Diagnosing Mental Health

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Recommended: Early history of mental illness

Mental health illnesses, particularly depression and anxiety are viewed in a variety of different ways and there are lots of things that need to be considered when diagnosing and treating a possible mental health condition. This essay will look in detail about the history of diagnosing mental health illnesses and the stigma that is attached with a diagnosis, formulation and the biopsychosocial model and finally the use of prescription drugs. In article 1, Jones, S (2016) suggests that close to 1 in 10 people are suffering from mental health issues - rising upwards to almost 1 in 20 during times of War and Humanitarian Crisis (World Health Organisation - WHO), this the WHO suggests is the cause of a possible 50 million years of lost work before 2030. Jones expresses that all nations, paying little heed to riches levels, need to put more into …show more content…

However, it appears the use of drug treatments is increasing, Healy (OU, 2014) states “I think what has changed is that generally the psychiatric profession have moved toward being much more pro the use of drugs”. However, NICE (cited in Barker et al, 2010) “concluded that psychological therapies are as effective as drug treatment in the short term and superior in the long term”. Due to people thoughts and feelings regarding drugs it would be better if health professions could offer a variety of treatment options to their clients. (Toates, 2010, p. 66) suggests that “Sometimes, GPs show a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction in prescribing drugs and might not always explore alternatives. Toates (2010). Moreover, the perception of mental distress as being a medical problem that can be 'treated' by drugs or counselling is fundamental. Distress became ‘medicalised’ as people began to see emotional problems as well as physical. (Barker et all., 2010, pp.

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