Mental Illness

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.

In the article, We stop the next Aurora not with gun control but with better mental health by David Dow a tense message is delivered. Dow argues that the two most common policy positions on mass shootings are lacking in thought. One policy is that there should be stricter gun laws and the other is that more people should be able to carry and conceal firearms. Dow states that both of these policies should be discarded. Dow believes that the guns are not the problem, but a person with severe mental illness is the problem .The core message behind the passage is that the mental illness inside of a person is to blame for these tragedies, not the guns in the hand

The general public seems to favor the idea of increasing the reporting of mental illness in background check databases and limiting the ability of those with mental illness from gaining access to guns. In an article by James D. Calvert PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Southern Methodist University, cites a recent study done by The New England Journal of Medicine that found that both gun owners, and those who don’t own a gun agree that mental health providers should be required to report those who have threatened to hurt themselves, or others to a background database (Calvert, 76). Another article written by Jeffrey W. Swanson, PhD., a lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University, discusses how the public bases its information on what it learns from sources in the media, which “reinforces the public’s perception of a strong link between mental illness and violence.” (Swanson, 169). This perception then also helps creates a fear of people with mental illness and makes those with such problems afraid to seek voluntary treatment.

Mental Health is the root to numerous problems in America, how your brain deals with certain situations determines how sick or healthy our minds are. Based on a Washington Post-ABC News Poll of 808 adults, 57% agreed that the mass shootings were due to mental health issues whereas 28% said that it was due to inadequate gun control laws (SHEN). Almost 30% additional people thought that it was a mental health issue instead of a gun control issue. Since a larger portion of adults believe that mental health is the root to mass shootings a mental health test need to be complete on anyone who wants to carry or purchase a weapon.

With mental illness identified as a very probable cause of these shootings, it is critical that the evidently poor and ineffective clinical help for mental disorders be reevaluated. A theoretical explanation for the modern prevalence of mental illness could be the increasingly optional nature of treatment: therapy is a choice, and checking into a facility or institution is

Mental health issues can make anyone have a hard life, they can stem from just a nuisance to taking over your entire life. They are not to be taken lightly, as people can harm themselves or others around them. This is why when someone with a mental health issue commits a mass shooting, they will need to be treated much differently than if it was just a normal person that committed the crime. “Federal gun control policy responses to the Sandy Hook and Aurora shootings strengthen legal prohibitions on gun ownership to individuals with histories of mental illness who are deemed at risk for violence to themselves and/or others” (Rosenberg 2011). With strengthening legal prohibitions it determines who can get a firearm. This keeps everyone a little bit safer, because it can keep those people that have the tendency to act out, not be able to own a firearm. If someone has a mental illness and they are at risk for violence to themselves or others, they should not be able to get a firearm, because that gives them a way to hurt themselves or others and ruin the rest of their

Mental health and mass shootings seem to go hand in hand, especially when the talk of gun laws comes up.The debate about gun laws getting stricter due to the mass shootings across the country has been stewing for about 18 years now. What sparked the debate was back in 1999, Columbine High School was involved in a mass shooting killing 12. This is one of the many examples that could define the gun violence and mass shootings in our country. As there seems to be a direct correlation between gun violence and mental illness.Now rather than enforcing stricter gun laws in the wake of recent gun violence events, the federal government should fund mental health programs.

People have been diagnosed with a disorder that can psychologically and mentally harm them in many ways. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an illness that can harm people mentally and physically (Mayo Clinic). Many people get this disorder because they experienced an emotionally disturbing situation (Mayo Clinic). Doctors can recognize the symptoms if a person has PTSD by diagnosing them and can treat PTSD in many different types of ways. There are historical events with PTSD about doctors realizing that PTSD is a problem and came together to figure out on how to treat PTSD.

Psychological disorders are stated to be abnormalities of the mind, known as mental disorders (Klasco, 2011). Abnormalities of the mind cause persistent behaviors that affect an individual’s daily function and life (Klasco, 2011). The different types of psychological disorders include mood disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders (Klasco, 2011). The causes of these disorders are unknown, but factors that contribute to these disorders include childhood experiences, chemical imbalances in the brain, illnesses, heredity, stress, and prenatal exposures (Klasco, 2011). Psychological disorders can be serious and can be life-threatening

In several previous mass shooting cases the gunman had treatment in the past with mental illness. For example, according to an article posted in the NY Times, the gunman involved in the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings that killed twenty people may have had previous physiological problems, he had been “completely untreated in years before the shooting for his psychiatric and physical ailments”. Also, found in that same NY Times article the gunman involved in a Washington Navy yard shooting that left twelve people dead had “twice sought treatment from the department of Veterans Affairs for psychiatric issues” just months leading up to the shootings. The resolution to this problem, however, would not be to completely deny people with any type of mental illness the right to own a gun. The solution would be to allow them to purchase guns, seeing that the pass the required background checks, as long as they are being treated for their mental illnesses and continue to do so. This way they are not denied any of their rights and future mass shootings like the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings can further be

Jeanne is a social worker employed by a community behavioral health center where she provides clinical services to the persons who are suffering from chronic mental illness. Two days prior, one of her clients, Jessica, committed suicide. According to the social worker, for many years Jessica had been struggled with depression and cocaine addiction. Right after the suicide, Jessica’s parents who had participated in her treatment at numerous times, in the context of family counseling contacted Jeanne, the social worker to tell her about the tragic situation. The social worker met with Jessica's parents, to talk about Jessica's lifelong challenges. Jessica's parents spoke for a long time with the social worker about how much they appreciated her effort on helping Jessica during the challenging period of her mental illness. The parents also talked to the social worker about how painful it is for them to bury Jessica. At the end of the meeting, Jessica's parents tell the social worker that they would like for her to deliver the eulogy in the funeral, because they consider her as an important person of the family. The social worker was very "touched by the parents’ sentiments and their poignant request. She felt close to the family and wanted to be supportive. At the same time, however, the social worker quickly recognized the ethical dilemma facing her. She was especially concerned about violating Jessica’s privacy, and confidentiality”(Social Work Today Magazine). The main

Psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and/or create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms (Cherry Kendra). Films could be used as a medium for teaching anyone about psychology, social work, medicine, nursing, counseling, and even literature. Or media studies about mental illness and psychopathology (Movies and Mental). As such, I had watched a psychological thriller film in my earliest day and the film gave an example about psychological disorder. The film was “The Number 23.”

The article entitled Police Encounters Involving Citizens With Mental Illness: Use of Resources and Outcomes is a paper that studies 6,128 police interventions in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The main objective of the paper was to compare the characteristics of police interventions with individuals who had mental illness and those were not mentally ill. The motivation behind this hypothesis was that the authors had noted that there was little research done about the use of resources in police interventions with those with mental illness, although there was an abundance of research compiled about the arrest rate after police intervention of those with mental illness. The two things known about the use of intervention with those who are

Mental illnesses can have many debilitating effects on the afflicted individual and their social system, these circumstances can develop from the symptoms of the illness itself as well as the stigma emanating from other’s perception of the illness. Connell and Brazier (2014) recruited 19 individuals within the United Kingdom’s mental health services to participate in semi-structured interviews that revealed seven domains of quality of life (well-being versus ill-being, hope, relationships and a sense of belonging, autonomy, activity, self-perception, and physical health). In terms of activity, the interviewees mentioned benefits that can be reaped from of being productive and engaging

Over the past decade, there has been many changes in the culture we live in starting with the development of technology and the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Technology has created ways to connect with people all over the world by a simple touch of a button. It has created cars that practically drive themselves, less open space land and more cities, and most depressingly, created more cases of mental illness amongst youth. There have been some positive advancements in technology but also many negative effects, for example mental illnesses. Mental illnesses are highly treatable with medication and psychotherapy. Today’s youth do not have the same effects from these treatments compared youth in past decades. As Dr. Kathleen Pajer states in her