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Essays on stigma of mental health
Essays on stigma of mental health
Research on mental illness and violence
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How Mental Illness with Violence Affects Our World Did you know that people with severe mental illness are three times more likely to commit a crime than those without? There are many people in the world today that suffer from mental illness that causes violence. Many could be harmful to themselves or the community around them. People live with this terrible disease everyday, and if it goes untreated, it could be very dangerous. John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, illustrates the problem of mental illness with violence and the damage of not having help or treatment for it could have in our world today. Picture the countries battling the highest rates of depression, and one would probably think of those that are developing or poor. Think …show more content…
That’s compared with a .8% rate documented in Nigeria. The findings are part of a 2004 study of 14 countries by researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Harvard Medical School. These studies have shown how under-looked mental illnesses are. Mental Illness with that causes violence is a major issue in our world today and needs to be treated everywhere. During the time period of the novel, the U.S. did not have the resources we needed to treat people. In addition to not knowing much about mental illness, we looked at people with mental illnesses as freaks and thought of them as second-class humans. Today, there are many places you could get help in the U.S. However in some countries like Nigeria, they just don't have the right resources or the funding to help get them. Nigeria is a very poor country and it is very hard to help major illnesses let alone mental health. In the book, Lenny could not seem to get the help. It is very similar to how it is today in Nigeria. Luckily the U.S. has the help we need, but our world leaders need to create more facilites and raise more awareness to help this disease. Mental illness is a very serious issue, and many people have been severely
In the book “The Mad Among Us-A History of the Care of American’s Mentally Ill,” the author Gerald Grob, tells a very detailed accounting of how our mental health system in the United States has struggled to understand and treat the mentally ill population. It covers the many different approaches that leaders in the field of mental health at the time used but reading it was like trying to read a food label. It is regurgitated in a manner that while all of the facts are there, it lacks any sense humanity. While this may be more of a comment on the author or the style of the author, it also is telling of the method in which much of the policy and practice has come to be. It is hard to put together without some sense of a story to support the action.
According to the World Health Organization, the US has 648 mental hospitals, 1170 psychiatric units in general hospitals, and 1,656 residential care facilities, which take care of those who suffer from their mental health. Many people in the US require extra attention for their special mental needs, and Lennie’s needs are no exception. According to a study by Indiana University and Columbia University, 12.1 percent of Americans surveyed in 1996 perceived mentally ill people as “violent, dangerous, frightening” (Callahan). In Of Mice and Men, Lennie is seen by many people as a violent person, and in that sense, he is not at all unlike others with mental illnesses, as many Americans also associate mental illnesses with
Margaret Larson, who is most notable for her position with NBC News, mentioned “Mental illness is an equal-opportunity illness. Every one of us is impacted by mental illness. One in five adults are dealing with this illness, and many are not seeking help because the stigma prevents that.” Many nonprofit organizations were established to ensure that people with any mental disabilities are receiving the proper attention needed. A major human rights issue in John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” should not be overlooked. Lennie’s life is negatively impacted, due to not receiving the proper mental health care. It is sad to say but this illness does exist in our life today, not just in fiction.
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.
The type of crimes that these offenders commit can either be minor or violent crimes. It has been an issue on how people think that having a mental illness leads to violent crimes, when in reality not all of them commit violent crimes. An example of an offender committing these type of crimes would be Johnnie Baxstrom. Johnnie Baxstrom was a mentally ill offender who had committed numerous crimes throughout his life like drinking and property offenses. It wasn’t until October 21, 1958 where he committed a violent act by attacking and stabbing a police officer with a knife. In essence, according to studies people with severe psychological illnesses are more than 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than the general
Markowitz, F. E. (2011). Mental illness, crime, and violence: Risk, context, and social control. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 36-44.
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.
Depression and Mental Illness: Crime or Violence/ Treatment or Punishment ABSTRACT Statement of the Problem According to Michael D. Yapko, PhD,(1997) "in every way, depression is a growing problem. Rates of depression have steadily climbed over the last 50 years and are significantly higher in those born after 1954 than in those born before. In addition, the average age of on-set depressive episode is steadily decreasing it is now mid-20s whereas it once was mid-30s. Cross-cultural data show that the United States has a higher rate of depression and mental illness than almost any other country, and that as Asian countries Westernize their rates of depression increase correspondingly."(p.37) And according to the Illinois State Police, (1999), "one of seven depressed people will commit an act of violence against themselves or others." (p.1) The purpose of this paper is to view and discuss depression and mental illness risk factors associated with violence.
In the United States, the mental health crisis is a huge issue. In the 1950s and 1960s, the treatment facilities failed to provide proper care to these individuals resulting in a new reform idea called deinstitutionalization. It was a national shift in transitioning the mental health system from state hospitals to community-based facilities, but the new act created more issues and setbacks in reaching the needs of mentally ill people. As a result, many people dealing with mental health issues today wind up getting locked up 10 times more since jail or prison is the only place with proper treatment.
It is evident that those with mental illnesses have an increased likelihood of committing crimes. It is important to note, however, that not all people with mental illnesses commit crimes or violent behavior so a cause is not evident. Substance abuse, a mental disorder, is also seen as a large risk in violent behavior (Silver 2006). Hiday (1995) asks the questions of the direction of this correlation. Does mental illness lead to violence or is it vice versa?
Glied, S., & Frank, R. G. (2014). Mental Illness and Violence: Lessons From the Evidence.
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.”
In today’s world, mental illness is still looked upon as a very bad thing and the negative views of mental illness are common within the employees. Most of the time, people assume that employees who suffer from mental illness are often seen as weird, defensive, and hard to talk to. Generally, concepts about mental illness tend to be subjective, leading to difficulties in defining mental illness. One article has described mental illness as, “ mentally distorted, mad, or crazy” and the degree of mental illness varies depending from person to person (Corrigan et al. 2010, p. 909). The following essay is based on the topic ‘Mental Illness as an Emerging Discourse’ and the article ‘Employee Mental Illness: Managing the Hidden Epidemic’ was the main article that was analysed and used in the essay to discuss the topic. The analysis has been divided into two parts which are covered equally by the study group members.
Most Mentally ill people are not violent and repeated studies have shown that there is only a small significant association with mental illness. Many people presume that crimes that are committed are committed by people with mental illness due to not knowing the facts because most people shy away from educating their selves about mental illness and what it is.
Due to the stigma of mental health, the treatment people need get delayed as everyone (sometimes the patient) wants to be socially acceptable and in the world’s current society having a mental illness is not socially acceptable thing to have. The stigma of mental health many times causes people try to hide if they have a problem and find other ways to deal with the problem, examples are self medication with drinking, smoking, and suicide. By people self-medicating instead of getting treatment they need, they cause more problems for the people around them. They can become hazards to society, hurting people or themselves, which could cause people to have more unpleasant stigma towards mental illness as they only see the bad things that happen like school shooting and never see anything on the good side like better treatment options for people so less school shootings