A Brief History of the Treatment of Mental Illness: What it Means to Me I. Introduction The only thing worse than an undiagnosed case of any form of mental illness is being turned away after a diagnosis. My brother, Timothy Charles Hobson Jr., a survivor of multiple suicide attempts, succumbed to his final attempt that began on his birthday, August 16, 2014 and ended three days later. The day before his birthday, his last post on Facebook was: “If you had to stay up all night to talk someone you loved out of committing suicide, would you?” (Hobson, 2014) Unfortunately, I did not see that post until after he had decided to end his life. While retrieving the things he wanted me to have, I found some paperwork from a New York hospital where
In the 20th century, we focus on how much mental illness causes a problem, yet we don’t ever try to help them or even try to understand what they are going through. One thing that you have to always keep in mind is that they are human, just like you. They just want to be accepted without being judged. However, people who think that mental illness is just a big joke make them feel that they have something wrong with them, that they aren't good enough to be here.
Hello Shane, mental illness is a tough subject to talk about because most just ignore this sensitive topic. I do agree with you in the last few years this has become a subject that is heavily addressed by law enforcement. This is an excellent topic to discuss whether or not the mentally ill can only be victims, and or perpetrators. I believe that the mentally ill persons can be perpetrators as well as victims either in violent crimes or crimes sexual in nature.
Through the course of time, mental illnesses have always been in existence due to varying factors and causes. However, as time has passed, the perceptions and available treatments for mental illnesses have also changed as new technology was developed. By looking at the treatments and perceptions of mental illnesses in the early 20th century, we can learn how to properly treat and diagnose not only mental disorders but also other conditions as well as show us the importance of review boards and controlled clinical trials.
Mental health illness is often created and diagnosed from the subjective judgment of mental health professionals. Often times, diagnosis consists of undesirable traits perceived by the dominant society as a problem. Society creates beliefs and dictates social norms in order to instilling social order. Moreover, marginalized groups that are often disenfranchised are often diagnosed and labeled with mental illnesses, because of the inability to become resilient and successful from impoverished conditions. Delgado and Stefancic (2001) describe Intersectionality as multiple identities that oppress individuals that feature undesirable traits depicted in society. As a result, many people of color, features of disability and women may be
Reading this chapter really hit home with me since I do have some family that suffer from mental illness and for some people they believe that all it takes is a couple of pills and the individual is going to back to normal “normal” but that is not always the case. People tend to stay away from them due to their idea of what a mental ill individual is like. However, that’s not the case I have been around a schizophrenic half my life and he is relatively normal other than the fact that he talks to himself and hallucinates but we all know that’s not his fault.
The third mechanism considers the proximity of the claimant to the incident or its immediate aftermath. This is not limited to being present at the scene of the incident as established in McLoughlin v. O’Brian [1983] 1 AC 410. Lord Wilberforce held that the claim was actionable as the claimant saw the victim an hour after the incident, the relationship between the victim and claimant satisfied the relationship test and the victim was in the same state as at the scene of the incident. Whilst this is applied with a degree of elasticity (Galli-Atkinson v. Seghal [2003] EWCA Civ 697) it does not provide certainty. In Alcock, Lord Ackner stated that arriving 8 hours after the incident did not satisfy the criteria. It is argued that it is not always
Treatment for any mental illness is “determined largely by beliefs concerning its cause” (Hergenhahn and Henley, 2014, p. 468). If psychological factors such as anxiety, stress, guilt, etc. are viewed as the cause, those are what will be addressed (Hergenhahn and Henley, 2014, p. 468). When supernatural causes are believed, treatments such as rituals, magic, or exorcisms are attempted (Hergenhahn and Henley, 2014, p. 469). If biological factors are suspected, medical treatments, such as medication, are applied. Individuals such as Paracelsus, Agrippa, Weyer, Scot, and Plater all argued for naturalistic explanations rather than supernatural explanations of mental illness. Furthermore, the individuals just mentioned spurned witch hunts, viewing
The dancing body was an integral part of socio-political factors, and planted the foundation for civil expectation and behavior. Thus, the dancing body becomes engulfed with political propaganda, which exhibited the highest standard of a politically conformed aesthetic. For example, King Louis XIV of France is commonly referred to as the “king of political propaganda” (Carr, 2016). King Louis XIV exacerbated the unprecedented role of importance in movement and motion, and incorporated the movement of the body in every aspect of his life. By utilizing the dancing body, King Louis XIV exercised the importance of civil obedience and social etiquette through visual propaganda throughout the royal kingdom. The body was used as a messaging tool that exhibited the standard for social etiquette, political power, and civil obedience. King Louis XIV exerted his body with elegance to
Mental health as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productivity and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to the community” (Chaves, et al., 2014). Mental health in the elderly is a growing concern. Many elderly do not seek or receive proper treatment for their mental illness. This is, in part, due to several barriers that prohibit the elderly from seeking help. Mental illness in the elderly is brought up by several different factors, including
The article The Impact of Lifestyle Factors on the Physical Health of People with Mental Illness: a Brief Review by Susanne Stanley and Jonathan Laugharne argues that people with mental illness are more likely to experience poor physical health than the general population. People with mental illness are at increased risk of health diseases and metabolic disorders. Researchers analyze how lifestyle factors impact the overall health of people with mental illness. The article describes the importance of the research, because people with mental disorders have a high rate of mortality due to lack of support from healthcare and community resources.
In pursuing a PhD at University of Texas El Paso, I seek to address a broad question: Is our correctional system equipped to successfully manage and improve outcomes for mentally ill offenders supervised in the community? One particularly disheartening conclusion that I reached from my educational experiences as an undergraduate and graduate student was that mental illness is still not well understood by professionals and lay persons alike. Much was—and is—still to be discovered about accurate and reliable diagnosis, effective treatment, and successful integration of people with mental illness in our communities. In my pursuit of knowledge on this topic, I quickly discovered an even more troubling reality that people with mental illness are
The social problem I have chosen to write about is mental illness. This problem is important to talk about “because of the number of people it affects, the difficulty of defining and identifying mental disorders, and the ways in which mental illness is treated” (Kendall, 2013, p. 227). “About 57.7 million people, or one in four adults, in the United States suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder” (Kendall, 2013, p. 229). “Many of these illnesses begin in childhood or adolescence, with the most common problems being anxiety disorder, mood disorders, impulse-control disorders, and substance abuse disorders” (Kendall, 2013, p. 229). I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about how mental illness is a social problem and I have been interested in learning more about mental illnesses and how to help people with mental disorders.
"I hear voices" my brother shouted as he hysterically clutched his ears. He showed signs of anger and confusion as we did not understand what was happening. My family and I were in shock because here was my brother a retired army veteran going through a psychotic episode. After retirement, he was supposed to embark on a new chapter in his life but that was halted by his diagnosis. As a family, our lack of understanding led us to believe that my brother might have abused drugs or was possessed. I was able to convince my parents to seek medical help because of my studies in psychology as an undergraduate student. During the period of my brother’s recovery I realized the importance of mental health which motivated me to pursue a career in psychiatry.
Mental illness can be defined as mental health conditions that affect how you act, your thinking, and the way you behave (mayoclinic.org). Some examples of these types of disorders include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD (etc.) In previous generations, it was believed by many that mental illness was made up just as a way to make people feel bad for people suffering from these illnesses or as an excuse for some of their behaviors. Some individuals have and still believe that the only valid illnesses are those that are physical, such as cancer. As ridiculous as these claims sound, the stigmas underlying in the topic of mental illness still exist today, even after countless means of awareness, such as Bell Let’s Talk. Another aspect
that info to me, at least not at this point in time if you don't