Mental Illness And Mental Health

It is impossible not to enjoy An Unquiet Mind based on how it explores the topics that people suffering from bipolar disorder tend not to touch. That is, Jamison employs the writing to tell people about her life as a victim of a mental health condition that is characterized by stigma everywhere. In depicting such an account, the author explores the actual nature of the disease, how it affects its victims, and how victims can fight it. Basically, the storyline gives a lifeline to people who suffer from bipolar disorder, and who have lost hope in achieving their dreams in life. The most fulfilling aspect of the reading features the fact that the author is able to identify a problem and at the same time offer a practical solution to the problem from a personal perspective, something that is rare to come by in real life medical practicing. Simply put, it is enjoyable to read Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind.

Mental health is one of the global issues that have a significant impact on the international community. Mental health concerns are eminent globally and in every population. There are about 200 classified forms of mental health disorders, but the common ones include anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, post traumatic stress, dementia, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia (Ahonen, 2014).

A mental disorder is a disease that can cause mild to severe disturbances or impairments in behavior or mental wellbeing. These effects may result in the inability of the individual to effectively cope with the demands and pressures of everyday life. There are more than 200 types of different mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, dementia, and schizophrenia, among many others. However, in this paper the main focus will be placed on depression and anxiety.

Mental illness has been the most overlooked issue in society today let alone within prisons. Researcher Lurigio (2001) explored studies from the 1970’s through to the 2000’s on the deinstitutionalization and restructuring of mental health laws that basically channeled the mentally ill into the corrections system. Often mentally ill offenders are released into community care. Lurigio emphasized that community based care “compartmentalizes” mentally ill offenders and creates limitations on whom they treat. This creates yet another gap within the corrections system for offenders to fall into. Those who require treatment may not get what they need because community care can only treat so much. These “missed” offenders are often the most serious and chronic.

Mental health is defined as the state of satisfactory use of mental function, which results in productive activities, interactions, adjustment to change and coping with challenges (Healthy People 2020, 2012). It is fundamental to one's personal well-being, his interpersonal relationships, and fruitful participation in, and contribution to, society in general. Mental illness or mental disorder refers as a whole to all diagnosable disturbances of the mind. These disturbances are characterized by changes in thinking, mood, and/or behavior, which produce pain, discomfort, abnormal functioning or death. Mental illnesses are serious medical conditions, which cannot be overcome by simple will power. They are not caused by personality weakness or intelligence (Healthy People 2020; NAMI, 2012).

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

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.

It not easy to determine how many people suffer from mental illness. This is due to the changing definitions of mental illness and problems classifying, diagnosing, and reporting mental disorders. There are social stigmas attached to mental illness, such as being labeled "crazy," being treated as a danger to others, and being denied jobs or health insurance coverage. These negative connotations keep many sufferers from seeking help, and many of those in treatment do not reveal it on surveys. Some patients do not realize that their symptoms are caused by mental disorders. Even though more is being learned about how the brain works a lot of information has still yet to be discovered, thus mental health professionals must continually reevaluate how mental illnesses are defined and diagnosed. The Surgeon General 's report estimated that roughly 20% of the United States population was affected by mental disorders and that 15% use some type of mental health service every year. Community surveys estimate about 30% of the adult population in the United States suffer from mental disorders.

I first became interested in bipolar or, manic-depression a few years ago when somebody close to me was diagnosed with it. I wanted to understand it better but found that the jargon and detached observations of psychiatric theory and practice that you can find on the internet didn’t really help me to understand what people actually go through. Kay Redfield Jamison’s ‘An Unquiet Mind’ manages to cut through all that to create a fiery, passionate, authentic account of the psychotic experience and introduce you to that facts of the illness without you even realizing it. Kay Jamison’s story is proof that mentally ill people, with help from medication, can live a

Although it is talked about frequently in today's society with really no expertise which brings a misunderstanding to the whole illness. When finishing this novel it became clear that in addition to my definition, Bipolar makes an individual suffer extreme highs and lows within their daily lifestyle unable to control when the episodes switch. In addition, I learned how the episodes affect individuals differently and there are ranges usually including a type of rage or aggression when manic and depressed. Unquiet Mind did not change my understanding for Bipolar Disorder, but it did enhance details I was not completely aware of. Furthermore with this disorder, Bipolar affects the person and the people in their lives dramatically. For example, Kay’s education and lifestyle of striving to be the best got put to a halt several times within the start of her career due to her episodes not allowing her to concentrate. On the other hand, her high manic episodes ended significant relations with men that could not deal with her pains. She stated when discussing her difficult times that, “no amount of love can cure madness or unblacken one's dark moods. Love can help, it can make the pain more tolerable, but, always, one is beholden to medication that may or may not always work and may or may not be bearable” (Jamison 155). It is a hidden battle to walk through

Stereotypes are made about groups of people in every class, country and race. The mentally ill are no exception to this fact. Mental illness has no bounds and can affect anyone, whether rich or poor, American or Canadian, black or white, it does not matter. People with a mental illness or disorder are looked at as dysfunctional, violent, unsuccessful, and even foul-smelling individuals. People with extreme cases of mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, are often called crazy, insane, and mad when in actuality they are acting in a radical way because of something that these individuals cannot control or express in ways that is understandable to people without these disorders. Throughout history people with mental illness have been misunderstood. Insane asylums were used to imprison people with a mental illness when all they really needed was medical attention. In order to combat this stigma an understanding of symptoms and treatments for the mentally ill is necessary. Once their problems are understood people will find it easier to walk in their shoes and will probably be kinder to those with a mental illness. When this happens the stigma will dissolve and eventually disappear entirely and people with mental illness will finally be treated the way they deserve, with respect. Understanding mental illness is the first step to defeating an ignorant society and ending a terrible stigma.

The author of An Unquiet Mind, Kay Jamison, suffers from bipolar disorder a serious mental illness that has made its mark on her. “Manic-depressive illness or bipolar disorder is a disorder of mood that involves recurrent episodes of abnormally elevated mood (mania) and depression.” (Burton pg.123 2009). Every case is different but all cases of bipolar have manic episodes followed by depressed states. From the decreased activity of the monoamine neurotransmitters serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine in the brain results in depression, increased activity of these monoamine neurotransmitters results in the effect of mania. (Burton 2009). Lithium is a treatment commonly used to treat bipolar disorder. Researchers

According to Merriam-Webster, mental health illness is described as a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause noticeable grief or disability and that are usually related with a disruption in standard judgement, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning. Mental health is described as a level of psychological comfort, or the absence of a mental illness. It is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment from the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an person 's capability to enjoy life, and produce stability connecting life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. The World Health Organization, suggests mental health illness includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, inter-generational dependence, and self-actualization of one 's intellectual and emotional potential, among others. The WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the recognition of their capabilities, managing with normal stresses of life, constructive work and involvement to their community. Ethnic differences, prejudiced evaluations, and competing professional

Dr. Jamison the author of An Unquiet Mind, recaptures her life in the world of manic depressive disorder, later to be categorized as bipolar 1. She explains in great detail the symptoms she undergoes through her life and how they affected her everyday living. Besides the recount of her symptoms divulges how she coped and overcame the obstacles of her disorder. She also allows the reader to know the struggles she had with her treatments as she went through life till she was able to follow her own treatment plan.

Many terms and concepts are commonly associated with mental illness. the topic of mental illness has many overlapping and subset definitions. Mental illness, a term that encompasses a wide range of mental disorders, contains subcategories of mental disorders distinguishable by effects on a person's behavior, thinking, and mood. Disorders are the most commonly referred to an aspect of mental illness; types of disorders are schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression. Syndromes, even more, specific than disorders, pertain to particular systems within subcategories of disorders and are identifiable by distinct symptoms, mental or physical markers expressed by a disease; examples of syndromes are an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder