Mental Illness And Its Effects

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 United States is a frontrunner in global topics such as women’s rights and environmental issues. However, when discussing mental illness the United States chooses to look at the subject in a mindset that is stuck in the 1950’s using the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. The federal government has only begun to recently talk about mental illness and its effects in the media. Yet, when they do this they choose to cover topics such as ‘gun rights’ with mental illness, while the real topic of conversation is the future treatment for those with mental illness, and how the United States plans on eliminating the stigma that surrounds mental health.

“A mental disorder (mental illness) is a psychological pattern that is generally associated with a defect or disease of the individual’s mind. It causes a disability that may affect an individual’s behavior patterns in ways that are not part of one’s normal development or culture. Mental disorders are common in the United States. Within any given year, nearly 25 percent of adults and slightly over 20 percent of children are diagnosable for one or more mental disorders. While mental disorder appears to be widespread among the population, the main burden (or threat) emanates from about 6 percent of those who suffer from a debilitating mental illness.” (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011)

Mental illness refers to many disorders that affect your mood, thinking, and behaviour. There are many different types of mental illnesses with different severities such as depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and addictive behaviour. Having a mental illness is so common in Canada, 1 in 5 people encounter some degree of it. Many of your friends and family may be suffering from some form of mental illness without you knowing it. This can be because it is at a very early and week stage, they are on their medication, or they are doing a good job at hiding it from you. People often hide their illness to prevent being judged and treated differently from their loved ones. This can be a problem as their illness could worsen and cause long term irreversible damages. Some of our society doesn’t respect people with mental illnesses as before, people with this illness were called crazy and they were told they had a disease. This may be a reason people still don’t feel comfortable telling people close to them.

Mental illnesses are generally characterized by changes in mood, thought, or behavior. They can make daily activities difficult and impair a person’s ability to work, interact with family, and fulfill other major life functions (SAMHSA, 2015). Contemplated early on in history, treatments for mental illness looked to cure the reflections of the anger of gods, demonic possession, sorcery, the evil eye, or an angry deity, responded with equally mystical, and brutal treatments (Nash, 2007). Attempts to treat mental illness date back as early as 5000 BCE as verified by the discovery of trephined skulls in regions of ancient world cultures (Porter, 2002, p. 10). Only a few realized that individuals with mental illness should be treated humanely rather than exorcised, punished, or banished. Psychiatry has come a long way since the days patients were shunned from society and shackled in asylums. Experiments and techniques for treating mental illness from ancient times to the turn of the 20th century have paved the way for the treatment plans used today.

My mother, on the other hand, came from a two parent home with very “strict” rules and ideals, but her family could not handle conflict in a productive manner. My mother told me that despite their deep religious beliefs and ideals the family was a mess. My grandfather was a military man, with a hot temper,who believed in discipline and my grandmother was the only daughter of a very passive and complacent farmer. There was a lot of strife in my mother’s family growing up, she tells me that she remembers family gatherings frequently ending in yelling and someone getting kicked out. This environment bled into my mother’s personality and how she handled

Mental illness is something that many people in this world deal with. If someone does not suffer from a diagnosis, then chances are they have a family

It is commonly identified that mental illness influences a substantial percentage of the population but all at the same time it is difficult to clarify the precise number. There is a tremendously variety of mental illnesses that is categorize in the mental health conditions. It is very important to understand the mental illness and the treatment that is need for the individual. Mental illnesses are lapses in the thinking process which can be brought on many of circumstances. For example, stress in the work place, marriage and family issues, and personal tragedy are just a few that contribute to mental illness. Many communities are limited to the access to mental health services due to lack of financial, lack of insurance, and public or psychological

I did not have a good relationship with my paternal and maternal grandparents. My paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother have had passed away before I was born. Both of my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather had a feudal view of male preferences. So they do not have a good relationship with my mother and with me as well. The view of male preferences have such huge impact on the family that it might break up the family. I have had witnessed many arguments in my family as a result of that. Fortunately, my parents still stay together until now. They got through all of those problems.

Mental illness affects many people throughout the United States each year. Some people classify it as any psychiatric disorder that is the cause of untypical behavior. Many years ago, doctors locked up mentally ill patients in mental institutions and basically forgot about them. Medical professionals housed the mentally ill in different corridors of the hospital. Sometimes, they stayed in isolation and were in some type of restraints. Once government officials realized that neglect was getting out of control, deinstitutionalization became a hot topic. Deinstitutionalization started as a government policy that became a long-term trend to lessen the burden on professionals in mental treatment facilities. Its intent was to have fewer treatments in public hospitals and fewer people residing in the facilities. The deinstitutionalization movement began in the mid-1950s and government officials were hoping the process would improve the treatment toward the mentally ill (Lauer, 2014). Additionally, there were several drugs that helped the mentally ill and officials believed that those people would get better care by living in a community based environment. Moreover, it was another way to balance the government budgets. However, the impact on human service agencies, specifically community mental health facilities, prisons, and probation offices, was less than adequate because all of the unknowns and the social stigma attached to the mentally ill.

Although it is hard to distinguish mentally ill members of society from those who are not

Mental disorders are a result of different problems associated with the brain, and each problem has various symptoms. These disorders of the brain are normally characterized by different factors that are combined, such as emotions, relationships, behavior and abnormal thoughts. There are many reasons why mental disorders affect people, including family history and genes, life pressures and habits. Other factors like a history of drug abuse, stress, biology, a traumatic brain injury, exposure to toxic chemicals while pregnant, and even cancer may lead to mental disorders. Some examples of mental disorders include drug-related disorders, bipolar disorder or depression disorders, schizophrenia, intellectual disorders and disabilities, and

These past three weeks have been a roller coaster for us with the amount of information given plus our first clinical experience. Even with only five clinical days, my outlook on mental illness and complexity of the situations is forever changed. Right now, there is a stigma on different disorders in our country. Through advocacy, we can change the way others view situations by opening their eyes and teaching them to lose the negative approach.

My stepmother’s personality and the fact that she was “replacing” my mother in my head, made it impossible for a smooth transition and it was very difficult for my sister and I to build a relationship with her. The main triangle in my life has on the harmony side my sister and me and on the conflict side our stepmother Rebeca (represented in the genogram with an orange triangle). We have never been able to get along with Rebeca so the anxiety this creates is channeled through Rosa and I. We never directly address feelings or issues with Rebeca. We used a lot of passive-aggressive behavior in our interaction and only interact superficially as a way to avoid conflict and keep harmony in the family for our father’s

Family is important to most people; however, sometimes there are implications that complicate the relationship. One such problem comes along with mental health problems. When a family member or family members have mental instability, it can be hard to have a healthy family dynamic. This, in turn, can make development hard for the children present in the situation as well as put extra stress on parents who are trying to raise kids while dealing with ill health.