Mental Illness: A Disease That Overlaps Normality

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

The article addresses multiple interpretations of the mental disorder: schizophrenia. One of which, characterizes the mental disorder as a disorder that impairs an individual’s perception of reality; leading to significant cognitive and social impairment. Other opinions argue that the disorder should be separated into several different ones; stating that it’s a very serious group of disorders that make the patient experience vivid delusions, hallucinations and on top of other types, states of psychosis. Additionally, schizophrenic patients suffer ongoing side effects such as absence of movement,

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.

Another issue people with mental illness face is comorbidity of illnesses. Due to the fact that mental health and physical health are conjoined, comorbidity of other illnesses tends to occur when mental illness goes untreated, or vice versa. One study estimates 25 years of life are lost for each person with a serious mental illness, which is commonly attributed to illnesses like cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Shim & Rust, 2013). On top of that, further data shows that when compared to people without a mental illness, people who are mentally ill receive less attention to comorbid issues, and an overall lower quality of care (Smith et al., 2016). One example of receiving an abnormal level of attention during a doctor visit could be referred to as diagnostic overshadowing, which is when a person’s mental disorder diagnosis overshadows physical ailments (Kassam, Papish, Modgill, & Patten, 2012).

The context of our theme for the class generalized is how the mental ill affects today’s society. Three of the readings I choose are Goya at the Madhouse by Steve Gehrke, the letter To Theo by Van Gogh, and The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether by Edgar Allan Poe. These three relate to our theme of the class in very similar ways, such as for Goya the physical and mental health are deteriorating. For is the story by Edgar allan poe that expresses how someone sane can go insane by helping others. Last Van Gogh letter relates to the theme by he had already felt physically and mentally unstable as he expresses in his letter.

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

This essay will analyse the statement “Mental illness is a social problem”. This essay will discuss the sociological perspective of mental health within the chosen concept of gender. The main aim of this essay is to discuss and debate ‘for’ mental illness is a social problem within the different gender roles. Gender is not only male and female, it also includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexual. In Australia there is a very large community of LGBTI. This concept will be analysed by using theoretical and sociological perspectives along with the structure-agency debate. Also the biomedical and social model 's role in relation to the issue. This will help support the statement that ‘mental illness is a social problem’. It is not logical to solely to blame society for all mental illness’ however, it is a strong contributor. This essay will also explore the social contributor to the high rate of mental illness sufferers in Australia. Also, the general consensus and attitude toward individuals with mental health and the ways that mental illnesses are stitgmatised in Australia and each of its states and territories.

Mental illness is becoming an increasing issue in peoples lives around the world. There are many different types of mental illnesses that affect people on daily basis and sometimes ends up totally turning an individual’s life upside down and changing it for the worse especially schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a type of psychotic disorder in which multiple parts of a person’s life starts to deteriorate such as personal, social and occupational functioning as a result of unusual thoughts and perceptions, disturbed emotions and behaviors (Comer, 2016). Have you ever wondered what life is like when one experiences schizophrenia? Here is a quote written by Francesca Zappia that clearly describes the experience, “Believing something existed and then finding out it didn’t was like reaching the top of the stairs and thinking there was one more step.” This quote clearly depicts how this disorder takes over one’s life as if creating sometimes a whole other world that is distant from reality and when told what they believed to be an important part of their life was never true it feels like they lost their sense of self and makes them question their life. In the film, A Beautiful Mind, we are introduced to a character John Nash who was known as an important American mathematician that spent most of his life as part of Princeton University, whose life was actually affected by schizophrenia. We see how this disorder takes over his life and how he deals with it for the rest of his life.

The United States has their own view on mental illness when compared to other developed countries. The developed countries that were analyzed with the United States were England and France. Our research question was “Does the United States view mental illness differently than other developed countries?” The research that I conducted was over the policies and ideologies of mental illness in the United States.

There appears to be a common outlook on mental illness. Relating social norms theory to mental illness, individuals who perceive others to have negative attitudes toward mental illness may themselves be more likely to devalue and avoid people with mental illness in order to fit the perceived social norm. On the other hand, contact with individuals who express positive views of people with mental illness may lead to reduced stigma and discrimination of individuals with mental illness. Therefore, interventions that involve people without mental illness who discuss their positive experiences with people who do have mental illness may also serve to reduce mental illness stigma. Family members and friends of individuals with mental illness may be especially good candidates for sharing their positive perspectives. (Wainberg, Cournos, Wall et al., 2016). History tells us there is a need to protect the privacy of people who are diagnosed with mental health issues in a world filled with stigma and misperceptions. People with mental illness and substance use problems may be legitimately concerned that employers, insurance companies, financial institutions, medical practices, and educational institutions could use their health information to discriminate against them, often without their knowledge. In addition, with the advent of the Internet, social media, govern- mental data collection, and the constant threat of online hacking, privacy is fast becoming a fragile concept and is

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.