Mental illnesses Mental illness is a very misunderstood thing as there are so many mental illnesses that range differently with low and high extremities depending on the person and not every medication will work for each person. There was once a time where mental illnesses were frowned upon and it was something people rarely talked about. Patients would be kept hidden and locked away in asylums and treated in horrible and brutal ways. However through time, mental illnesses are heavily discussed through social media, in school, non-fiction and even fiction. Mental illnesses are very common in nowadays teen fiction. With all this once hushed topic now in the open it is very interesting to see how authors interpret mental illnesses and how they would portray their characters. This is my main reason for choosing this topic to explore. I chose texts that displayed different mental illnesses in teenagers and how each individual gets better. I chose All The Bright Places and Holding Up The Universe written by Jennifer Niven, Perks Of Being a Wallflower written and directed by Stephen Chbosky and an award winning short film Empty directed by Tom Smith All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is a compelling novel about mental illnesses and friendships. The story centres around Violet Markey- a quiet but popular young adult who finds it difficult to “be okay” after her older sister’s death. As well as Theodore Finch- a quirky teen that has never ending thoughts of ways to
Students in the classroom come from a variety of backgrounds. Their lives are shaped by their families, their communities, but also their peers in school whom they will spend hours a day with throughout their educational career. The ability to form relationships with others, to create lasting friendships that grow and evolve with time, is detrimental to all children and their development. Lacking the ability to do so, whether it is directly because of their conditions or because of how other students perceive them, can dramatically harm them emotionally and mentally.
The following essay will begin by demonstrating what is understood by the concept of mental health. It will attempt to identify different explanations for the underlying issues causing mental illnesses and it will then centre around a case study focusing specifically on one mental health problem. A description of what the causes and effects of the chosen illness will be given and information on the available treatment will be presented. To round up the assignment a brief explanation of the chosen case study will be included with an attempt to distinguish the common issues identified and how they relate to the literature information provided throughout. In this assignment, the case study chosen will target depression.
Mental health among college students has been proven to be a relevant social issue that our society faces. There are certainly a few different institutions that play a large role within the development of this social issue. The first institution, and the primary institution at play with this issue, is the higher education system. In terms of mental health and having access to resources, college students haven’t always been as lucky as they are today. One study in 2007 explains the story of Junior at Syracuse University (Kravets, 3081). Anita Rutman had a history of mental health issues; she even found herself being admitted to a mental health hospital. One morning in February, she threw herself off of the eighth floor of Boland Hall and landed on a patio and fortunately lived. However, her attempt stemmed from the university sending her letter three days prior that informed Anita that the school was planning to dismiss her because of her suicidal tendencies (Kravets, 3081). Anita later sued Syracuse for ten million dollars for malpractice and negligence in handling her condition.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, mental illness is a health conditions that can involve changes in a person's thinking, emotion and/or behavior. Amy Bloom, writer and psychotherapist wrote “Silver Water” displaying the changes a person can have, as well as the impact it has to others. In “Silver Water”, by Amy Bloom, she exposes the condition such as mental illness and the impact it has on not just the person suffering, but the stability of their family; Bloom uses 14 year old Rose who deals with mental illness and demonstrates how her illness influence on her family.
According to NAMI, The National Alliance of Mental Illness 1 in 5 adults experience a mental health condition yearly. 1 in 20 people live with a serious mental illness like, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Not only does the person who is directly experiencing a mental illness suffer, but the family, and friends are also highly affected. NAMI states that 50% of mental health conditions begin by age 14 and 75% of mental illnesses develop by age 24. Each year, 1 in 5 children from the ages 13-18 experiences a mental illness reported by NAMI. That’s a large amount of our young generation. Three out of four people with a mental illness report that they have experienced stigma, a mark of disgrace that sets a person apart according to the
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
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.
Working in the mental health field has exposed me to different clients with psychosocial behaviors, and I have viewed how individuals are often impacted in our cultural, societal and environmental system. I have also observed the impact it has in clients when there are policy changes in an agency. The focus of this analysis is to further provide an examination of agency policies, operations conflict, steps that can be taken in administrative level and steps in the micro level to resolve conflicts that may arise. The focus of this analysis will also concentrate on a community mental health agency named Enki Health & Research System, Inc., (ENKI) that helps children with different behavioral difficulties.
According to the Unite for Sight organization, “In 2002, of the estimated 450 million people worldwide living with mental or behavioral disorders, 90 million were drug or alcohol dependent, 25 million suffered from schizophrenia, and 150 million had depression” (Unite for Sight). Mental illness is something that today’s media and government does not want to address, which is seen repeatedly in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. More and more people are being diagnosed with a mental illness and this trend needs to come to an end. People need to understand the various aspects of mental illness. While treatment of mental illnesses has improved over time, the effect they have on the individual and the people around them has not.
I chose this topic because I have mental illness and I have been around a lot of people with mental illness and in every book, movie, or tv show I’ve read or watched, I look at the representation of the mentally ill and the societal attitude towards them. Jane Eyre had a few characters that have signs of having a mental illness. While the book does not say Rochester has depression and Jane has anxiety, the reader can read through the lines and see that their actions speak louder than written
When mental illness first strikes, family members may deny the person has a continuing illness. During the acute episode family members will be alarmed by what is happening to their loved one. When the episode is over and the family member returns home, everyone will feel a tremendous sense of relief. All involved want to put this painful time in the past and focus on the future. Many times, particularly when the illness is a new phenomenon in the family, everyone may believe that since the person is now doing very well that symptomatic behavior will never return. They may also look for other answers, hoping that the symptoms were caused by some other physical problem or external stressors that can be removed. For example, some families
It is becoming more recognized and well- known around the world that the mental well-being of one’s parents largely affects the development and or the emotional and mental states of oneself. Research is becoming much more widespread and researchers could make important recommendations on how to intervene in the lives of children with parents suffering from mental illness to best prevent harm to their health and well-being as they grow. It has been found that the most common mental illnesses among people of child-bearing age are anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Most policy however deals with the care of children whose parents must be hospitalized due to their conditions. Much of the current research though aims to show that even those which do not require extreme medical intervention can impact children physically, emotionally, socially, cognitively, etcetera.
All the Bright Places, author Jennifer Niven's first venture into young adult literature, follows Theodore Finch, a teenage outcast who battles an undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and Violet Markey, a young girl who has begun questioning her place in the world after the death of her older sister. Finch and Violet meet atop a tower on their high school's campus early in the novel as they contemplate killing themselves; Finch, who finds himself on the brink of suicide with some frequency, recognizes Violet's discomfort so high in the air and helps her off the tower's ledge. Finch is drawn to "Ultraviolet Remarkey-able" almost immediately, and he volunteers himself to partner with her on a project soon after their initial meeting, as a result. Violet, who relies on "extenuating circumstances" to get out of any arduous homework, only begrudgingly agrees.
Unfortunately, I began reading “Darkness Visible” with preconceived notions and wrongly assumed that this memoir, like “The Last Time I Wore a Dress” by Daphne Scholinski, would be filled with charismatic descriptions of life in a mental hospital and the activities (or lack there of) surrounding day-to-day life.
Niven uses a mature command of language to accurately explain the teens struggles, but still keep appropriate parts of the novel light hearted. Many times depressed people find themselves with good and bad days. This book shows a variety of both. Even fault finders admit that this novel could be very beneficial for readers with friends that have a mental illness or suicidal tendencies. All the Bright Places is about love, trust, and heartbreak and is in fact a very inspirational read. Through the hardest parts of Theodore and Violet’s lives they find each other to hold onto as many people commonly