Mental Illness: A Brief Summary

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.

Forget all the stereotypes of mental illness. It has no face. It has no particular victim. Mental illness can affect an individual from any background and the black community is no exception. African Americans sometimes experience even more severe forms of mental health conditions because of unmet needs and barriers to treatment. According to the Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. That’s why UGA third year Majenneh Sengbe is taking action as the co-founder of her upcoming organization Black Minds Daily.

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

One of the main arguments for mental and physical wellbeing receiving the same funding and attention is that mental health can impact physical health drastically (and vice versa). There are various ways in which bad mental health has been shown to be harmful to physical health, mental issues account for 23% of burdening diseases in the UK, these issues also have a dramatic effect on life expectancy. Mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia have been linked to heart disease and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, approximately 24 million people suffer from schizophrenia and over 350 million people have depression worldwide. People suffering from serious mental health issues also often experience high blood pressure and high levels of stress hormones therefore an

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a lot of information about mental health. This CDC webpage talks about emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which are said to be the big indicators of mental health. This webpage also offers data and statistics regarding mental health around the country. These statics indicate how many people have a certain mental illness, and where they are located. Everything posted on this website has a reference link, where you can click on to get more information about the topic. I believe this is a reliable source because the CDC is a government based website based on the URL ending in .gov. Another reason why I believe this is a reliable source is because everything used on this

In today’s society mental health has become something that is much more known to individuals and their families. Mental health is something that is as serious as a physical illness but it is still feared and misunderstood by many people including those who are diagnosed with mental illness (Stuart, 2012). Though you cannot see mental illness physically it inside the body and mind and can do just as much damage, if not more. There are many forms of mental illness that include; anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, eating

Whereas comorbidities associated with diabetes are preventable such as hypertension, lipid abnormalities and obesity, the lack of data for the additional comorbidity of mental illness, often overlooked by health care providers, potentiates the development of comorbidities. According to Dickerson, Wohlheiter, Medoff, Fang, Kreyenbuhl, Goldberg, Brown and Dixon, (2011) patient reported data for mental illness, with 9 to 14 % having schizophrenia and the remainder comprising bipolar disorder and depression, have twice the risk to develop diabetes.

Whereas, comorbidities associated with diabetes such as hypertension, lipid abnormalities and obesity are preventable, the lack of data for the additional comorbidity of mental illness, often overlooked by health care providers, potentiate the development of comorbidities. Dickerson, Wohlheiter, Medoff, Fang, Kreyenbuhl, Goldberg, Brown and Dixon (2011) reported data for the connection between mental illness and diabetes risk, with 9 to 14 % having schizophrenia and the remainder comprising bipolar disorder and depression, have twice the risk to develop diabetes.

Doctors say that they are increasingly seeing patients from all walks of life who suffer from a combination of substance abuse and mental illnesses or physical disabilities. Among them are use of medications that contribute to weight gain, which is associated with diabetes and hypertension; high rates of smoking, which contributes to asthma, acute respiratory disease, heart disease, and lung cancer; reduced physical activity and fitness, which contributes to hypertension and heart disease; and use of medications with adverse gastrointestinal effects (source). Several epidemiological studies of medical comorbidity among patients with psychiatric illness have been conducted. Koran and associates reviewed the medical status of 500 psychiatric inpatients and found that 291 had significant active medical disorders, of which hypertension, epilepsy, organic brain syndrome, diabetes, and hepatitis were the most common (source). Experts say that at least sixty percent of people diagnosed with either a mental illness or physical disability are also diagnosed with a mental illness (source). The medical term for being diagnosed with both a physical disability or mental illness and a substance abuse

On October 22, 2015, David P. Gersch, Stephen E. Fenn, Victoria Killion, and Nicole B. Neumann (Arnold & Porter LLP) Washington Law Firm; and Witold Walczak & Paloma Wu (ACLU) of Pennsylvania filed a federal class action lawsuit J.H. v. Dallas, on behalf of hundreds of individual with severe mental illness against The Department of Health and Human Services. These individuals were deemed unfit to stand trial, and awaiting “competency restoration treatment” in jails and solitary confinement. In these circumstances individuals would normally be placed in two state hospitals, Norristown in East Pennsylvania and Torrance in West Pennsylvania to receive needed mental health care, then for most cases to stand trial (ACLU, 2016) (Smith, 2016). However, due to the lack of treatment resources and accessibility, these newly categorized

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

It has been reported that the number of people with mental disorder is increasing in our communities at an alarming rate. Environmental and social changes are among the most mentioned causes of the accelerating rate of mental illness in society (Häfner, 1985). Despite the prevalence, about one fifth of the adult population will battle with mental illness every year ("Facts and figures about mental illness," 2014) and the acknowledgement of authorities mental illness is still given less attention then is needed to treat the problem successfully. Health bodies need to be putting more resources into this area as

The concept of mental health and illness is dependent on an individual’s cultural and/or socioeconomic background (O’Brien, 2013). I believe that the concept of health is much more than physical health. I perceive health as a balance between the mental and physical state. When a disturbance occurs to this homeostasis, it leads to mental illness. Prior to commencing this unit, I identified mental illness as an illness that occurs due to poor mental well-being and therefore, remains as a permanent illness. I perceived individuals with mental illness to come across as aggressive, violent, and have an intellectual disability. For my mental well-being, I do my best to obtain a well-balanced diet which includes three meals a day. Involve myself in regular physical activities such as going for walks, doing Pilates or yoga. I also enjoy doing some mindfulness activities and meditations in order to deal with stress and negative emotions.

Since we’ve been children, we’ve always been taught the importance of keeping up the physical health of our bodies. Whether it was a motivational speaker coming to talk to us about how important it is to have a healthy and balanced diet in middle school, or our elementary school teachers telling us about the importance of physical activity along with the benefits and health factors of fruits and vegetables, the importance of good health has always been stressed. Unfortunately, while people stressed the importance of physical health, mental health does not receive the same treatment. This has caused many people not to know about the importance of treating your mental health, which should be emphasized just as much the importance of

This essay will talk about the role lifestyle plays on influencing our health and in the development of diseases. It will include in it what health is, lifestyle epidemiology going into the details of 3 illnesses in details.