Mental Illness In America Research Paper

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.

The twenty-first century has certainly garnered a reputation. As the generation of acceptance, it has paved the way for many minorities and those previously shunned from society. This being said, America is far from perfect. With every step forward, towards a more equal country, two steps are being taken back and previously forgotten reservations will return. An example of the way America hasn’t progressed is in the way of mental health’s priority in everyday life as well as the services available to help those diagnosed cope.

Mental illness is an issue that impacts all prison systems throughout the United States. The wellbeing of inmates is a long debated issue. There is much improvement that can be done in the prison systems to help rehabilitate and treat inmates while they are incarcerated to better prepare them for a successful reintegration into society. An examination of the current rehabilitation and treatment programs for inmates diagnosed with psychological illness will assist in identifying failures in within the program. Proper implementation of these services can improve an inmate’s chance of successfully reintegrating into society after incarceration and ultimately lower the cost of running a government funded prison. This essay will cover the prominence of mental illness in prison, drug treatment programs that are used to address mental illness in the prison system, continue assistance or continuation of programs for released inmates, the opportunities that exist for rehabilitation, and a proposal for a rehabilitation program. The purpose of the research is aimed at improving the circumstances of the inmates to receive assistance while incarcerated that they may not receive while free.

Mental illness is a major burden on society that is not given enough attention or resources, especially in the United States. The continued neglect of these needs concerning related conditions dates back to the beginning of history, while diagnoses and the need for adequate care have only continued to rise. These inequalities in the United States mental health care system create enormous ethical challenges for these individuals in receiving health care. “In 2007 about 11% of adults (23.7 million) in the United States experienced serious psychological distress, such as anxiety and mood disorders, that resulted in functional impairment that impeded one or more major life activities” (Sundararaman, 2009,

Earley’s (2007) book, “Crazy: A Father’s Search through America’s Mental Health Madness”, shows us just how difficult it can be to get a loved one suffering from a mental illness proper care in America’s mental health system. Through the struggle of having his son mentally ill, the author takes a stand to research and expose the problems within the mental health system and shows why policy reform is crucial. The author also reveals the system’s failure to acknowledge that jails are becoming America’s new asylums and how poorly the mentally ill are rehabilitating. The book strives for

In today’s society there is a greater awareness of mental illnesses. With this greater awareness one might assume that there would be a substantial increase in government involvement or funding in the area of mental illness treatment. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in the U.S. today. There are hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness that go untreated. These potential patients go untreated for many reasons. These reasons are discussed in the Time article “Mental Health Reform: What Would it Really Take.

America is branding people like cattle. No, this is not a physical mark seared onto skin by the government, but it is still an invisible mark on our own people that sets them apart and makes the government recognize people based on differences instead of recognizing the similarities that can bring us together. Mental illness has been branded as one of these differences. Yet, mental illness is simply “a condition that impacts a person's thinking, feeling or mood and may affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis” including depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, schizophrenia, and autism as some of these conditions (Conditions 1). Therefore, the American government must break the stigma of mental illness and

There are many people in the United States that have a mental illness that is either not

While these rights seem like the perfect solution to the issues of historical abuse of mental health patients, treatment for the mentally ill has gone through major reformation since these rights’ establishment. Today, the rights created in order to protect patients instead give them power to make decisions they are not in the frame of mind to make. New laws need to be

Mental health issues, a shadowed problem in the U.S, has affected millions across the nation. In the United States, there are many problems with its mental health service. People with mental disorders are in an inferior area with hospitals being shut down, they usually end up homeless, and sometimes they even end up in prison. Consequently, the U.S pays a large amount of money to go into holding these prisoners who could have been in mental hospitals. In addition to mental hospitals being closed, some people do not receive treatment or help towards their problems.

Mental illness refers to all diagnosable mental disorders defined as “health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.” (Williams & Torrens, 2008, p. 221) With one in every five American adults experiencing mental illness, the resulting economic burden exceeds $300 billion per year to include approximately $100 billion in direct health care expenditures, $24 billion in disability benefits, and $193 billion in lost earnings. (Insel, 2008) This estimate is conservative as it excludes the components of incarceration, homelessness, comorbid conditions, early mortality and the incalculable costs to families that absorb much of the financial and emotional burdens of these illnesses. Despite the fact mental illness contributes over 6% to the nation’s health care spending; the United States (U.S.) mental health system has historically lacked integration with physical medicine and public policy support. (Insel, 2008)

In the United States, there are 25% of adults who are diagnosed with a mental illness and it is predicted that 50% of the adult population will develop a mental illness within their lifetime; 8-9% of the adult population in Florida is diagnosed with depression (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). Promotion, awareness, and the availability of mental health services are public health areas in my community that needs attention. The needs of my community are not entirely met, and there are inconsistencies when addressing mental health illness through mental health screenings and routine/follow up appointments. There are some people who are not getting the necessary medical attention, and are therefore are unproductive and unaware of where they can help and what help is actually available to them. The number of adults that report that they have good mental health has decreased since the last Orange County community health assessment of 2007-2010; over 30% of the population ranks their overall mental health as good, fair, or poor, with the severely mentally ill accounting for almost 2400 members of our homeless population (FloridaHealth.gov, 2012). 30 % of the population may seem like a small number when it compares to the other 70 percent of individuals who reported having great to excellent mental health, but I think more can be done to meet the needs of the 30%.

Mental health issues, a shadowed problem in the U.S, has affected millions across the nation. In the United States there are many problems with its mental health service. People with mental disorders are in an inferior area with hospitals being shut down, they usually end up homeless, and sometimes they even end up in prison. Consequently, the U.S pays a large amount of money to go into holding these prisoners who could have been in mental hospitals. In addition to mental hospitals being closed, some people do not receive treatment or help towards their problems.

American culture pays particular attention to drug use. As seen on the news, offenders of major crimes suffer from some sort of mental illness; society believes that victims of mental illness are/need to be/should be on medication. The stigma is fueled when statistics are presented with the reduction in crime with medicated patients (Healy, 2014). Although being medicated is thought to pose less of a threat to society, studies have also shown that the rate of crime may increase with administered medication; such as the research shown on antidepressants (Villines, 2015).

Senator Creigh Deeds story is just one of many that end in tragedy because of a mental health system that has failed. While the major proportion of people living with mental illness are not violent, they can become a victim of violence. According to the latest statistics from the American Psychological Association one in five adults has a diagnosable mental disorder, one in twenty-four has a serious mental disorder (SMI), and people with mental illness are no more likely to be violent that people without mental illness (Association, American Psychiatric, 2016). Untreated mental health care is characteristic of the violent crimes that we see happening today. Some of the reasons behind these untreated individuals are the unmet needs of people not having a financial means to pay for services, lack of insurance, knowledge about how to access care, embarrassment about having the need for services, and those that needed care but experienced delays in accessing care (Jones et al., 2014).