Mental Health Of The United States

Mental health in America is a stigmatized topic that affects nearly 20% of the population and around 1 in 4 people will be affected by a mental illness at some point in their life (World Health Organization, 2010). However, due to the stigma behind mental health, people often do not seek treatment. As for the homeless population, the rates are much higher, with 1 in 4 homeless individuals living with a severe mental illness (Jasinski, Wesely, Mustaine, & Wright, 2005). These people and this population struggles to receive adequate healthcare, but with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or better known as ObamaCare, there have been positive change made to help these individuals. However, the ACA is not perfect and there are

The twenty-first century has certainly garnered a reputation. As the generation of acceptance, it has paved the way for many minorities and those previously shunned from society. This being said, America is far from perfect. With every step forward, towards a more equal country, two steps are being taken back and previously forgotten reservations will return. An example of the way America hasn’t progressed is in the way of mental health’s priority in everyday life as well as the services available to help those diagnosed cope.

The United States has never had an official federal-centered approach for mental health care facilities, entrusting its responsibility to the states throughout the history. The earliest initiatives in this field took place in the 18th century, when Virginia built its first asylum and Pennsylvania Hospital reserved its basement to house individuals with mental disorders (Sundararaman, 2009). During the 19th century, other services were built, but their overall lack of quality was alarming. Even then, researchers and professionals in the mental health field attempted to implement the principles of the so-called public health, focusing on prevention and early intervention, but the funds were in the hands of the local governments, which prevented significant advances in this direction.

Take a moment and think about those your care deeply for, those you would give your life for. Now, imagine if he or she were sick, or in any other kind of trouble. What would you do to help them? Go to the edge of the world and back, fight, not stopping for yourself until they were in good health once more. Now imagine if you found a potential cure, or a solution, but it was held away because a few people who had more money than you did not want it to be used. You have seen and heard of this proponent being used in other countries and has had very promising results, yet still those who claim they have “power” over you deny what you seek. The fact of the matter is thousands of Americans suffer from some kind of mental illness, including my brother. Whether it be chronic anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia, addiction, the list can go on. America has a botched mental health system, the main way we treat people is by shoving pills down their throats, most that have little to no substantial effects, leaving people still feeling empty. The pills rather just “control” or alleviate symptoms rather than eradicating them completely, leaving people to have to take dose after dose daily to keep their lives in check.

There are many people in the United States that have a mental illness that is either not

At some point in our lives, we all questions our childhood beliefs. When I was young, I saw mental conditions as an excuse people used to justify their poor behaviour. In other words, I did not take them seriously because of how I was raised. Since then, much has changed. I now realize that mental illness is an issue that has to be dealt with in order to help our society grow as a whole. To do so, we all need to support our community’s non-profit mental health organizations. Providing support through improved access to qualified non-governmental organizations is an important action in dealing with the problems associated with mental illnesses that adversely affect our community.

According to the 2012 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports, Blacks suffered 55.7% to 70.8% for whites. This was adults with major episode and received treatment.

It has been my goal since beginning in the field of social work to begin addressing some of the disparities surrounding mental health that exist within varying communities. It is common knowledge that communities with a high rates of poverty are not considered a priority when receiving the help that is needed when addressing the mind's health. This is evidenced by the state of the healthcare system that exists within this country. Though healthcare has seen drastic changes over the past few years under the Obama administration, there still remains a gap in care to people who need it.

The definition of mental health is the condition of an individual’s psychological, emotional, and social welfare. There are an estimated “43.4 million adults, age 18 or older, in the United States with a mental health condition which represents 17.9% of all U.S. adults” (AMI, 2015) not including addictions. However, mental health funding is decreasing in ways such as creating there is a dire need for the support of mental health services. Without support, underlying mental health issues will remain constant, which can impact an estimate of 54,927,000 million adult individuals, not including children with any mental illness. (NIDA, 2014). Interestingly, in the state of Florida, on June 14, 2017, there was a recent executive order signed by Governor

Senator Creigh Deeds story is just one of many that end in tragedy because of a mental health system that has failed. While the major proportion of people living with mental illness are not violent, they can become a victim of violence. According to the latest statistics from the American Psychological Association one in five adults has a diagnosable mental disorder, one in twenty-four has a serious mental disorder (SMI), and people with mental illness are no more likely to be violent that people without mental illness (Association, American Psychiatric, 2016). Untreated mental health care is characteristic of the violent crimes that we see happening today. Some of the reasons behind these untreated individuals are the unmet needs of people not having a financial means to pay for services, lack of insurance, knowledge about how to access care, embarrassment about having the need for services, and those that needed care but experienced delays in accessing care (Jones et al., 2014).

Conflict, wherever it may be, has had a history of marring the lives of people in the most destructive of ways. From the loss of loved ones, to the physical damage done to oneself, all of these atrocities have in common the fact that they leave behind terrible memories that can scar individuals for the remainder of their lives.

The National Committee for Mental Hygiene (NCMH) expanded the research into mental hospitals and their treatment of patients. Before the organization started most diagnosis of patients was attributed to genetics. Moreover, they furthered the studies to look into environmental causes, early detection and more training for social workers. They learned that being poor did not cause mental problems due to the men coming home from World War I. Currently, the organization is called Mental Health America.

Michel's mother reported, "Michel is on a downward spiral because she is negatively influenced by her boyfriend to smoke marijuana, disrespects her and her grandmother, lies often, and puts her in jeopardy of losing her apartment.

Awareness of mental illnesses and treatment options are an ongoing issue in America. This problem isn’t one that can be simply solved overnight. But starting from the community level, people have the power to make a difference. A difference that could benefit people who are suffering with a mental illness and don’t have the opportunities to seek help and treatment. In my community, I have found three mental health services. They consist of Eyerly Ball, Alliance, and Mercy.

Mental health is a big problem in the world and there are many different types of mental health disorders. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression and many others are faced by a lot of people.  The question is,  however ; Are we doing enough to help the people with these disorders? There are many different resources for people to turn to such as medication, psychotherapy, case management, and even smaller non-professional support groups, but that still does not seem to be helping as much as it could be. I believe that more should be done to help people and that they have a right to get the help that they need.