The Contemporary Concept Of Mental Illness Essay

You’re walking down the street, passing hundreds of people as you go. Do you ever stop and think that every single person walking past you has their own story and their own daily struggles? Even the person next to you may have something about themselves that they have never told anyone. A statistic from the National Institute of Mental Health, or NIMH, stated that in 2010 7.4% of the population had some sort of mental or behavioral disorder. This means that around 510,600,000 people suffered from some form of mental or behavioral disorder in 2010 alone. Now, with all this information we must first ask, what is a mental illness?

This unit aims to provide the learner with knowledge of the main forms of mental health problems according to the psychiatric classification system. Learners also consider the strengths and limitations of this model and look at alternative frameworks for understanding mental distress. The focus of the unit is on understanding the different ways in which mental health problems impact on the individual and others in their social network. It

Dissociative identity disorder is a chronic, complex, posttraumatic dissociative psychopathology characterized by disturbances of memory and identity (Nemiah). It is distinguished from other mental disorders by the ongoing coexistence of relatively consistent but alternating subjectively separate identities. It almost invariably emerges as the sequela of overwhelming childhood experiences (Putnam) However, it appears that in some adult cases, secondary autonomy of the defense of alter formation and function, the development of additional complexity, and a reworking of childhood experiences occur during adolescence. the adult form often becomes rather intricate in its structure, and adult patients’ given histories demonstrate the interplay

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.

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.

In my culture, society looks down on mental illness, and when news of mental illness gets out in the society, one’s reputation is pretty much destroyed. My elder brother, Imran, was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was a teenager. My family was still living in Bangladesh at the time, and my brother’s illness was treated as a secret by my parents. My parents went above and beyond to hide my brother’s illness because we come from a culture that is quick to condemn parents for their children being abnormal. My family felt very protective of the fact that we had mental illness in our family. Family visitation and guests in our home were strictly monitored by my mother and my siblings, and I was coached to make excuses for my brother. My brother’s illness shaped me as a person because I realized that I needed to be able to overcome the obstacles life throws in my way in order to take care of my family.

It not easy to determine how many people suffer from mental illness. This is due to the changing definitions of mental illness and problems classifying, diagnosing, and reporting mental disorders. There are social stigmas attached to mental illness, such as being labeled "crazy," being treated as a danger to others, and being denied jobs or health insurance coverage. These negative connotations keep many sufferers from seeking help, and many of those in treatment do not reveal it on surveys. Some patients do not realize that their symptoms are caused by mental disorders. Even though more is being learned about how the brain works a lot of information has still yet to be discovered, thus mental health professionals must continually reevaluate how mental illnesses are defined and diagnosed. The Surgeon General 's report estimated that roughly 20% of the United States population was affected by mental disorders and that 15% use some type of mental health service every year. Community surveys estimate about 30% of the adult population in the United States suffer from mental disorders.

The first website I looked at is run by a licensed psychologist named Philip Hickey. His site claims to be “an alternative perspective on psychiatry 's so-called mental disorders.” He uses this site to criticize the APA and all psychiatric practices. This website doesn’t exactly present a pseudoscientific treatment or cure because Hickey believes that mental illnesses do not exist and therefore do not require treatment. I think that a licensed psychologist using his name and title to discredit everyone who works in the field of psychology and all of the people living with a mental illness is just as dangerous as a fake treatment for a disease.

The mentally ill of decades past particularly of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were not necessarily seen or treated as a criminal element although the services and techniques that were employed by the medical establishment could be seen by today's standards as barbaric, this was not in ill will or some form of belligerence on the part of the doctors from the recent past but more attuned to not really understanding the complexities of the human psyche. Today although there appears to be a better grasps on the mental conditions that afflict people with mental disorders the asylum and mental hospitals that remain today do not suffer as much from the shortcomings of treatment and diagnostic techniques of the past, but a more plebeian

173 of my 173 Marian sisters are full of dignity. I see dignity every day in the hallways. Marian girls know they have to fulfill Rights and Responsibilities, because having dignity requires that. We also show Option for the Poor and Vulnerable in all of the service hours we do to help those less fortunate. Overall, we show Solidarity and stick by each other despite any awful tests, lengthy homework assignments, or sicknesses. From these girls I have gained the most influence as to who I am today.

The negative stigmatization of mental illness does not only affects a person relationship with their friends and family but also affects their ability to maintain a job and find employment. Suffering from mental illness people already have preconceived ideas about you such as that you are violent or incompetent. People that suffer from mental illness are less likely to tell their family, friends or their employer in fear that they will be seen differently, seem less than or fragile. Family and friends provide a support system that will give people a way to combat social isolation that comes with mental illness and gives you a way to fight against the the negative thoughts and feeling that no one will understand you, having someone to talk to when you are feeling down and going through a episode and knowing that you have people rooting for you and won't judge you is the support you need when you are going through a mental health issue.

Mental illness becomes a bigger issue with a long lasting cultural stereotyped due to the manner in which it has long been labelled (Miles, 1988). Although mental illness is very much connected to instabilities in one’s mental health state, as previously mentioned, a person can be mentally healthy but still suffer from a mental illness. What is understood by mental illness is that it

This essay will explain how contemporary issues in mental health influence people’s social wellbeing. Mental health is a fundamental element of resilience, health assets, capabilities and positive adaption that enable individuals to cope with both adversity and to reach their full potential and humanity. The impact on inequalities of health and other outcomes are sourced from mental health. For example, chronic stress of struggling with material disadvantage is intensified to a very considerable degree by doing so in more unequal societies.

“I want to be able to talk to someone in a pub and say ‘I have been mentally ill’ and for them to say ‘That’s interesting, what did you experience?’”, said a survivor from the UK in 1997 (Sayce 18). Almost twenty years later and this man 's wish still has not come true. People may ask why, and the answer is because of the stigma that comes along with having a mental illness. Mental illness is something not often talked about because of the fear of being judged. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in every four Americans has a mental illness, and only about 40% of them seek professional help (Hamid). People are being put into mental institutions instead of getting the help that they need to get better, because even people in the medical field are not understanding about this situation because they do not understand how it feels. The stigma and stereotypes towards mental illnesses are overwhelming, therefore people should be made aware of their impact and take steps to reduce stigma and stereotypes.

This essay will focus completely on Mental illness in the UK. To gather my research I used various resources such as websites and books. I have also viewed YouTube videos in order to expand my knowledge. The statistics gathered may not be totally accurate in discussing mental health within the UK for the sources are secondary but it is reliable for giving a view of what the distribution is like amongst gender, age, class as well as ethnicity.