care than those with mental problems. Prescription drugs can only do so much helping the mentally ill go through their daily lives and more should be done to help those who need more than medicine to cope with their illness. Mental health should be considered just as important as physical health because of how advanced physical healing is, how the public reacts to those with mental illness, and due to the consequences that could happen if the illness is not correctly helped.
Imagine society blamed people for being diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer, claiming that it was their choices in life which led to such an awful disease, making them feel guilty of a situation that was in no way deserved by them. This happens constantly to victims of mental illness, adding the burden of shame to an already dreadful illness. Considering the shocking statistic that one in four will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year in the UK , why is it that we hardly hear of people suffering? Why is it that a cloud of judgment and misunderstanding still surrounds the subject? People with a mental disorder or with a history of mental health issues are continually ostracized by society, resulting in it being even more difficult for the mentally ill to admit their symptoms to others and to seek treatment. To work towards understanding mental illness is to lift the stigma, and to finally let sufferers feel safe and accepted within today’s society.
Mental Illness is one of the growing illness in United States. According to National Alliance of Mental Illness”1 in 5 adults experiences a mental health condition every year. 1 in 20 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.” If the person has a five family member, one of them could be diagnosed with mental illness. If there is 40 students in class room at least two of them could be living with serious mental illness. Although mental illness is something that familiar to us, there is still misunderstood and stigma towards mental illness. Then why many people still have a wrong knowledge and attitude toward mental illness?
There are many people in the world who are struggling with the disease depression. Depression is the state in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant. The thing about depression is that it affects both genders and any ages. Depression is something that deserves full attention. For many reasons doctors believe that when a person has depression, they have to start taking medication for it as if medications help. People are becoming more dependent on antidepressants when there are other techniques for dealing with depression.
When I was in the hospital after my first suicide attempt, I remember profusely apologizing to my father from my hospital bed. He said to me, “It's not your fault. We wouldn't be mad at you if you had diabetes and needed insulin. We're going to help you.” He was referring to my brand new diagnosis of acute depression and generalized anxiety disorder along with my new medication to keep it under control. This is a positive effect of the recently developed societal attitude towards mental illness. Because of it, I was given choices about how to pursue treatment along with general kindness from everyone involved. This is different from how it might have been handled in the past, which is anger and shoving me out the hospital doors with strict
It is deeply alarming that ignoring mental health is systematically ignored as an important part of health promotion. This is shocking because, in theory, mental health is recognized as an important component of health, the close link between physical and mental health is recognized, and it is generally known that physical and mental health share many of the same social, environmental and economic components. We know that facilities dedicated to those with mental health problems are more vulnerable to the resources of physical diseases in many parts of the world, and it is essential that mental health promotion should not be equally affected