Medical Care Access, Diagnostic Evaluation

Mental illness is a serious public health issue, which is often overlooked in our society. In the United States, there are currently 1 in 5 people living with a mental illness, which accounts to 25% of the population (NAMI, 2016). Mental illness is considered a condition that deters a persons thinking, feeling, or mood (NAMI, 2016). This illness consists of depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, autism, ADHD, just to name a few (NAMI, 2016). What usually triggers mental illnesses to occur is often due to genetics, drug use, abuse, trauma, stress, and so forth. Due to the individual’s condition, they are unable to function properly on a daily basis.

If you were to guess a disease one in five American citizens suffer from, what would be the first condition that comes to mind? Heart disease? Diabetes? The truth is, according to the National Institute on Mental Health, 43.4 million people live with mental illness in the United States, a staggering number that is almost equal to those diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes combined.1 Untreated, people with mental illness run the risk of losing their jobs, developing other chronic diseases in the future, or increasing the chance of suicide. Given this surmounting need, scientists are continuously researching new ways to offer hope and relief to the millions of people coping with this illness every day. Although their recreational use was

Mental health is a central aspect of human welfare and must be considered as an integral part of policy related to social care and human rights (World Health Organization, 2005). Currently, more than 450 million people worldwide are affected with a mental disorder (WHO Mental Health Atlas, 2011). Additionally, 14% of the global burden of disease is accounted for by mental health disorders, with unipolar depressive disorders as the third leading contributor to overall Disability-Adjusted Life Years following lower respiratory disease and diarrheal disease respectively. Other forms of mental illness range from schizophrenia and dementia to substance dependence and abuse, account for the global burden of disease while surpassing both cardiovascular disease and cancer (WHO, 2008). It is estimated that by the year 2030, mental illness, specifically mood disorders, will be the second highest cause of disability in the world, after HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (Mathers & Loncar, 2006). In response to this dramatic and global increase in prevalence of mental disorders, there has been a recent emergence in global

Recent years have seen a movement to help destigmatize mental illness and encourage people to receive mental health treatment if they are in need of it; however, the movement has neglected one of the groups of people who are most in need of mental health treatments. People suffering from terminal illnesses and those receiving palliative care, care that is designed to provide relief from symptoms, often do not receive treatment for mental illness, and this can have an extremely detrimental effect on their overall health. Untreated mental illness can lead to worsened physical symptoms, and can also severely decrease the quality of life of these patients. Doctors are not spending as much time looking after their patients’ mental health as they

Mental health is defined as a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. We have been aware of mental health since prehistoric times, but we began making advances towards helping people with their mental health in the 1840s when activist Dorothea Dox requested for better living conditions for individuals that are mentally ill. In just 40 years, Dox effectively influenced the U.S. government, and got the funding to build 32 psychiatric hospitals all over America. Since then, we have made considerable progress, there are currently 5,627 psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. Though we have come far, we are still not far enough. Approximately 60% of adults, and nearly 50% of youth with a mental illness received no mental health services in the previous year.

Mental illness has forever been a fight to prevent. Over the years we’ve had hundredths and thousands of research to increase the mortality within the elderly community. Now more than ever we’re seeing more cases of elders with mental illness(ess) that can be treated but are not due to lack of resources. Part of it which the cases have increased is due to the baby boomer generation are beginning to reach the age of retirement or they have been retired for some years. Developed and developing countries tackle treatments, for the elderly, differ drastically. The United States has programs for retirement, low cost institutions,

According to Lawrence, Mitrou and Zubrick (2009), mental illnesses remain one of the commonest causes of disability. Mental health disorders such as the depressive disorders have accounted for unprecedented numbers of disabled individuals in Orlando. Ideally, Ferrari (2013) cite the statistics that indicate that among 26% of individual Americans aged 18 years and above, 1 out of 4 adults suffers from mental disorder that are detectable each year. There are many cases of reported depressive disorders in the U.S as many individuals also present with symptoms of depression. This means that mental illnesses lead to early death among many Americans. Elsewhere, Coutts, Horner and Chapin (2010) found that depression was the leading cause of burden

Patients with major mental health illnesses lived shorter lives than patients with non-major illnesses. Researchers also discovered that mental health patients also died of natural causes such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory and lung disease. This study was run by multiple federal agencies such as the center of disease control and prevention, and the national association of state mental health program directors. The

Recent years have seen a movement to help destigmatize mental illness and encourage people to receive mental health treatment if they are in need of it; however, the movement has neglected one of the groups of people who are most in need of mental health treatments. People suffering from terminal illnesses and those receiving palliative care, care that is designed to provide relief from symptoms, often do not receive treatment for mental illness, and this can have an extremely detrimental effect on their overall health. Untreated mental illness can lead to worsened physical symptoms, and can also severely decrease the quality of life of these patients. Doctors are not spending as much time looking after their patients’ mental health as they

Psychiatric problems are prevalent in United States and internationally. Multiple researches indicate that one out of four people in the United States suffer from one or more mental disorders. A study by National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) conducted between 2004 and 2009 indicated that 22.8% of the population suffer from a diagnosable psychiatric disorder every year (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Studies also indicate that the

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018), “1 out of 7 U.S. children aged 2 to 8 years had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), stated that “25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness and nearly 50% of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime.” Today we live in a society where the chances of living with a mental illness are higher than in the past. Due to the lack of knowledge and understanding, most people go unnoticed and will not receive the appropriate treatment. As a result, many individuals who suffer from a mental illness do not have coping skill to better handle or express their emotions appropriately.

Mental illness affects 57.7 million Americans or about 26 percent of the population, including 10 percent of children and adolescents (National Institute of Mental Health, 2015). Those effected by mental illness have symptoms varying in severity, which also differ in regards to response to treatment interventions (Castonguay & Oltmanns, 2013). The most common forms of treatment include medication and therapy, although more often than not the first method of treatment is medication, but this can become a problem because these medications just ease symptoms of mental illness, but do the treat the root of the problem (Castonguay & Oltmanns, 2013). Medications may also lose effectiveness over time, foster dependence or even addiction, can become costly, and sometimes are accompanied with negative side effects (Castonguay & Oltmanns, 2013). With

Thousands of people end up in the emergency room each year for some kind of injury that can be traced back to the individual’s mental health. These people are told that they should get help if it is a big problem in their life, but where should they turn? Most health care plans do not offer mental health care because mental health is not considered to be essential. What is, or is not essential is relative to the person who has health care. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and today, more, and more people are seeing the importance of mental health, and many more today are seeking the help that they need.

The World Health Organization describes mental disorder as “a combination of abnormal thoughts, perceptions, emotions, behaviour, and relationships with others” (Mental Disorder). Some mental disorders include depression, schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, dementia, anxiety disorder, etc. Mental Illness is very important today as about “1 in 5 adults in the U.S.–43.8 million, or 18.5%–experience mental illness in a given year” and about “1 in 12 adults in the U.S.–10 million, or 4.2%–experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities” (NAMI).

People with mental illness are at an increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes than the general population (Happell, Stanton, Hoey, & Scott, 2014). A study conducted by Bartlem et al. (2015), observed health risk behaviours that contribute to chronic disease amongst individuals with a mental illness and if they had an interest in changing them. The study focused on community mental health services and how health care providers can improve their care and implement preventative measures. The guidelines used for this critique are from the textbook written by Polit & Beck (2014).