Building Support Systems For People With Psychiatric Disabilities

From there, the article talks about how mental illness is a global problem and how societies all over the world see it as a burden. Because of this, mental illnesses have become a chronic disease, especially in the United States; this because nothing is being done to help those affected. The article has a focus on creating strategies to help resolve or improve the problems there are with mental illness. The author looks at past resolutions and asks people who are actually going through this themselves in order to better understand what society can do to help alleviate some of the pain and

Furthermore, tremendous advances have been made in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses in the recent decades. Nowadays, someone with a mental illness is treated with respect, just like every other person, because, in fact, everyone is equal. Society’s goals today are to treat and support the mentally ill individuals enough so they can live in

While reading the book, the reader’s emotion was inspired to make changes in the mental health system and promote social justice. As a reader, Earley’s objective to educate the reader to embark on a social movement one person at time was achieved. Earley’s example on how to challenge the system one person at a time, offered the reader a blueprint on mental health education and policy change.

Attitudes toward the mentally ill started to change in the 60’s and 70’s from both the communities and professionals. The two began to recognize that the mentally ill had rights to live an independent life style like that of ordinary citizens. Before this, people with mental illness or developing disabilities had been institutionalized, giving strong medications, sedated and isolated from the rest of society. Living amongst the community, they receive their medication as well as interact with the general public. In addition, they also interact with security personnel and law enforcement officers, and all too frequently with unfortunate consequences. (Russell, 2012).

Evaluation and treatment of the mentally ill population has developed from confinement of the mad during colonial times, into the biomedical balancing of neurological impairment seen in these modern times. There were eras of mental health reform, medicalization, and deinstitutionalization sandwiched in between (Nies & McEwen, 2011). Regardless of the stage of understanding and development, communities have not been completely successful in dealing with and treating persons who are mentally unwell. Fortunately, treatment has become more compassionate; social and professional attitudes have morphed into more humanistic and

This movement focused on the move from patients predominately with mental illness and disabilities being institutionalised to be treated within community based practise.

SCHIZOPHRENIA Schizophrenia, from the Greek word meaning “split mind”, is a mental disorder that causes complete fragmentation in the processes of the mind. Contrary to common belief, schizophrenia does not refer to a person with a split personality or multiple personalities, but rather to a condition which affects the person’s movement, language, and thinking skills. The question of whether schizophrenia is a disease or collection of socially learned actions is still a question in people’ mind. People who are suffering from schizophrenia think and act in their own the world and put themselves in a way that is totally different from the rest of society. In other words, they have lost in touch with the reality. Most schizophrenics accept

Saratoga County no longer has safe, stigma-free, places for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) to spend their days. SPMI individuals need somewhere to go where they can feel safe and can interaction with others. In the past SPMI Individuals in Saratoga County had the options of attending day treatment, going to a drop-in center called The Social Club, or spending the day being productive in a sheltered workshop environment. Over the past few years all of these options have been removed. First, The Social Club was closed. Next, the day treatment center was changed to a “PROS” model where services are limited, time specific, and the focus is on community integration. Lastly, state and county funding was cut for shelter workshop environments and funneled into work readiness programs focused on integrating SPMI individuals into the community workforce. Integration is a noble aspiration. However, many SPMI individuals do not have the capacity to successfully integrate into community settings. These individuals are better served in situations where their special needs are appreciated and met such as sheltered workshops, drop-in centers and day treatment. Thus, due to the closing or changes in these types of programs, Saratoga County no longer offers safe supportive places for many SPMI Individuals to spend their days.

Gittany, 2014). When he was administered a personality test, his results demonstrated traits such as “schizoid,” “depressive,” and “dependent” (R v. Gittany, 2014). Robilliard further clarified that schizoid personality traits generally portray a socially detached individual with “lack of self awareness and insight into the implications of interpersonal behaviour” (R v. Gittany, 2014).

Deinstitutionalization was made up of three main parts that were intended to help this crisis. 1. The release of the individuals, 2. The diversion from entering into institutions, 3. The development of alternative community services (Lamb & Bachrachm 2001). Successful deinstitutionalization relied upon the planning and actions of all segments of reentry into society. This movement was the prevention/intervention strategy to the constantly reported complaints of institutional abuses of the mentally ill, the cost of state-run facilities, the creation of modern medicines, and the increase in private-run facilities. The strategy was supposed to be better in the long run for everyone and those stricken with a mental illness were supposed to be better off in their communities. Most of the time the communities were too busy to care for their mentally ill in need (Frazer A., 2009). Efforts and commitments needed for successful re-integration into society were scarce so drug/alcohol addicted, mentally ill, and formerly incarcerated would turn to the streets for their needs, ending up in the criminal justice system repeatedly. The lack of intervention strategies for this endless age old problem began to grow larger and plague our correctional

It is here that these individuals can feel excluded and different from the socially acceptable environments. In order for these individuals to succeed, we need to find a way to abolish this stigma of mental illness being unacceptable. By targeting community leader and faith organizations to include individuals with disabilities, we can provide better support (Farone, 2006). By providing social interactions that provide various interests and rewarding outcomes allow for individuals with schizophrenia to feel connected (Farone, 2006). For those who may not be able to support themselves on their own there are ways for them to feel a part of the community in their residencies. Peer run organizations is a way to help with connections and allow a sense of inclusion instead of treatment (Farone, 2006). Allowing individuals to choose what they want to participate set them up for success. By dissolving stigma’s around disability with influential leaders and allowing them to participate in a society built of acceptance not changes allows for a sense of

Schizophrenia is a disease that has plagued societies around the world for centuries, although it was not given its formal name until 1911. It is characterized by the presence of positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are so named because of the presence of altered behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations (usually auditory), extreme emotions, excited motor activity, and incoherent thoughts and speech. (1,2) In contrast, negative symptoms are described as a lack of behaviors, such as emotion, speech, social interaction, and action. (1,2) These symptoms are by no means concrete. Not all schizophrenic patients will exhibit all or even a majority of these symptoms, and there is some

Human is a social creature and sociality is a human nature. Laing in The Divided Self argues about the nature of schizoid and schizophrenic people and how they cut off themselves from other people and shut up in themselves. Schizoid people do not have conviction toward oneself; they frequently attempt to mimic the kind of the individual they think the world anticipates. Satre in No Exit brings up a story of three persons who meet each other in hell and have to live in a house together. They cannot accept what is happening and cannot stand each other.

When people are mentally ill, they suffer social stigma, have higher health costs, and are at an increased risk of becoming poor. Every one out of five Americans is diagnosed with a mental illness. That 20 percent of the population can negatively influence the normal stresses of life, working productively and fruitfully, and being able to make a contribution the community. When humankind as a whole cannot recognize that mental illness is a serious issue, there is more harm being done than good. Any kind of mental illness can be caused merely by society, but also can worsen due to humanity not understanding how injustice can make a serious impact. The mental health problems that people face can be limited to society learning about the injustice of these illnesses.

Many people often have stereotypes or stigmas regarding mental illnesses. There is a general public stigma that is overall expressed by people who may not have full knowledge over the importance of mental health. When referring to the stigma, people will usually say that those with mental illnesses are irresponsible, should be cared for, or should be feared and kept out of the direct community. All of these stigmas having to do with mental illnesses are false. Many people with mental illnesses are able to hold stable jobs, graduate from high school and college, and even live as good neighbors in a community. By creating this stigma, people are adding to the everyday challenges that people with mental illnesses are going through. We should aim to educate and stop the prejudice that is brought about by those who are not fully aware of the importance of mental health.