Mental Illness: A Case Study

Individuals with a mental health illness tend to experience discrimination due to misinformation, assumptions and stereotyping. Many people in our society are not educated on the subject of mental illnesses and often have misconceptions about the conditions and what affects these pre conceived ideas can have on the individual suffering from the

Within the past two decades there’s been a revival in efforts to reduce stigmatization attached to mental illnesses. It was concluded that if mental illnesses were perceived better as ‘real’ diseases by the public that stigma would go down greatly. Reports proposed the idea that better scientific understanding of mental illnesses by the general public could greatly reduce stigma. Stigma is intensely rooted in social and cultural norms it’s patterns devalue and dehumanize groups of individuals within society (in this case mentally ill people). Stigma constructs barriers for individuals, barriers that limit a person’s abilities to have equal opportunities for employment, safe housing, health care and social relationships.Efforts to reduce stigma in recent years have

This paper is an analysis of mental health and the stigma that is associated with mental illness. The reputation accompanying mental illness causes detrimental effects on those with a psychiatric disorder, such as discrimination, poor health outcomes and social suffering. This is partly due to a lack of public education on the matter, along with attributions of violence related to mental illness caused by news reports. A multi-faceted campaign to increase the public’s knowledge about mental health is critical to assuage the negative attachments affiliated with mental illness.

Although there’s a stigma associated with mental illness, there are people stepping forward and being honest about their mental health experiences. How come mental health stigma exists? This question should be important to society because mental illnesses are common throughout the United States, affecting tens of millions of people each year. This question’s important to me because I’m a crisis counselor for two organizations and I’m going to receive a master’s degree in counseling. After obtaining a master’s degree, I hope to continue my education to become a psychiatrist. Mental illnesses typically aren’t portrayed correctly in the media. I’m going to explore how news reports have contributed to the false belief that people who have mental illnesses are “violent” and/or “crazy,” but keep in mind that there are several other types of media that give this impression.

In society, there is much stereotyping and stigma surrounding the issue of mental health. Stereotyping happens because humans take common characteristics and behaviours, and link them to groups in society known as social groups; because of the amount of stereotyping that exists in today’s society there is a great deal of stigma surrounding mental illness and the mentally ill. A common misconception about individuals suffering with mental illness is that they are all unintelligible and are a danger to other members of society, this opinion has been largely criticised by mental health professionals as it is viewed as narrow minded and potentially very misleading. Stereotyping mentally ill individuals causes them to lose a sense of identity as

Prejudice results in discrimination toward individuals based on their group membership, regardless of their personal characteristics. Like members of other stigmatized and marginalized groups, people with a mental illness often experience prejudice resulting in increased lower quality of life. (Koenig and Eagly, 2014). The article studied is titled Gendered Mental Disorders: Masculine and Feminine Stereotypes About Mental Disorders and Their Relation to Stigma by Guy Boysen, Ashley Erbersole, Robert Casner and Nykhala Coston was written for The Journal of Social Psychology and McKendree University. The research founded indicated that stereotypes could intersect, especially when it comes to mental disorders and gender. Three studies were conducted;

One in every seventeen people in America suffers from a mental disorder. These disorders inhibit the afflicted person from functioning properly and coping normally with daily life. Many afflicted with a psychological disorder do not exhibit obvious symptoms, as medical advancements have made it possible for these disorders to be suppressed or even nonexistent. Today, however, harsh stigmas exist that unfairly categorize those with a mental illness as violent, unfriendly, and abnormal. The media and federal government are culprits in fabricating the unrealistic depictions of mental disability that define the portrayal of those who are mentally or psychologically disadvantaged.

The first article in my review is the “Reasons for Substance Use among Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder” in the American Journal on Additions (Lorberg, B., Wilens T., Martelon, M., Wong P., Parcell, T., 2010). The article study involved one hundred and five participants in the study, the adolescents was diagnosed to have bi-polar disorder and have had being using some form of self-medication. The study also included in this study a control group of adolescents that did not have a mood disorder; it was composed of 98 participants for this study. These adolescents were using cigarettes; alcohol and other drug related substance to self medicate their moods.

In the article, the authors mentioned testing for psychiatric disorders that might be associated moderators to sexual abuse and alcohol dependence. Why might anorexia and bulimia be associated with sexual abuse later in one's life? Anorexia and bulimia be associated with sexual abuse later in one’s life because it is used to make the physical appearance “less attractive”. To turn to food for “comfort” and become “de-sexualize”, so the traumatic event can be put to an end. According to Copeland, Magnusson, Goransson, and Heilig (2010) stated: “Severe sexual abuse continued to have an independent effect on alcohol dependence status even after accounting for these potential mediators. Of the five psychiatric disorders tested, anxiety, anorexia

Received a call from Stephanie. She wanted to complain about her son, Evans, who is mentally ill, is not receiving the right services. She stated that she got a court order back in February, to have her son placed with resources and services. She stated what she got so far is a mentor only, and that is not Ok.

G- CM met with client for a weekly case management, and to continue assisting with his housing goals.

Identify some of the “abnormalities” that you recognize and would want to know more about regarding Ms. Allen.

The prevalence of mental disorders is greatly affected by culture, by history, and by social context (Gone & Kirmayer, 2010). Paris (2013) states the three ways in which culture shapes mental disorders: first social forces influence a client’s vulnerability to psychopathology, expressed by symptoms. Culture can also add social stress to an already preexisting biological predisposition. Paris (2013) goes on further to say that the client’s social forces can shape unique disorders that are seen in one particular culture or group of cultures. With this information we know that in order to formulate a mental diagnosis that is both accurate and without bias, we have to know the social context of the person, their history, their family makeup, and

There are many mental health facilities around the state and the country, being able to attend and observed in one was very difficult because of confidentially purposes. Many agencies I visited such as Catholic Charities, St. Mary Hospital behavioral health services, covenant house had turned me down not allowing me to have that exposure and visit in their organization. The agencies policies were strict, they had mentioned they will have to do a series of background checks and had to be enroll in their organization as an intern to be able to have access in their facility. I understood these precautions were very important for the confidentially of patients and the facility. As I was struggling to find some access to a mental health

Emotions and cognition are fundamental to our existence. They are spontaneous but hard-wired and driven by cognitive perspectives. Our perceptions (what we see and how we process it) translate into thoughts that then translate into our emotions. Thoughts and feelings are very complicated and to a person suffering from a psychiatric disorder their perception and insight is usually impaired for this reason alone. As Stirling and Elliott (2008) point out mental illness is synonymous with neuropsychological problems. In addition to psychiatric disorders; motivation (or lack of motivation) plays a crucial role that defines their life; loneliness, isolation, lack of movement, inattention to ADL’s. As a psychotherapist, it is