I personally am not surprised that those of us living in the United States have higher rates of psychological disorders than the rest of the world. There are many different factors in which I believe attributes to this prominent issue, but one of the largest includes the fact that we live in such a consumerism based, and self-absorbed culture. This type of environment can put a lot of stress on individuals; causing people to have thoughts that the only we to be admired or viewed as successful in America is by obtaining the most put together life as well as own the latest model of car, have the most spacious house, own the latest clothes, etc. The pressure of this always weighing down has the tendency for stress to arise. Stress has the ability to cause psychological disorders to appear or become more prominent.
The reason I think psychological disorders are much more common in the United States when compared to other countries is because of the way our country operates. There is no other country in the world that quite compares to the lifestyle that Americans live every day. It was explained in class by Dr. McCrea that there was a study done in multiple different countries around the world discrediting one common belief and finding a new one instead.
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I now am more aware of what I can do as a United States citizen to reduce my mental health risk. The first is to allow myself a mourning period when something stressful in my life comes into play. This is so it does not build up in my mind and drag me down in the future as depression. I can also rewire the way I think about distasteful situations. This way, they can no longer bother me. For example, if I fail an exam I must understand that even with that worst-case scenario, my life is not over. I can learn from my mistakes and will not be kicked out of college just from my one bad
One is the Universalist view, where there are similarities in mental illnesses across all culture but the expression of the disorders differs. The other view is cultural relativists, in which some disorders are unique to a culture and these disorders are commonly only understood from the cultural perspective. Culture plays a part in deciding how serious an illness is, an illness that occurs commonly in the United States may not be viewed as serious as if the illness was in another country that was not as familiar with the illness. I believe culture plays a very large part in the acceptance and standards on mental illness.
medicine has provided answers yet haven’t fixed the fact that many Americans still suffer from
The emphasis on the dangerousness of the mentally ill has only helped fueled the stigma against mental illness in America, harming those who need help the most. Although the stigma against mental illness in America is perhaps comparatively weak when compared to the stigma in developing countries or Asian countries, it is strong enough where “despite the availability of effective evidence-based treatment, about 40% of individuals with serious mental illness do not receive care and many who begin an intervention fail to complete it” (Association for Psychological
Today, protecting and strengthening our ‘mental health’ could not be more important. With our quick pace, 24/7 culture, we face more stress from our daily lives than before. Many of us work extended hours or multiple jobs, and take fewer vacations. In fact, one in three American employees is chronically overworked. The line between work and home life is often blurred so home is no longer a place of rest. Sleep and exercise feel like luxuries. We are eating poorly more often. We are constantly bombarded with information. We are also more disconnected from family, friends, and neighbors, and less engaged in our communities than we use to be. Trusting in one another has steadily declined over the last 30 years. Children aren’t immune either; many are racing from on activity to another without any downtime.(2007 Mental Health America.)
I thought it was interesting that almost half of all Americans (46.4%) meet the criteria for a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder sometime during their lives. This statistic stood out to me because a diagnosis of a mental illness can often come with a stigma attached to it. It makes me wonder how
There are many people in the United States that have a mental illness that is either not
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).
Weze, et al states that 36.5% of Europeans (the Black Dog Institute suggests this number is even higher in Australia, at a rate of 65% of Australians with mental health disorders never actively seeking treatment) never actually seek medical help or other official medical treatment or
Mental illness is an increasingly big issue in the United States. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there are 2.4 million American citizens over the age of 18 that have confirmed cases of schizophrenia. Many of these cases stem from poor living conditions, such as abusive households, drug use, and social interactions, along with other causes like neurology, and genetics are leading factors in the development of mental illness.
Mental health is among the most common ailments that affects millions of people around the globe. According to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental
There are times when people are plagued with thoughts, behaviors or emotions that will inhibit them from normal behavior. These are known as psychological disorders. These disorders come in many forms but all will have large effects on a person’s life.
America has a lot of issues as all of us know. But what people don't realize though is that most of our problems are directly related to psychology. If you really think about it, everything can somehow be blamed on psychology, but that doesn't mean that we have to make an excuse for our actions.
Psychological disorders can be determined biologically or a genetic predisposition and the chances to show the symptoms are higher than other people who doesn’t have these factors. However, studies shows that external factors can cause these disorders; factors such as losing a job, parenting, poverty, deprivation, etc. Although psychological disorders can happen to anyone at different ages, there are many associations and ways to decrease this to happen in society.
In society, psychological disorders can be hard to understand. Sometimes the media can portray how people act with a certain disorder that is unlikely of the person with the disorder. Not everything that is shown in the media is right about psychological disorders. Media can make psychological disorders very clear, exaggerated, and some could be completely wrong.
United States (US) has the highest rate of substance use among all developed countries (Johnson & Vaderhoef, 2016). Fifty percent of individuals living in the US has the comorbid mental illness (Johnson & Vaderhoef, 2016). Approximately two million people have admitted annually to inpatient treatment centers in the United States (Johnson & Vanderhoef, 2016).