Mental Illness Is Not Like A Headache

Throughout the centuries mental illness has been treated by countless treatments. Modern treatments have created an argument over which treatment options are best. the most debates treatments today are medication and therapy. the argument of medication versus therapy as treatments for mental illness is fairly new. Yet, proponents of both sides have strong arguments stating the advantages of their treatment option. proponents of medication believe pharmacogenetics, tailored treatments, and medication's ability to treat severe disorders makes medication the better treatment option. proponents of therapy believe drug addiction, suicide prevention, and need adaption establishes therapy as the better treatment choice.

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.

Most people with mental illness can and do seek out treatment for their condition. The Mental Health Act is concerned with the small number of persons who cannot or who do not seek out treatment.

“Hallucinations and voices that caused schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders have been stopped with the use of new medications”. (MHT, 2) “Just as aspirin can reduce a fever without curing the infection that causes it, psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms,” (MFMI, 4). “Another advantage of these medications is an increased understanding of the causes of mental illness. Scientists investigate the results of the medications, and through these results, they have learned a great deal about the working of the brain system.” (MFMI, 4) The use of new drugs has made it possible for mentally ill persons to live a normal life.

Furthermore, tremendous advances have been made in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses in the recent decades. Nowadays, someone with a mental illness is treated with respect, just like every other person, because, in fact, everyone is equal. Society’s goals today are to treat and support the mentally ill individuals enough so they can live in

They are popularly referred to as being part of a continuum, the ability to successfully perform in productive activities and relationships, as opposed to the inability to do such things (Mental Illness Overview). Ever since the first edition of the DSM was published in 1952, scientists have studied how a person’s mind relates to their brain and whether the disorders they listed were organic or purely in the mind (Arben). Science has made extraordinary leaps in this aspect, as they have come to discover not only the biological change that causes mental illnesses, but they are also able to pin down even specific chromosomes linked to them. One in particular that has been heavily studied is depression, which is known to be related to a lack of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Some of the more recently developed medications, known as SSRIs, block the receptors that recycle serotonin from taking in too much and allowing enough to carry proper signals throughout the brain (Johnson). While some people insist on the opinion that drugs such as these are overprescribed (Medications for Mental Illness Are Overprescribed), professionals use tested algorithms when determining whether a patient is in need of medication, and if so what medication to use (Restricting Medications for Mental Illness Harms Patients). These methods have been fine-tuned over the past few decades and are used treat a patient to their own personal needs, and to aid

There are many different mental illnesses and ailments and just as many medications to treat them. The problem is that sometimes the medications are not correct for your disorders due to similar symptoms. This leads to problems with the patients who need help, but the patients are not getting the right medications and treatment they need.

Over forty million Americans suffer from a mental health condition; and, unfortunately, fifty six percent do not receive any treatment at all. “Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion and behavior”(Psychiatry.org). People live with their conditions even though their quality of life and personal relationships may be negatively affected. When one lives in a state of denial about having a mental illness, they are cheating themselves out of living life to their fullest potential and will achieve true freedom only when they face the illness head on and seek recovery.

Realistically, diagnosis of a mental illness is only a medical diagnostic tool for the physician and it does not taking into account what the average person is dealing with or living with when they have a mental illness. One of the flaws of mental illness diagnosis is that it does not address the questions like what is the life quality of a patient or what other issues could arise in that patient based on these diagnoses.

Is there anything more frustrating than finding out that scientific theories that were considered great ideas back then if applied to today’s world should be tossed away? These theories are not a secret and I can go on and on; but similar to these scientific theories, there is a theory about the mental illness are brain illnesses. This is not true because a mental illness is referred to as “a wide range of mental health conditions that affects your mood, thinking and behavior” (mayo clinic). In a recent edge article, Mental Illness is Nothing but Brain Illness”, which is written by Ian Gold and Joel Gold argue that mental illness and brain illness are two different things. For example, if we have a brain illness, it is only associated with the brain. In order to treat that brain illness, we just have to fix the damage done to the brain because the cause relies in the brain. On other hand, if we have a mental illness, it effects the brain; but it makes “references to the world outside the brain” (Gold). In order to understand and treat a mental illness, we have to “sometimes move outside the skull” because there are several causes (Gold). I agree with the writer that so much research is done on the brain, but none of it yet can help the mental illness’s patients. So, if we stop associating mental illness as brain illness and research on the main causes, we can prevent some people from getting a mental illness at all. This

Since the mental disorders that were discussed alter the individual’s cognitive process such as attention in similar ways, it is healthier to seek therapy that are concentrated in areas that would help improve the patient’s emotions, and better yet, to find a method that will lead to better control of the person’s feelings and sensations. It is also important for anyone dealing with a mental disorder, that the best therapy in the long run would be a therapy approach that centralizes in treating all aspects of the illness. For example, a person who is taking medication and at the same time is taking cognitive behavioral therapy, when dealing with

One of the most important cause of mental illness is our environment. Several environmental components can increase our chances of getting a mental illness. Factors like feeling low in self esteem or anxiety, living in poverty, death or divorce in the family, social or cultural expectations can deeply affect or shape our risks of getting a mental illness. In the article “mental illness is nothing but brain illness”, Ian Gold mentions about this unique disease called schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a “psychiatric brain disease par excellence.. marked by hallucination and delusions.” He explains how the risk of developing this disease can increase when a person experiences “childhood adversity like abuse and bullying”. I agree because this can cause people to have low esteem and they might not be able to stand up for themselves and will feel people are abusing even when are not. Similarly, in an academic journal (2012) written by Luhrmann, he argues how this mental illness like schizophrenia can be effected by low self esteem. Luhrmann argues that your chances of developing schizophrenia increases if you are dark skin, which will negatively impact their self-esteem. He also claims that your risk also increases if you are “beaten, taunted, bullied, sexually abused or neglected as a child”. All these reasons will negatively impact the person self esteem and cause anxiety. This article also supports that living in poverty or being born poor can also increase the chances of

We are a group of time travelers who are returning to Earth from the year 2100 and people’s current accepted explanations and treatments for mental illness are completely different than ours. People of current times believe mental illness can be explained through biological and psychological explanations. But, the way we think of it is, why not just have one explanation instead of having multiple? Additionally, these people believe in using dream analysis, support, coping skills, hypnosis, and much more. People of current times believe that there has to be a physical cause of mental illness. Further, Mental illness, of course will not be entirely wiped out, but treatments for mental illness in the year 2100 will be high tech, easier, and faster.

Some other treatment has to do with medicine and being out in the open world and dealing with the problem head on too. Another is that people who have mental illnesses are more violent than the every day human being. No, in fact research from renowned professor of psychiatry Rohan Gangulli says that is the complete opposite of reality. Lastly, there is an idea going around that people under a certain age don’t get mental disorders. This is most certainly untrue, people of all ages in all walks of life have them.

Even though there’s treatments there isn’t exactly any cures to mental illness. While a cure is defined as relieving a person or animal of disease or condition taking care of a mental illness infrequently has the outcome of a cure, essentially. What it does end in is an individual feeling improved, becoming well, and may even result in eventually no longer requiring treatments. Mental illness is considerably more frequent than the majority of diseases. Take depression for example, it tends to come and go in one’s life, even if they’ve successfully treated previous episode. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of explanation or warning to when a mental disorder will take place, who it will attack and how long the episode will last. So technically a mental illness cannot be cured. Dr.’s and psychologists can assist individuals with understanding what it is, train and engage new ways of managing symptoms, and help them do the best they can with the resources they have