Mental Illness: The New Cancer

When you think of mental illness, you don’t always think about all the ways it can affect you or your loved ones. Even if you do, you don’t realize how much a mental illness can change whoever it is affecting. “The Brain on Trial” by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist, is an article about mental illnesses and our legal systems. He explains the various effects mental illnesses can have on people and how the legal systems don’t always take this in to account in court. He also talks about the changes in your brain and personality when you have something such as a tumor or dementia. His stories are true and provide real world examples of some of the effects he has seen in people who have developed a mental illness.

The social problem I have chosen to write about is mental illness. This problem is important to talk about “because of the number of people it affects, the difficulty of defining and identifying mental disorders, and the ways in which mental illness is treated” (Kendall, 2013, p. 227). “About 57.7 million people, or one in four adults, in the United States suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder” (Kendall, 2013, p. 229). “Many of these illnesses begin in childhood or adolescence, with the most common problems being anxiety disorder, mood disorders, impulse-control disorders, and substance abuse disorders” (Kendall, 2013, p. 229). I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about how mental illness is a social problem and I have been interested in learning more about mental illnesses and how to help people with mental disorders.

Mental health is a complex phenomenon that consists of a range of diagnoses, treatments and outcomes. Recovery from such experiences has historically meant to completely remove all symptoms of illness, but is now currently thought of as regaining a sense of control over and development of a new meaning and purpose in one’s life, rather than feeling defined by the illness. Each individual understands it in their own personal way, likened to a journey towards self-determination, choice, and empowerment.

Mental illness is increasingly being recognized as a challenge faced by many Canadians. The Mental Health Strategy for Canada estimates that ‘in any given year, one in five people in Canada experiences a mental health problem or illness’. (Bartram et al., 2012) The prevalence of mental illness is not exclusive to the Canadian population and it is estimated that these figures are rising. In 2004, the World Health Organization ranked major depression as third in terms of the overall burden of diseases in the world, (measured by Disability-Adjusted Life Years) and it is predicted to rise to second by 2030. (Langlois et al., 2011) One of the greatest concerns is that many in need of mental health services are not receiving treatment. Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the onset of mental illness and gender differences are evident in terms of prevalence and causation. Gender specific mental health services should be incorporated into the Canadian school system to promote mental health among adolescents, identify those who require individualized services and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

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.

In Carrianne K.Y. Leung’s The Wondrous Woo a large majority of the characters are affected by psychological problems and encounter mental breakdowns. Certain mental health issues are portrayed more openly than others, while others are hinted at, but never entirely developed. Leung’s protagonist Miramar is challenged by eating disorders and her mental health in general, Sophia lies compulsively to make her life seem more appealing to others, while their mother suffers from attacks of paranoia, for which she is hospitalized. Miramar’s love interest in the novel, Mouse, also struggles with his mental health and complex family dynamics. Secondary characters as well suffer from mental

Mental illness is quickly becoming more and more common. There was a time when Americans never even knew many of the different mental illnesses and disorders were out there, and now it seems like everyone has one. This is because mental illness is overdiagnosed and there are statistics to prove this. The numbers of people being diagnosed with depression or anxiety has increased dramatically, along with ADHD. According to a survey that was done between 2001 and 2003, “46% of Americans met the standards of having a mental illness. These standards were from the American Psychiatric Association and the study was conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health” (Levine 2). That's almost half of Americans. There is no way that many of us have a mental disorder, and this is because they are taking normal behavior that everyone feels, and blowing it out of the water.

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 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 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.

What comes to mind when you think of mentally ill people? Is it depression? Or is it the asylums that “crazy people” are thrown into? What if I were to tell you that that's still a problem? Does having mental illness disclude people from the rest of humanity? Are their rights as Americans taken away from them because of their mental state? Every one in twenty five adults in America have lived with a mental disorder at one point, so why is their treatment not taken seriously?

How can we improve the treatment of mental illness in the United States? Take into consideration that the public does not want higher taxes. Explain. There is a five-point plan to improve our nation’s mental health. The first is to increase treatment, prevention and recovery services. We live in a world that is reluctant to make the proper investments that are so needed so we can provide effective, prevention, treatment and recovery services for people who suffer from mental illness. These investments would improve care plans and save us money by preventing costly crisis care and even hospitalization. The second one is to expand our mental health workforce. Shortages burden a fragmented mental health system. I feel that having people

For the majority of our nation’s history, treatment for those deemed mentally ill was poor at best. Now seen as rather dark and cruel, those suffering from a mental illness were cast away from society. Those admitted were locked away within the confines of an insane asylum, where they were ruthlessly tortured; many never seeing signs of improvement and subsequently never seeing the freedoms that lie beyond the confines of the asylum. Thus it is not hard to believe that as awareness of this treatment spread, civil rights activists took action toward protecting these patients. Patients diagnosed with mental illness were granted the following rights:

In 1961 Thomas Szasz penned a book by the title The Myth of Mental Illness that would go on to cause quite the stir in the world of psychiatry. In the book, Szasz stated his belief that what most psychiatrists would label as mental illnesses are in fact not illnesses at all, but instead what he would go on to call “problems in living.” This article will take a critical approach at Szasz reasons for his belief in these “problems in living” including an objective outline of his argument, a discussion on the validity of the argument and its’ premises, and finally the strongest objections to the argument. Szasz is an important figure in modern psychiatry and his opinions are very divisive but certainly worth discussing.

Americans suffer from various types of mental illness and mental health problems, such as social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, drug addiction, and personality disorders. Over a 12-month period, 27 percent of adults in the U.S. will experience some sort of mental health disorder, making the U.S. the country with the highest prevalence. Many Americans are going by their daily routines without being treated when suffering from a mental health illness. Homelessness people with untreated psychiatric illnesses comprise 250,000 people, of the total homeless population. The quality of life for these individuals is terrible. Many are victimized regularly and are looked down. Because of not being properly treated episodes of violence arises,