Mental Illness Essay

In the United States, most people might think that everyone is equally healthy either mentally or physically, however, this is not true. In fact, “people in the U.S. public mental health system who have a serious mental illness are dying 25 years earlier than the general population. Those who have a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse, on average, die nearly 32 years earlier than their fellow citizens outside of the public mental health system” (Miller 1). This means that citizens with mental disorders are not capable of living life to the fullest due to severe mental issues, and we should monitor them to minimize patients with mental illness. Now that the commotion has settled, what is mental illness? The term mental illness

Mental disorders can begin way before an individual is in the womb. During the formation of the baby’s brain, a genetic code could be altered and make the baby inherit the illness. Since genes are “expression of traits that were given from a family member onto the newborn” ("Genes”). In other words, if a family member has been diagnosed with any type of mental illness there is a greater chance that the next generation will get a mental disorder. When the baby becomes a toddler, it might have unbalanced chemicals in the brain. If the parents do not realize in an early stage, the illness can increase the chances of getting more disorders when their child gets older. On the other hand, if the parents realize the symptoms in time, their child can quickly get professional help and most likely seek the recommended medical help. Which can stop the development of more illnesses and acquire the medication or treatment. When the child gets older, the parents can make the child feel overwhelmed due to the fact that the child might think that he is not normal. In other words, the child can develop more disorders even if he or she is being treated. As a result, the child would not tell his or her parents because they might think that their parents do not understand, but this event can make the child to not take their prescription medication. Although inherited factors are the key point for mental disorder; it can be controlled under special

“People can expect worriedness when they are running late for class or doing public speaking. As a matter of fact, it is a helpful way to predict what is happening in the environment. If this occurs more than it supposed to, then the person might developed anxiety” (“Anxiety”, par. 1). An example of anxiety disorder are “phobias” (par. 1). For example, a teenage boy whose phobia is afraid of heights can affect the boy’s lifestyle. He has tried to conquer his phobia by walking up in tall buildings and looking down, but that does not help him. The boy cannot ride airplanes because he does not like the adrenaline rush, the feeling when the airplane is about to take off, and looking out the window. Since he cannot conquer this, he makes his mother drive around the United States in order to get to other states. This can lead to family problems since his parents would try and say to get over it, but they are going to get tired of it and it would be a debate every time his parents want to travel. Therefore, the boy will isolate himself from his parents when they planned a field trip and there would be loss of