Mental Health Literature Review

According to an article in the Scientific American, “About one in six adults living at just above the poverty line or lower has severe mental health problems.” (“Neglect”). Coupled with the fact that treatment is not often available, discrimination and judgement are some of the main reasons for this. Employers see them as unstable and/or dangerous, therefore ignore them as potential employees. Applicants will not be hired due to their condition, then they will not be able to afford the treatment that they need, causing their condition to worsen. Simply removing these stereotypes from society would easily fix the problem, but it would not be an easy task to accomplish. Everyone has different views and opinions. Seeing as there are people who do not even believe that mental illnesses are real, getting these stereotypes to simply vanish will take some time. The first step is to eliminate stereotypes in the workplace. Employers should know that the applicant has a mental illness, but that should not be used to determine whether or not they should be hired. This would slowly start the chain of events leading up to the end of the

31 y/o AA male patient seen today for psychiatric-mental health assessment. He is awake, alert and oriented x4. He is calm, cooperative and follows commands during assessment. The patient reports he is depressed, difficulty sleeping and nightmares at night. The patient explained his depression is as a result of deep thinking from a news he received two days ago from his elder brother that his mother is ill. Stressors identified by the patient include losing his job a week ago before the news about his mother; his wife is 6-months pregnant with their first child, who currently works part-time at her present job; patient relates difficulty paying monthly bills and inability to provide adequately for his family as a man. The patient denies mood swings, suicidal/homicidal thoughts and ideation. Patient reports his spouse is at work at the moment and he does not want to put stress on his wife due to her current condition. Patient denies been hospitalized for depression or psychiatric illness; and denies family history of mental illness. Patient reports he is seeking help because he does not like feeling this way using terms of “helpless and loss of worth from his spouse”. Patient reports he needs help with his depression and nightmares before his current condition get out of hands and ruined his marriage.

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.

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.

Mental illness is nondiscriminatory, can affect any person and transcends all social boundaries. As a result, the issues surrounding mental illness have become common discussion pints among policymakers dedicated or required to formulate solutions around providing the long-term care needed by many patients. Healthcare reforms and changes to the systems that provide services to those living with mental illness and funding for services to the facilities providing care have become major social issues (Goldman, Morrissey, Ridgley, Frank, Newman, & Kennedy, 1992). The reason for this is primarily how it can affect a market economy and how much of a burden diseases of the mind can be in a country such as the United States. According to the 1991 Global Burden of Disease study conducted by the World Health Organization mental health burden accounted for “more than 15% in a market economy such as the U.S.” (The Impact of Mental Illness on Society, 2001). The study also states that for individuals over the age of 5, varying forms of depression are the leading cause of disability. A more recent study indicates that mental illness in general is found in more than 26% of the United States adult population, of which 6% are severe and limit the patient’s ability to function (Martin, p. 163. 2007).

People with mental illness struggle to fit into society. They may feel socially awkward, causing feelings of loneliness or isolation. Likewise, those with mental illness are more likely to be unemployed because of anxiety or fears. Without having a job or way to

The mentally ill have many struggles to face. Most notable is the lack of a job. People who have mental illnesses are more likely to become homeless because their disability may make it hard for them to keep a job. Mentally ill homeless people are also more likely to be attacked or assaulted. Having a mental illness makes you susceptible to chronic homelessness, which is when an individual has “experienced homelessness for at least a year– or repeatedly – while struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability.”(Donovan, 13) There are over 202,291 american citizens who are suffering from chronic homelessness.

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

Many people with mental illnesses try to hide their mental illness when applying for a job. Research from Mind released on May 16, 2011 found that one in five people who had disclosed their mental illness had been sacked or forced out of their jobs. This shows how most employers don’t want to hire people with mental illness. People with mental illnesses often intimidate employers because they often believe they could be a liability. But in reality although people have a mental illness there are quite a few jobs they are easily capable of doing and we should encourage their interest in working if they are capable of performing the job correctly. According to Psychology Today there are still attitudes within most societies that view symptoms of psychopathology as threatening and uncomfortable, and these attitudes frequently foster stigma and discrimination toward people with mental health problems. People's views on mental illness have been commonly portrayed through the mainstream media in an unpleasant way. This makes life more difficult for people with mental illnesses because this leads to discrimination by others. We should all erase the portrayal of people with mental illnesses, especially employers. If we are going to make opinions of people especially with mental illnesses then we should first do research on their condition.

Living Well action 3.5.5 requires all government agencies or community managed mental health organisations proving services to people with a mental illness to respond to the individual aspirations of clients to access education, training and employment. This is especially important in terms of the positive impact that employment can have on a person’s ability to maintain tenancy.

95). The 1992 amendments were set into place to improve these numbers. However, over a decade has gone by and there are still barriers that have not been broken down. Many employers will not employ someone with a psychiatric disability thus resulting in “underemployment of the subpopulation with only one third of individuals being competitively employed at one time” (Schutt & Hursh, 2009, p.53-54). Job retention has also become a growing concern because meaningful employment has been difficult to quantify. In addition to the majority of the psychiatric disability population being unemployed, those that are employed “work entry-level job positions with low pay and little chance of advancement leading to limited opportunities for improvement in the quality of their lives” (Ackerman & McReynolds, 2005, p. 36). “Job retention is an important psychosocial goal, which is not often achieved” (Schutt et al., 2009, p.53). “The main reason individuals with psychiatric disabilities leave jobs is due to interpersonal and personal problems more than quality of work” (MacDonald-Wilson, Rogers, & Massaro, 2003, p.16). It was also found that most had “poor motivation or job responsibility” (Rimmerman, Botuck, & Levy, 1995, p. 41).

Angela Mora-Vargas attended a Roadmap for Mental Health Forum in the Bronx in the presence of the first lady of NYC, Chirlane McCray, first deputy commissioner of DOHMH, Dr. Belkin, and Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr. in which they presented a large-scale project to improve mental health for residents across the city. Mrs. McCray spoke highly of the Family Resource Centers as an effective providers and the support for families of children and youth experiencing mental health

Many cultures have viewed mental illness as a form of religious punishment or demonic possession. In Ancient Greek and Roman writings mental illness was categorized as a religious or personal problem. Individuals who are mentally ill are once again being mistreated by society and being place in prison. Prison is not a place for people for are mentally ill, jails were created as a form of criminal punishment for offenders and not a home for people who are mentally ill. In many cases, the welfare of offenders are not acknowledged because their is a misconception that all people with mental disabilities are a danger to the public. People become a greater threat to themselves that others when they are not receiving the appropriate care. Providing

The evidence that unemployment has negative effects on mental health is strong. Mental health effects on young unemployed people include low self esteem and confidence

Mental health issues such depression, anxiety is a health burden that negatively affects many people’s quality of life, especially older adults. In this Literature review we will use the terms older adults, elderly, baby boomer when referring to people ages 65 and older. “The rate of suicide in those aged 65 years and over has been increasing over the past three decades in most industrialized countries, with marked increases in both attempted suicides and death by suicide in the late 1980s” (Deuter, 2016). Older adults in the United States and many countries around the world die by suicide at elevated rates compared with younger adults (Conwell, and Van Orden, 2016). In addition to the age different, suicide seem to affect man and women differently with the baby boomer population. Men die more from suicide compare to women, even though females suicide attempt rate is higher (Heisel, 2006). Deuter reports that, in 2013, 7215 people aged 65 years and over died by suicide the USA, which accounts for 17.5% of the national total of suicide deaths (2016). The elevation of suicide in the elder is not only limited to the United States. According to Conwell (2013), the number of adults 65 year and older who died in the US is 6000 and 20,000 died worldwide, in 2010. The elderly population have become increasing prone to committing suicide and considered to be a population at risk. We will focus on the cause, challenges/controversy, and solutions that were used to address the issue of