The Lack of General Knowledge about Mental Illness

The public has programmed many to perceive those with mental illnesses as more dangerous. According to the New Yorker, a study done in 2013 showcased that forty-six percent of respondents believe that people suffering from a mental illness pose a greater danger to society than those without. Furthermore, two recent Gallup polls, from 2011 and 2013, demonstrated that more people believe that mass shootings transpire because of a failure in the mental health system, not due to the easy access of guns. In the cases of Sandy Hook, Marysville-Pilchuck, Virginia Tech, and more, teachers, students, parents, and most importantly, the public, automatically assumed only insanity could cause the performance of those acts. Of course, mental illness can play an immense factor in a person’s likelihood to commit violent acts, but pinpointing it as the paramount reason for them should not happen. After lengthy analyses of data that discusses the correlation of gun violence and mental disorders, Jeffrey Swanson, a medical sociologist and professor of psychiatry at Duke University concluded that mental illness became a risk factor for gun violence in four percent of cases. Although the presented facts disclose the almost non-existent connection between mental illness and gun violence, many continue believing the opposite.

Although stigmatizing attitudes are not only relatable to mental illness, the public attitudes towards mental illness tend to be more disapproving than towards people with physical illnesses (Piner and Kahle, 1984; Socall and Holtgraves, 1992; Weiner, Perry and Magnusson, 1988). Those with mental illnesses are viewed as being more likely to be responsible for their mental illness (Corrigan et al., 2000; 105). This assumptions is more towards those who suffer from substance additions and eating disorders rather than those who suffer from conditions such as schizophrenia (Angermeyer and Matschinger, 2004). Such attitudes as these therefore lead to discrimination. People in society are less likely to employ (Bordieri and Drehmer, 1986) and rent apartments (Page, 1977) to those suffering from mental illness, citizens are also more likely to direct false accusations of violence to the mentally ill. (Explaining the increased arrest rate among mental patients: a cautionary note, 1980; Steadman, 1981)

Furthermore, tremendous advances have been made in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses in the recent decades. Nowadays, someone with a mental illness is treated with respect, just like every other person, because, in fact, everyone is equal. Society’s goals today are to treat and support the mentally ill individuals enough so they can live in

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.

A small group of people with mental illness (those with severe and untreated symptoms of schizophrenia with Psychosis, major depression or bi-polar mood disorder) may have an increased rate of violence. In this group, Individuals who are suffering from psychotic symptoms that cause them to feel threatened or manipulated by Outside forces have a greater tendency towards violent behaviour. In spite of this, with early assessment and Appropriate treatment, individuals with severe illness are no more dangerous than the general population. Community treatment programs have also been found to be helpful in the management of behaviours that lead to crime.

But mentally ill individuals are usually unsafe if we make them one. Mental illness does not always lead to violence. In cases where violence occurs, the incident normally results from the same reasons as with a regular person; thus, feeling threatened, excessive use of alcohol and/or drugs, etc. However, some offenses that the mentally ill commits leave the government no option but to incarcerate them. These crimes also draw some people’s attention to the wrong side, making them agree with the government plan to imprison them. One of the cases that I believe contributes to this is Tarasoff v. The Regiments of the University of California’s case. Tarasoff v. The Regiments of the University of California is the case that flickered communities to look more into finding ways to protect the community (imprisoning the ill). This case consists of the premeditated murder of Tatiana Tarasoff by Prosenjit Poddar, who detailed to his therapist that he would commit the murder. Unfortunately, after all the assistance through therapy, Poddar still committed the crime. Situations like these made some people lose hope with psychiatric centers. Instead, they see mentally ill as criminals who are using their illness to their

Historically, society has believed that people with mental disorders tend to be more violent than normal people, creating a stigma for patients. They thought that a mentally ill person tends to cause harm and chaos which was difficult for this person to deal with. In fact, research suggests that public opinions on the relationship between mental illness and violence do not reflect reality, although some people with psychiatric disorders commit violent crimes, it was not really clear about how much mental illness or substance abuse affect violent behaviour. Media had a great effect on people by making them think that the mentally ill are violent which was proved to be a myth, as they are more likely to be victims than offenders.

In the United States people who have a mental illness are often stigmatized by others which causes one to often lose out on many opportunities due to the lack of understanding and education of others as well as experiencing discrimination. Many who live with a mental illness want to work and to provide for themselves, however, due to the stigma that surrounds mental illness portrayed by the

Many things can be done differently in order to provide a safer, yet fair way to manage who can and cannot purchase firearms. One change that could be made is a mental evaluation directly before a person can legally purchase a gun. This would help because people who pose an immediate threat would not be able to purchase a gun or other firearm during that time, when they might be considered the most dangerous. However, some people would have no

Many people see the mentally ill as crazed individuals that commit peculiar crimes that they don’t necessarily get punished for. That is not a completely inaccurate statement. Research has been going on for decades to try to see if there is in fact a link between the mentally impaired and violence. First physicians attempted to put together an archetype that would help them guess if the mentally ill patient in question was at a high risk to be violent. But that is all they were; merely guesses as to how likely a person was to commit violent acts. The first real studies done to correlate the mentally ill and their threshold of violence was done the 1970s. These tests showed that clinicians are twice as likely to be wrong as they are right when

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).

When people are mentally ill, they suffer social stigma, have higher health costs, and are at an increased risk of becoming poor. Every one out of five Americans is diagnosed with a mental illness. That 20 percent of the population can negatively influence the normal stresses of life, working productively and fruitfully, and being able to make a contribution the community. When humankind as a whole cannot recognize that mental illness is a serious issue, there is more harm being done than good. Any kind of mental illness can be caused merely by society, but also can worsen due to humanity not understanding how injustice can make a serious impact. The mental health problems that people face can be limited to society learning about the injustice of these illnesses.

“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.

As mentioned by Howitt (2015), a mental illness can be defined as ‘a variety of psychological conditions in which there is a characteristic disabling and distressing impairment in some aspect of the psychological functioning of the individual.’ However, not all mental illnesses are found to be at risk of violent offending. Such illnesses as anxiety and depression are found to be less violent than mental health problems such as bipolar and schizophrenia, both of which will be included in the subset of mental health problems recognised as violent for the purpose of this essay. The relationship that has been identified between mental illness and crime has the ability to be misconceived through misclassification of violent mentally ill offenders and a variety of factors which have the ability to cloud the evidence of the

Lack of mental health literacy has been a rising problem in society as the prevalence of psychiatric disorders have increased. Heath literacy has helped people with physical health problems to get treatment and support that they need. It is important for people with mental health problems to have this support as well. The article, “Mental Health Literacy” by A.F. Jorn is about the issues that many societies today face when it comes to people understanding mental health.