Impediments Of A Person With Severe Mental Illness

Anyone with a mental illness knows that recovery is not a straight line. Thoughts don’t regain their rationality the second someone decides to become medication compliant, when an anorexic takes a bite of food, or even the day a depressed person decides to walk outside and see beyond their dreary perception of reality. I always wanted to get better, to be able to eat a slice of pizza without demolishing the box and punishing my throat, or to be able to not worry that the carnal impulses of mania would throw me out of the driver’s seat. However, I didn’t want to take the steps to seek help in time, then in the second semester of my sophomore year, I gave up. This led to me

Mental health is a complex phenomenon that consists of a range of diagnoses, treatments and outcomes. Recovery from such experiences has historically meant to completely remove all symptoms of illness, but is now currently thought of as regaining a sense of control over and development of a new meaning and purpose in one’s life, rather than feeling defined by the illness. Each individual understands it in their own personal way, likened to a journey towards self-determination, choice, and empowerment.

In mental health the concept of recovery is a contrast to the medical context to which we are accustomed to. Individuals experiencing mental illnesses have expressed recovery to be “elusive, not perfectly linear… erratic, we flatter, slide back and regroup…establish a sense of integrity and purpose” (Roads to recovery, n.d.), which reflects

One of the biggest contributors for poor healthcare is the stigma against mental health. This stigma allows healthcare providers to view those with a mental illness as having low relevance, thus creating disinclination towards providing adequate resources and/or care. This negative stance, based on misinformation and prejudice creates those that have a mental illness to lose their self confidence. Because of this loss, people with mental illness decide not to contribute to their health or livelihood. In the past fifty years, many advances have been made in mental healthcare. However, with the attached stigma, many people choose to not seek out treatment.

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

First, the recovery model prioritizes individual life goals, which are developed by the person seeking treatment, not the provider. On the other hand, the medical model is focused narrowly on treatment goals which are developed by the provider or treatment team. The recovery model encourages high goal-setting. They facilitate hope through providing resources and education, and help to develop steps to achieve personal goals, whereas the medical model has low expectations of the client and does not facilitate positive outcomes that will increase one’s quality of life. While the recovery model is holistic and sensitive to the issues that encompass stigma, the medical model is reductionistic and identifies individuals by their illness. The recovery model is strengths based, which is focused on improving self-efficacy, whereas the medical model is focused on symptom management; the overall goal is to reduce symptoms and stabilize the client. The recovery model recognizes that relapse does exist, whereas the client would be considered non-compliant if treated under the medical model. The medical model is focused on systematic processes, undervalues the therapeutic relationship, and is less focused on the individual. With the recovery model, providers understand the importance of a strong therapeutic relationship and encourage clients’ self-direction and right to make decisions regarding treatment. Recovery based therapy values the impact that hope and empowerment can have on individual treatment. The provider maintains a facilitator role with the client, which helps to encourage and foster positive change. With the medical model, providers control all aspects of treatment and client involvement is not as stable as it may be in recovery based treatment. (National Association for Social Workers West Virginia,

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

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

Most people who have mental health problems experience symptoms, and gradually recover. They may pick Up where they left off, or head in a new direction in life. Everybody’s experience of mental ill health is Different and everybody’s recovery is therefore individual. For a minority of people, the symptoms of their mental health problem might lead them to act

In today’s society there is a greater awareness of mental illnesses. With this greater awareness one might assume that there would be a substantial increase in government involvement or funding in the area of mental illness treatment. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in the U.S. today. There are hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness that go untreated. These potential patients go untreated for many reasons. These reasons are discussed in the Time article “Mental Health Reform: What Would it Really Take.

Mental illness is difficult

My experience in mental health clinical was very different from any other clinical I had before. In a mental health clinical setting, I am not only treating client’s mental illnesses, I am also treating their medical problems such as COPD, diabetes, chronic renal failure, etc. Therefore, it is important to prepare for the unexpected events. In this mental health clinical, I learned that the importance of checking on my clients and making sure that they are doing fine by performing a quick head-to toes assessment at the beginning of my shift. I had also learned that client’s mental health illness had a huge impact on their current medical illness.

Over forty million Americans suffer from a mental health condition; and, unfortunately, fifty six percent do not receive any treatment at all. “Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion and behavior”(Psychiatry.org). People live with their conditions even though their quality of life and personal relationships may be negatively affected. When one lives in a state of denial about having a mental illness, they are cheating themselves out of living life to their fullest potential and will achieve true freedom only when they face the illness head on and seek recovery.

Access to mental health care is not as good as than other forms of medical services. Some Americans have reduced access to mental health care amenities because they are living in a countryside setting. Others cannot get to treatment for the reason of shortage of transportation or vast work and household tasks. In some areas, when a

‘Recovery from a mental health problem can be understood either as an outcome or as a process.’ Also known as ‘clinical recovery’ an outcome is present depends on whether the symptoms/problems are present or absent (Serafín Lemos-Giráldez 2015). Usually involving a reduction or absence of symptoms and a significant improvement in occupational and social functioning, an outcome does not change from person to person. On the other hand, individuals who go through a process in order to live a joyful and fulfilling life, experience personal recovery. (Serafín Lemos-Giráldez 2015). This form of recovery involves learning to become self-managing of one’s illness, whether recurring symptoms are at that point in time present and working towards a self-caring, independent and fulfilling life. The definition of a satisfying like varies from one individual to the next. This is why each consumer’s recovery journey is personal and tailored to fit their goals and beliefs (Serafín Lemos-Giráldez 2015).