Is It Possible For A Mentally Ill Person? Essay

I’ve always been passionate about understanding others; stepping into their shoes and seeing, thinking, and appreciating the lives they live. I think it is important to take that extra step and see things from a different point of view. It is the only way to achieve a true understanding. I believe in this philosophy so much so, that it’s one of the main reasons I have this blog; to give others a glimpse of a life with mental illness. I’ve been in treatment for 2 months and 26 days and I think it’s time for another peek into my brain.

The purpose of this essay is to explain the definitions of mental health, mental illness and psychiatric disability, using bipolar disorder as an example to illustrate these points. Bipolar disorder will also be used to explain the concepts of the medical and social models of disability, highlight the influence these two models could have on people with the disorder and the experiences they might encounter. There will be a focus on some of the experiences a person suffering from mental illness might have in society, the effect these experiences can have on an individual and the influence of stigmas and stereotypes. This leads to the final discussion point, the action of self-disablement. This section discusses how a person with a mental health issue can be influenced by labels, stigmas and stereotypes, and how this can stop them from seeking help and achieving their goals.

There are many places that forbid people from carrying guns such as schools, publicly owned buildings, and businesses. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, over 98% of mass shootings happened in a zone where guns were prohibited. Even though there are many restrictions on firearms sale and possession, there are extensive loopholes that make it possible for people who should not be able to own gun, to be able to purchase one. One of the most common used loopholes is buying from a small scale seller, or going to a gun show. These kinds of deals do not require that an extensive background check be performed. Another blurry loophole involves the mentally ill being able to get their hands on a gun. The current law that prevents mentally handicapped people from owning a gun requires that a person must be adjudicated as mentally defective in a court of law. A majority of mentally handicapped people are never adjudicated and can petition the court to overturn the ruling. The purpose of these laws and its likely effect is not the same thing. Gun control laws are usually more of a state decision than a federal decision. Many states gun laws differ, such as in Rhode Island, any person with a concealed weapons permit can enter a public school, but in a state over in Massachusetts, you must have extensive written permission from the school

While mass shootings will almost always make the news, and nine times out of ten involve an individual that is mentally ill getting their hands on a gun. Take a look at the movie theater incident, Sandy Hook, and the latest school shooting in Oregon, all these shooters were mentally ill and yet somehow they acquired a firearm. Should we fault the mental health system or

As Cole (2007) states in his article “In hindsight, there were signs that Cho might be a threat to himself and possibly others, including complaints as far back as 2005 by two female students who reported receiving inappropriate messages from Cho” (Para. 4). Family of Eduardo Sencion had reported his violent and paranoid behavior to police two years prior to his shooting spree. Police had responded to an incident at his home but no actions were taken nor were any firearms removed from the home (Citizens Crime Commission, 2013). So the question becomes how to limit or deny access to firearms to those diagnosed with severe mental illness.

Many people have gotten away with the crimes they have committed. These people have not been convicted for their actions, which means there will be no records and they will be given a weapons license if they desire to do so. That situation is exactly like those mental ill that has not been to a hospital for their condition. A mentally unstable person is aloud a weapon for their protection but in some way that statement contradicts itself because that person puts themselves and others in more danger in order to protect.

“Guns don’t kill people, people do.” This is a well known statement that is oftentimes considered true. However, it is not completely true. Someone who is mentally ill may be unable to make logical decisions and the perception they receive of reality may be tainted by the illness. Gun laws pertaining to those suffering mental illnesses should be more restrictive. Weapons such as guns make committing an act of violence, especially when there are multiple victims, much easier. It is difficult to assess the probability of a person to commit a violent act that harms anyone including himself/herself. Therefore, gun laws need be monitored very closely and made more consistent throughout each state in order to prevent violence that could

People with mental illnesses are referred to a wide range of mental health conditions disorders that affect your mood, thinking, and behavior. Examples like Autism, Anxiety Issues, and many more that affect them. It is so easy for anyone to get guns. About over 300 million have been made and sold to people in 2012, so there is a large supply of them. (My Turn: Should People with Mental Illnesses Own Guns?”, 2015). You can easily get one by just bribing a stranger or from a family member so it’s very easy to get one. There should be stricter gun control laws for those individuals with a mental illness history because guns are falling into the hands of people whose actions are unpredictable, research shows that many of the crimes committed are by those with a known mental illness, and the current wait time for owning a gun allows people with a mental illness to act without seeking help first.

It not easy to determine how many people suffer from mental illness. This is due to the changing definitions of mental illness and problems classifying, diagnosing, and reporting mental disorders. There are social stigmas attached to mental illness, such as being labeled "crazy," being treated as a danger to others, and being denied jobs or health insurance coverage. These negative connotations keep many sufferers from seeking help, and many of those in treatment do not reveal it on surveys. Some patients do not realize that their symptoms are caused by mental disorders. Even though more is being learned about how the brain works a lot of information has still yet to be discovered, thus mental health professionals must continually reevaluate how mental illnesses are defined and diagnosed. The Surgeon General 's report estimated that roughly 20% of the United States population was affected by mental disorders and that 15% use some type of mental health service every year. Community surveys estimate about 30% of the adult population in the United States suffer from mental disorders.

How did a young man, who was mentally unstable get his hands on his mother’s firearms? We never want something like this incident to ever happen again.

Later in her third term, in 2011, Gabrielle Giffords was one of thirteen wounded in a mass shooting along with six casualties. She was shot in a local grocery store in Tucson, where the bullet entered the left side

The article titled New Oklahoma Law Seeks to Keep Guns from Dangerously Mentally Ill by Jennifer Palmer highlights that mentally ill individuals have not been previously denied gun licenses during background checks. This might however change if a state law seeking to deny people who are mentally ill an opportunity to own a gun is fully implemented. The new law requires applicant’s information on mental incompetence to be included in a national database, which should be made accessible to Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations and gun dealers. Implementing the new law will give courts the authority to provide mental status information of individual’s seeking gun ownership to law enforcement agencies. The author however notes that Federal law prohibits individuals with mental illnesses from buying firearms. The law requiring mentally ill people to be denied gun license is based on the understanding that allowing mentally incompetent people to buy guns undermines the

In “After Tucson: Why are the mentally ill still bearing arms?,” author Nathan Thornburgh (2011) discusses the January 8, 2011 shooting of 19 people at a political event in Tucson, Arizona which left six dead and congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded. Thornburgh is quick to dismiss gun control and gun rights advocates’ reactions to the event but instead focuses solely on gunman, Jared Loughner’s, mental illness. Specifically, Thornburgh blames college officials, and other organizations for not reporting their contacts with Loughner, and blames the lack of compliance by states with laws regarding the reporting of mental illness to a federal database. Thornburgh fails to provide proof that Loughner was mentally ill, and does

Federal law prohibits anyone who has been “adjudicated as a mental defective,” as well as those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, from buying a gun (Hauser 1). Thus, under said federal law, Cho should have been denied from buying a gun after a Virginia court declared him to be an “imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness” in late 2005 and sent him for psychiatric treatment (Hauser 1). “The

Under the Obama administration, if someone could not work because of a mental disability and could not manage their own Social Security benefits, they were not eligible to own or buy firearms. This restriction is no longer in place, as the Trump administration