Mental Illness: A Disease That Overlaps Normality

You’re walking down the street, passing hundreds of people as you go. Do you ever stop and think that every single person walking past you has their own story and their own daily struggles? Even the person next to you may have something about themselves that they have never told anyone. A statistic from the National Institute of Mental Health, or NIMH, stated that in 2010 7.4% of the population had some sort of mental or behavioral disorder. This means that around 510,600,000 people suffered from some form of mental or behavioral disorder in 2010 alone. Now, with all this information we must first ask, what is a mental illness?

"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 is an element of human nature that is universally experienced directly and/or indirectly by all individuals. The perceptions surrounding mental illness vary based on multiple factors (culture, personal experience, predisposition, etc.) each individual encounters. For me, my viewpoint of mental illness developed over time and has changed drastically over the years. As my interactions with those suffering from a mental illness have increased, the biases I had about mental illness have dissolved. New anxieties have formed, with these changes, in my perception around working with individuals with a mental illness. For the sake of my career and personal health, I will overcome these anxieties or learn to cope with them. Mental illness is difficult to define; however, all of these previously stated factors influence my current definition of mental illness.

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.

In 1961 Thomas Szasz penned a book by the title The Myth of Mental Illness that would go on to cause quite the stir in the world of psychiatry. In the book, Szasz stated his belief that what most psychiatrists would label as mental illnesses are in fact not illnesses at all, but instead what he would go on to call “problems in living.” This article will take a critical approach at Szasz reasons for his belief in these “problems in living” including an objective outline of his argument, a discussion on the validity of the argument and its’ premises, and finally the strongest objections to the argument. Szasz is an important figure in modern psychiatry and his opinions are very divisive but certainly worth discussing.

I enjoyed every bit of this Introduction to Psychology class. I put together many things about myself and my own life that I didn’t notice before. Now that I have been introduced to the realm of psychology I have a much better understanding of the reasons of behavior that is around me every day.

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.

I have read an article called "Mental Illness: The New Cancer." this articles the writer told us three sad stories about how Mental Illness has killed people he loved.

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 disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias and panic disorders. Many individuals with mental health seek help from doctors, nurses and therapist to help overcome the challenges of mental illness (Stuart, 2013). Dealing with a mental health issue is hard enough as it is because many people misunderstand them and they carry a stigma with the mental illness that needs to be overcome by the individual. For those newly diagnosed medications are given to help improve the psychosis, hallucinations and major depressive disorder with great success, but for many the medication that is given has a side effect that makes the patient gain large amounts of weight throughout treatment (Kabinoff, Toalson,Masure,Healey,Mcquire & Hay., 2003). Not only are you dealing with stress from being diagnosed with a mental illness and learning to cope but now you are also given the stress of caring extra weight around and having people judge you because of

Today, mental disorders are ubiquitous and can be highly detrimental to a person’s physical and emotional well-being. Many individuals who struggle with mental disorders share a background of traumatic events as well as a genetic transfer from another relative. For instance, victims of sexual assault can become very ill in terms of their mental stability. Likewise, environmental causes play a vital role in a person’s psychological patterns. According to the American Psychological Association, too much emphasis is put on the study of mental illness rather than the brain itself.

Suicide rates have skyrocketed in the last few years due in part to the lack of access to mental healthcare caused by the stigma that surrounds seeking treatment. An estimated 15% of people diagnosed with depression and approximately 20% of those diagnosed with bipolar disorder take their own life according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHA) fact sheet. While these numbers are shocking, the statistics do not include the many suicide attempts among those with a mental illness or those that go unreported. SAMHA also claims that one-third of the 15.7 million adults who reported having a major depressive episode in the

Allen Frances was on the task force that led to the development of the DSM-IV, served as the Department Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Duke, and a notary author of numerous books and research. His experiences and education allowed him to observe and draw a conclusion that society was creating an inflation of mental health disorders that could be evaluated as normal. After his early retirement, he decided to write about those experiences, in a book called, Saving normal: An insider 's revolt against out-of-control psychiatric diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the medicalization of ordinary life, and bring awareness to the Diagnostic Statistical Manuel’s (2015) inflation of mental health disorders. The book focuses on the history of mental health and Frances’s perspective on what is normal and abnormal mental health disorders.

People who are mentally ill tend to be seen as deviants who are violent and sporadic. As a whole, people who are mentally ill are not nearly as violent as they are presumed to be. Not all mental illnesses can lead people to be violent or more unpredictable, but those that do are not nearly as bad as they are portrayed in the media. Mental illnesses like dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis are seen as “scary” mental illnesses because people don’t know much about them. In movies like American Psycho, Split, and Silence of the Lambs, people with severe mental illnesses are painted as ruthless, erratic, murderers. Due to the fact that people don’t know that much about these mental illnesses, the general public tends 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

What is the dance of Mental Illness? It is not surprising that with tragic events like ongoing wars, terrorist threats, and an uncertain economy that Americans are experiencing powerful emotions. It is appropriate and healthy for most people to have feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, and grief. Some people however are having debilitating reactions to life. This is especially true for those who live with serious mental disorders like bipolar disorder, depression, substance abuse, anxiety, and or PTSD. Some of these people are disabled and caught in the Dance of Mental Illness. This paper will make known the Dance of Mental Illness, and will show that it is treatable through a biblical approach. The mental illness dance is a person who is