Mental Health Essay

Many people with serious mental illnesses are forced to live in overcrowded, and often substandard living environments, that place them at physical and emotional risk. The ongoing stigma surrounding mental illness means that many housing providers, funding sources, and neighborhood groups are reluctant to serve people with disabilities, despite legislation such as the Fair Housing Amendments Act. People with serious mental illnesses, with appropriate support, are often quite successful at working when employed. However, the unemployment rate among people with serious mental illnesses hovers at 90 percent. Though today’s economy has created significant opportunities for people with serious mental illnesses to gain better, higher paying jobs, the technology and the resources to provide them with necessary long-term support in those jobs are lagging far behind. People with serious mental illnesses require appropriate and timely mental health and primary health care

Mental health is a serious topic that is often not taken seriously. Due to my own struggles with depression, I have experienced the impact mental illness can have on a student’s life. Mental illness can make everyday life feel unbearable and can have just as serious of an effect on a person as a physical illness. The causes of increasing mental health problems in college students are numerous, and it will take work from both students and universities to overcome this problem, but change is necessary for the health of U.S. college students.

The topic of mental health has long been considered taboo. Discussions of mental illness ought to be held in private and if a family member happens to be institutionalized, heaven forbid that it be brought up at dinner. One way mental health has been trying to make its way into the mainstream is by way of Public Service Announcements (PSAs), two of which come from the advocacy organizations Bring Change 2 Mind and Mental Health Australia. The main goal of these PSAs is to spark a public discussion about mental health. Although both PSAs use the rhetorical appeal of mythos through their stereotypical portrayal of gender roles, Bring Change 2 Mind (BC2M) focuses on mental illness itself and primarily utilizes a pathos appeal whereas Mental Health Australia (MHA) highlights the individual as the initiator of the conversation and emphasizes a more logical appeal.

In addition to changes in attitude, changes in school policy can better the lives of mentally ill students by ending the discrimination in which they encounter in academic settings. Education in the form of professional development training and seminars can be utilized to achieve a safe and non-judgmental learning environment with the proper accommodations for mentally ill students. This course of action will be greatly beneficial to both the academic and social climates of Lowell High School. With a staff educated on how mental illness effects students inside and outside the classroom, they are then able to treat mental ill students with the respect, dignity, and compassion that is needed for both their personal and academic wellness. Such behavior also elicits change in how 504 plans are executed for mentally ill students. Emphasizing the importance of the implementation and strict adherence of the 504 plan to faculty is of the utmost importance. Following this protocol ensures that Lowell High School faculty and the 504 plan are giving mentally ill students the best chance for academic success, despite their medical

Just because you have heard about the struggles of some people who have had a mental illness from their college era doesn’t mean that you will too. For example, individuals that choose

Clinical Social Workers use a person-in-situation (also referred to as person-in-environment) viewpoint to treat mental health and behavioral issues. They may work with individuals, couples, families or other types of groups (Psychology and Counseling Group, n.d.). To become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Florida, one must obtain a Master of Social Work degree from an accredited college or university, including clinical coursework, perform 100 supervised clinical hours post-degree, and pass the licensure exam (Social Work Licensure, 2016). Licensed Marriage and Family Counselors and Licensed Mental Health Counselors have similar educational and licensure requirements to Social Workers, with slightly varying methods of practice (Psychology and Counseling Group, n.d.).

About 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 experiences a severe mental disorder at least once in their lifetime. Over one-third of students with a mental health condition, age 14­–21 drops out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group. With these statistics, it shows how many people are not gaining support and are just giving up because they cannot find convenient help. If this issue is shown in the classroom, then the awareness rates will rise, making more establishments for support and treatment.

There are times when people are plagued with thoughts, behaviors or emotions that will inhibit them from normal behavior. These are known as psychological disorders. These disorders come in many forms but all will have large effects on a person’s life.

Ignoring burnout can have serious consequences on one’s life. These negative impacts can affect various areas of life such as home and social life. It can lead to other health as well as mental health issues and also cause changes in the body.

Throughout the past several weeks I have had the opportunity to witness what mental health really is. Upon starting the mental health unit I was unsure what to expect. I knew I had a passion deep down for people who have to suffer with the many different mental illnesses. The two locations my colleagues and I had to opportunity to experience was W3 and W2. W3 is an addiction recovery unit, and W2 is more of a psych unit. Spending my time at these two units really opened my eyes to how blessed I am, because someone somewhere has it worse.

Upon conducting research, I was unable to obtain the depth of information in which I wanted from secondary sources, where many of them were too basic. Consequently, I decided to send out questionnaires to professionals in the field of adolescent neuropsychology, where this enabled me to develop my key findings and refine my knowledge. This approach appeared to be the most useful as I could obtain diverse opinions on adolescent mental health and brain functioning. This decision was highly effective as I was able to substantiate basic information to produce an outcome, increasing the reliability and validity of my findings, solidifying my knowledge on alcohol’s effect on the adolescent brain.

Mental illness is a health problem that influences how an individual thinks, interacts and behaves with others. It affects one in five Australians at some point of their lives. This is because a majority of Australians are influenced by a variety of factors that impact on their wellbeing negatively such as prolonged stress, the use of drugs and alcohol, negative cognitive patterns, biological reasons and many more. This in the long run can affect an individual’s mental health making it harder for them to establish positive relationships, reach their fullest potential and face life challenges. A common mental illness is an ‘anxiety attack’, which has a variety of symptoms, conditions, treatments and

Abounded by the government, forgotten by the health aid, neglected and mistreated by the society; Somalians with mental illness are resigned to the dark corners of mosques, chained to the rusted hospital beds, and locked away to live behind the bars of filthy prisons. These are the horrifying stories we hear from our elders on dinner tables. Mental health and mental illness were viewed in my home country, Somalia, and other countries in Africa as a curse or a bad omen, and in some countries, these views still exists today. Globally, Africa is known as a large continent, inclined to strife. Most of its countries are defined by their low income, increase prevalence of communicable diseases and malnutrition, low life expectancy and poorly staffed health services. Thus, mental health issues often come last on the list of priorities for policy makers.

For a long time, I’ve struggled with my mental health and wellbeing. I’ve struggled with unbearable amounts of stress, anxiety, and depression. It all began in about seventh grade. It all started with my anxiety. I wasn’t familiar with what anxiety was at the time, so I didn’t know that that was what was bothering me. I remember getting to a point where I was too afraid to get up and turn a piece of paper in. My body would tremble with fear. I felt as if all eyes were on me; waiting for me to mess up. My anxiety led to a depression. Overtime, I had convinced myself that there was something wrong with me. I would tell myself “You can barely get up out of your seat to turn in a piece of paper or throw some trash away.” Slowly this developed into me not being satisfied with my appearance. The trivial things about myself were what bothered me the most. I wasn’t happy with my smile, my laugh, my nose, my teeth, my hair, my ears; there were very few things that I liked about myself. The thought of getting help had never crossed my mind. I never even imagined having someone help me get out of the dark place that I was in.

Of the 44 patients contacted, 26 (59%) participated in the study. Eight (31%) participated in one of the three focus groups, and 18 (69%) participated in semi-structured interviews. Reasons for non-participation included competing priorities, lack of interest, and parent refusal. Participants were aged from 14 to 26 years (mean 18 years [SD 3.15]), and 14 (54%) were below 18 years, and the median disease duration was 6 years (SD 3.7). Most were female (n=24 [92%]) and of Asian ethnicity (n=16 [62%]). The most common SLE manifestations reported by participants were arthritis (n=17 [65%]) and skin lesions (n=11 [42%]) (table 1).