Mental Illness Analysis

To understand what mental illness is you have to know what it means. Mental health is the state of our well-being. Mental health has to do with the mind. According to thefreedictionary.com mental health is “a state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life”. Mental illness are behavioral, psychological, and emotional disorders that effect the mind. Mental illness is not something that should be avoided. There many different types of mental illnesses. There are also mental healthcare services that can help people with their mental illnesses.

Mental illness is often wrongly portrayed in the United States’ media creating stigmatization and misrepresentation. Mental illness “refers to a wide range of mental disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior” (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2015). Examples of disorders include anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Any “negative attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are called stigma” (Wilson et al., 2016, p. 2) and stigma can contribute to progression of mental illness because of its harmful effects due to misrepresentation in the media. In the recent years, the United States media has began to address the reprehension around the topic of mental illness, as it has began to develop into a rising problem in citizens across the nation. In the past, any portrayal of a figure or character with a mental disorder would be wrongly depicted, therefore, creating a distorted perception for the viewers (Stout et al., 2004, p. 1). Television shows have started to establish characters with mental illness in hopes to lessen the stigma behind ill characters due to the wrongful associations viewers may make. The way media viewers’ stereotype the mentally ill into categories can be harmful to the well being of those with disorders. Stereotypes can be so harmful that even medical professionals “contend that stigma is a major reason why one-fourth of the estimated 50 million Americans experiencing mental illness yearly will not seek

We have a tendency of shadowing out individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Despite our human nature of caring, we place those individuals in prisons or understaffed psychiatric facilities, leaving them to be the burden of others. People with mental illness may not be able to hold employment and may not have that family support. This public perception (stigma) “limits opportunities for individuals with mental illnesses and often prevents them from seeking appropriate help”. (Jeglic, 2015) How is it that the public perception is so strong when most people do not have expertise within the field of abnormal psychology?This perception is influenced by the media. “Information presented in the media can be

It’s hard going through life normally, but when you add a Mental Illness to the equation it gets even trickier. Mental Illnesses are disorders that make it hard to function normally in day-to-day life. With Mental Illnesses it can be hard to concentrate, you can see hallucinations,

While the essential goal for all is to put an end to the stigma and improve the social understanding of mental illness, the issue lies in the method of how society should go about it. Brea L. Perry, an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Kentucky addresses this topic in her journal article “The Labeling Paradox: Stigma, the Sick Role, and Social Networks on Mental Illness”, featured in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, calling it a paradox as it can be both beneficial and detrimental to one’s health. While labeling a mental illness has the potential to improve the likelihood of addressing treatment options for many patients, many people argue that the normalization of mental illness by labeling is simply a foundation for discrimination, further inhibiting growth in society. For example, Christopher R. Locke, a graduate student at Ohio State University who wrote a dissertation called Attitudes Toward Mental Illness: An Experimental Design Examining the Media’s Impact of Crime on Stigma, suggests that labeling might cause more harm than good. In his dissertation, he explains his experimental results of reactions to media headlines that sensationalize mental illness in contrast to media that fails to disclose such

Despite the recent advancements in education and medical care, mental illness continues to thrive in modern society, destroying the lives of an estimated 60 million individual worldwide, which is precisely what Lexi Lyon discusses in Sustaining the Stigma, where she implores that healthy individuals around the world recognize the real and detrimental affects that mental health has. Unlike other health diagnoses, mental illnesses are not openly discussed nor does the majority of society accept it as a real health issue. Lyon explains that the culmination of false stereotypes, prejudice, and a lack of understanding have led to the perpetuation of ill-willed treatment toward those who suffer from illnesses that affect an individual’s way of thinking,

Mental illness is a broad category, that encompasses many different types of illnesses, and can affect anyone at any time. This illness is on a continuum, that can affect one patient differently than another patient. A mental status of an individual is associated with many factors that play into this person’s daily life. Mental illness can cause an individual to feel isolated, hopeless, and worthless; therefore, result in other forms of mental illnesses or conditions to occur. Many of these individuals may turn to drugs, self-harm, or even complete suicide. This could be because, they are trying to get rid of the pain that these mental illnesses are causing them. These individuals are told by their doctor, that they have an illness that

The first unit focused on the history of mental illness and mental assessment. We started by defining “abnormal” behavior, which I find interesting because it a very slippery term. It is not as simple as “an abnormal banana has brown spots” or “high blood sugar is abnormal.” It is a loose, shifting term that poses a challenge in identifying and treating mental illness. Not only is there a difference in the perception of “normal” behavior between different cultural groups, but our perception of normal changes with time. Therefore, we get a range of what is “normal.” Furthermore, it highlights the conflicts that unique groups can face when interacting with each other - to what extent should we be sensitive to others’ viewpoints, when they differ

Mental illness is a condition that exists in our society more than people think. There are different types of mental illnesses and each condition affects people differently. Mental illnesses can be treated with medication, therapy and sometimes other methods that can be more extreme like shock therapy. Sometimes people are treated in a hospital and sometimes people can stay at home and get treated by their family doctor, Psychiatrist and/or therapist. Mental illness not only affects the people who have the condition. It also affects that person’s family and friends. One

Growing up in an era where mental illness is extraordinarily prevalent, it is a wonder that there is still such a significant stigma. New research is surfacing to expose just how poorly the mentally ill are treated. As a society, it appears that we are still uncomfortable with talking about mental illness; and when we do, it is not done correctly. Despite rapid changes in medical knowledge, and treatment throughout the years, a considerable amount of people with chronic mental illnesses are often still being equally ignored or abused. Perhaps it is because we still do not have an unclouded understanding of what mental illness is. How is this demographic treated? Is it possible that technology is to blame for spikes in mental illness?

The popular Western conception of the depressed patient remains both culturally-pervasive and largely homogenous. From Eeyore to Hugh Laurie's portrayal of Dr. House, pop-cultural depressive symptomology oftentimes equates to images of despair, withdrawal, and an almost palpable air of sadness. This understanding of depression, indeed, too echoes in diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders as recently published within the fifth edition of the DSM. Accordingly, for example, the DSM-V classifies those exhibiting either (1) depressed mood and/or (2) anhedonia in conjunction with at least five of such other symptoms as “recurrent suicidal ideation” and “significant weight loss” for a significant portion of two-weeks, as clinically diagnosable with suffering from a “Major Depressive Episode.”

For this paper, I have chosen a real person who has multiple diagnosed mental disorders. To simplify the analysis, I have decided to focus on the most severe disorder the person has. The focus of this paper is on a 22-year-old white female from Harlan, Iowa. She grew up in a primarily lower-middle-class household. For several years in her teens, her household was considered much more on the lower end, and the family received multiple sources of government assistance to pay for things such as food, bills, rent, and even textbook fees for her college-credit high school classes. Her home life consisted of her being an only child with married parents. Although her parents were married, more time was spent fighting and verbally abusing one another

In practice, there is still a notion of "mental illness". However, it is important to realize that this is just figure language, metaphor for determining psychiatric diagnosis, and it is not a disease, such as somatic diseases.

A mental illness, psychological disorder, is a condition that impacts people's thinking, feeling or their behavior and may affect their ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis.[1] Recovery, including roles in social life, work and school, is possible.[2] Furthermore, if the patients start treatment early, they will be in a better situation and healthier. Environment and

Mental disorders are just as bad as any illness. Mental illness doesn’t go disappear altogether, instead you can get better with help of medicine and support of other people. According to the textbook Social Problems, a mental disorder is a condition involving thinking, mood, or behavior that causes distress and reduces a person’s ability to function in everyday life (251). There are many types of mental illnesses that one can have, but all should be treated equally and taken serious. People can have different severities of the illness and nobody should be treated like their case is not worthy of getting the attention and the help that it needs and deserves. It’s important to know that mental illness isn’t a choice, but something is neurologically wrong with the brain (Busfield). The only thing that is a choice is recovery.