The state of California leads the United States in population size by a large margin, with an astounding total of around 39 million citizens. This population appears even more massive when you take into account that the entire country of Canada only contains about 36 million people. Now what if I said that there were 43.8 million adults in the United States alone that undergo some kind of mental illness in a given year. It is an astonishing realization that the United States has more residents than the thirty-eighth most populated country in the world, whilst only including American adults with a mental condition. This large group of individuals contains more members than our most populated state, and make up 18.5 percent of the adult …show more content…
A mental ailment is a lot like a physical ailment in the sense that it is can be very difficult for the patient to overcome if they don’t have access to proper medical care. Diagnosis and treatment are imperative when combating mental illness, and I hope that I can help reduce the number of people that fight the battle alone. I want to try to give any patients of mine the life they deserve in spite of their mental condition. Furthermore, ensuring that victims of mental illness receive proper aid results in a safer environment for the people around them as well. Without treatment the patient's mental condition could become worse, and they could put themselves or others in danger. Mental disorders alone are not necessarily predictors for violence, but can lead to violent acts when left untreated or coupled with something like substance abuse disorder. Substance abuse can potentially amplify pre-existing symptoms in a person suffering from a mental condition, and roughly half of the 20 million individuals that have a substance abuse problem in the US also have a coexisting mental illness. Helping people is an empowering act, but the countless number of lives that could be saved in the process is priceless, and it is another huge reason my heart is set on this career. However, around fifty percent of people with mental disorders still go untreated, and the solution to this problem is much more complex than
The Psychology career I chose is Counseling Psychologist. A Counseling Psychologist are professionals “ who help individuals strengthen their mental health and get through common life problems with their home, job or social lives” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015, pg.1). Usually Counseling Psychologists find work at schools, businesses, hospitals or mental health clinics. They have to have an experience of a 1-2 year internship to qualify for a license but first they have to earn a Psy.D. The license these counselors obtain varies depending where they live and is needed to “ deliver mental health services and use the title ‘psychologist’” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015, pg.1).Counseling Psychologists have to have good communication skills and analytical skills. Annually, Counseling Psychologist earn about
From there, the article talks about how mental illness is a global problem and how societies all over the world see it as a burden. Because of this, mental illnesses have become a chronic disease, especially in the United States; this because nothing is being done to help those affected. The article has a focus on creating strategies to help resolve or improve the problems there are with mental illness. The author looks at past resolutions and asks people who are actually going through this themselves in order to better understand what society can do to help alleviate some of the pain and
Our progress in learning the causes and treatments for mental illness has been steady as we build on the medical model of mental illness, which Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman (2010) describe as a model that, “views emotional and behavioral problems as a mental illness, comparable to a physical illness (pp. 341). Only in modern times have we been able to effectively treat mental illness with behavioral therapy, social support, medicine, and other research-based programs. However, there is still much work to be done in regard to access, proper facilities, policy and a host of other challenges that affect this issue.
My entire life I have always been on the search of a career that would fit my persona, fit who I truly am, and to become someone who will constantly have the ability to help people through their difficult problems that they face. Throughout my life I have been deemed the type of person that people felt comfortable coming to with their problems. Maybe people feel this way because they sense that I have a sympathetic ear? Well, all I can say is that human behavior has always seemed interesting to me and that is probably why I made the decision to go down the psychology career pathway.
My name is Courtney Torok and I am currently a senior here at Kennesaw State University. I am graduating this December with a degree in psychology. I am originally from Michigan and moved down here to Georgia with my family just before starting at Kennesaw State University. I started off majoring in chemistry with the intent of applying to some kind of medical program, but eventually found that my passion was psychology. I have always wanted to work in the “helping” field. After graduating, I plan on applying to graduate school for school psychology programs where I will earn both my Master of Science in School Psychology and Specialist in School Psychology degrees. Ideally, I would love to be accepted into a graduate school in Florida, as
Almost half of the population in the US are affected by mental health conditions every year. A diagnosable mental illness affects about 43 percent of the U.S. population at some point in their lives. 75 percent of youth are left with no or insufficient treatment. If mental illness is recognized early on, it can help citizens avoid large medical bills down the road and could help lessen the amount of homelessness, unemployment, suicides, shootings, bad decision making, etc.
Psychological disorders are common in the United States and worldwide. The National institute of mental Health discovered that, “An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.” Having an uncle who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 2003 has changed the way I see people with mental illnesses. After reading and watching the documentary about prisoners who have to undergo medication just to live a “normal” life has given me inspiration to come up with a few ways that will help our justice system deal with these sorts of individuals. While researchers are trying to come up with different medical measures to cure these diseases we as individuals can implement some procedures to help and support mental patients.
The main complication is that America’s corrupted mental health system is a liability to the safety of regular American citizens because mentally ill people do not get the proper help they need and are easily able to gain access to guns. A majority of people with mental illness show signs of having a mental illness and are often not given a proper diagnosis or any diagnosis at all. Only one-third of the people with mental illness who have committed mass shootings in the U.S. since 1900 had sought or received mental health care prior to their attacks. This information suggests that most shooters do not seek or receive care that they need (Duwe 1). If a person with a mental illness is left untreated they could end up hurting themselves or others. Sandy hook mass shooter Adam Lanza presented clear signs of schizophrenia but was not issued the proper care he needed. (Turndoff 5). Another instance where the mental health system has failed is in a case where an individual with mental illness may be diagnosed, but their case is not taken seriously and left untreated. For instance, the notorious Charleston Church shooter Dylann Roof was diagnosed with a host of multiple disorders by a
In this article , the author Professor James Alan Fox discusses that it is an average of 9,289 people killed by someone with some type of mental health issue. Also, he speaks about the FBI’s crime reports between the years of 2007-2011. Statistics had shown that the U.S had an average of 13,700 homicides. He states that, if lives need to be saved, then the people that are making these deaths happen have to receive some type of treatment. Fox article is a reliable source because he discusses the failure of how the ones’ committing these crimes are still out here on the streets. He is a reliable source because he is a Professor at Northeastern University of Criminology, Law and Public Policy.
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).
I want to be a psychologist. I would love to learn all about the way people act, think and feel and at the same time try to help them. I have a very easygoing personality and I love to have fun and laugh. I ask a lot of questions, and I think I am very easy to get along with. Some career goals I have is to finish college, I would like to find a job I want to keep that I could make a career out of, and just take it one day at a time because I have desire to make the right decisions and live a pleasant life.
There were two things I was certain of when I enrolled into the University of
I have the desire to work in the psychological field either clinical counseling or addressing the problems among people due to social causes. This decision did not just “fly out of nowhere” but due to a process of elimination. Through high school, I took classes that would fit my curiosity and from that I decided that I was not going to become a boring engineer with a lack of social interaction but rather someone that deals with people on a daily bases. I enjoy talking to people about everything and that is why I chose my internship at Bagget Elementary as a mentor for a STEM club. The field of psychology is very board field and it branches into all sorts of fields such as business management, engineering and history. Since I enjoy talking to people and I want to go into the field of psychology, I chose this internship specifically so that I would have interactions with a different age group and observe how they react to things I never had growing up.
I have decided to obtain my masters in Counseling Psychology at your institution, not only to continue my educational path but to further my knowledge in helping the people in my community. Personally I have always had a desire to help out people in my community especially with the power of communication. Recently I have graduated from Virginia Union University and their I took two psychology classes and it helped me realize that counseling and communicating with people was something that I really wanted to do. I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in December of 2017 and want to do more with my career then to teach in a classroom. Wanting to still work in the school setting by counseling those students who may need a little guidance. Counseling is something that I know will take a lot of hard work and dedication, and I am ready to dedicate my time to the program to obtain best outcome possible.
Psychology is the study of the mind, its biology, and behavior if the individual. The father of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, used objective measurement and controlled analyzing to find and emphasize separation between psychology and philosophy (McLeod). Wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879, using his background in physiology to study reactions and sensations (McLeod). There is no doubt that he, along with the later help of Sigmund Freud, launched what is now modern psychology. Psychology and its research helped the world understand the inner workings of the mind and how it affects everyone around us.