Personal Narrative: Ignorance Is Truly Illness

With cancer requiring colossal amounts of money from society to attempt to treat and cure the disease, it has become an important and relevant social issue in the United States. In 2016 alone, there will be an estimated 1,685,210 cancer diagnoses along with approximately 595,690 deaths in correlation with cancer in the United States (Cancer). Although with the United States having a population around 318 million, only approximately 5% of the population will be affected by cancer. With this only affecting a small portion of the total population, the topic of cancer can create a social issue and source for debate

The article addresses multiple interpretations of the mental disorder: schizophrenia. One of which, characterizes the mental disorder as a disorder that impairs an individual’s perception of reality; leading to significant cognitive and social impairment. Other opinions argue that the disorder should be separated into several different ones; stating that it’s a very serious group of disorders that make the patient experience vivid delusions, hallucinations and on top of other types, states of psychosis. Additionally, schizophrenic patients suffer ongoing side effects such as absence of movement,

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.

Cancer has a serious effect on the people that have it. There are many different treatments for cancer. People who have cancer can go through a surgery that can remove the tumors in the body and that could remove it and they be in remission. Another one is chemotherapy which causes the patients to become weak and ill, because it is killing the cells in their body that aren’t needed as well as some that are needed. Bone marrow transplants take place in order to build the white blood cell count up. The treatments are very common and have been around for many ages, but they seem to put patients through more pain and uncomfortable situations. Medical marijuana can be used to help treat cancer but not cure it. Many people that have been through the process to get to remission or maybe not make it to remission but reached a point where they do not want to go through any more treatments, and feel that they will be better off just living the rest of

It’s astonishing how one diagnosis can completely alter the life of a family. One day you’re looking to move into the fancy houses along the coast, and the next you’re forced to consider if you would be able to afford the same home with one income. When I was three years old my mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. I was too young to know what was happening, but at the age of seven, when my mom was diagnosed for the second time, I began to notice a change in my family’s daily life. I was told not to sit on my mom’s lap and that she could not play with me as much as usual due to her Chemotherapy, but it was not until her third time contracting cancer that I noticed the pain she was in. I was fourteen when I finally learned about the very thing I had been trying to figure out for nearly my entire life. This burden has solely shaped the way I act and how I handle life’s many challenges, but how it accomplished this was not always a joyous experience.

When you hear the quote-"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get" from the movie Forest Gump, it may not mean much to you, but it holds true to what my life has been thus far. I was just a sixth-grade student waiting for my dad to pick me up for a routine appointment, when suddenly, we got some news that would change my life forever.

No one considered that Schizophrenia was the ailment that tormented my brother. We assumed it was just stress and anxiety that stole his nights, his sanity, and his joy. We all believed that it was just a phase my happy, go-lucky, comic brother would get over. After all, doesn't everybody go through these rough patches of their life, and like a phoenix tried through a fire, rise triumphantly? That was my hope for my brother. But as the days progressed, fatigue mixed with delusions consumed my brother’s thoughts and disrupted his ability to function. As a sister, I felt helpless watching my big brother, my hero, and my confidant going through the greatest battle of his life - mental illness. Episodes and psychiatric breakdowns were constant,

It’s a struggle to get out of bed sometimes, I often just sit there struggling to comprehend the sequence of events which have taken place over the past year. I mean, I’m used to this now, its normal to me, but the fact that this has happened and that I am now ‘disabled’ as people would put it is hard to get my head around. And every time I look down I’m reminded of the pain and the struggle I faced, it’s a physical scar which links me to my grueling past, a physical and emotional journey.

I enjoyed every bit of this Introduction to Psychology class. I put together many things about myself and my own life that I didn’t notice before. Now that I have been introduced to the realm of psychology I have a much better understanding of the reasons of behavior that is around me every day.

Sam walked down the corpse ridden street. The smell would have been unbearad past an old abandoned tavern as a horse drawn cart hobbled by full of reeking bodies. The Plague had started 37 years ago when the gallys had arrived at Italy’s port. When the Plague hit, great panic almost spread as fast as the Plague itself. People adopted insane Ideas of how this happened and what to do. Even though Sam lived at a small town he had heard rumors of a exceptionally psychotic group called the flagellation.

My story begins when I looked at the world around me and wondered what it would be like without me. I would stare at the sunset near my home and just wonder. I thought things would function the same. I’m no one who's made a big impact in this world yet. But, I did know I’d have an impact on the people closest to me and though that may not be the world… it is to me. That was enough for me to realize that I had to get better emotionally because I am who I am. I realized I should not allow people’s ignorance determine my emotional state even if it’s from the people within the world I just mentioned. As anyone who’s gone through the same thing, they know it isn’t easy to overcome. I probably had an immense amount of resilience to get through this.

I’ve always been passionate about understanding others; stepping into their shoes and seeing, thinking, and appreciating the lives they live. I think it is important to take that extra step and see things from a different point of view. It is the only way to achieve a true understanding. I believe in this philosophy so much so, that it’s one of the main reasons I have this blog; to give others a glimpse of a life with mental illness. I’ve been in treatment for 2 months and 26 days and I think it’s time for another peek into my brain.

I sat on the table covered in all too familiar low grade tissue paper that everyone recognizes from their yearly physical check ups. I despise being at the doctor's office, but I needed to figure out what all these panic attacks meant. I remember feeling foolish going to the doctor for such a thing. It was embarrassing to think I had some sort of issue that I couldn’t contain. After running through a long list of fixed questions such as: “Does your breathing increase? Yes. Do your extremities go numb? Yes. Can you feel the attacks coming on? Sometimes.” etc.

A deadly virus has spread through out my whole school and I’m the only survivor , I need a plan to escape. Most of the students and teachers left their laptops and phones here, my plan was to get every electronic device and play a certain song out load on every device. This will attract the zombies and I will be able to escape through the window. Once I jumped out I ran to my car and started the engine. My plan is to go to Walmart and then travel to Dicks sporting good for weapons every week. The top five things I’ll bring with me to say alive is food, water, weapons, health supplies, and people. If you want to survive a zombie apocalypse you have to be able to work with other survivors. I’ll hide in high ground due to the fact that I’ll have