About 43.8 million people are diagnosed with a mental illness per year in the U.S. Mental health treatment has become an important subject due to events of criminal cases, such as shootings, which are led by individuals who show signs of mental illness. Mental illnesses are as serious a condition as any physical health condition, however, they aren’t covered as such. There are many promising features about a mental health reform, however, it is difficult to present them when they are also opposing arguments. The policy towards a mental healthcare reform has been emphasized throughout America, though, there is yet to be a solution.
Research has shown that the mental healthcare system is broken, and for this reason, bills such as The Mental Health
The lack of treatment for mental illnesses — due partly from the stigma with which it is associated with — comes with a number of public issues: economically,
In addition to the historical aspect, confusion about mental health is another reason leading to the perception of the mentally ill. The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, (1999), dispels any confusion by making detailed analogies and information. Mental health and mental illness are not opposites; they are like two points on a continuum. The value of mental health is
In the United States alone, approximately 20% of Americans experience a mental illness in a given year, and 1 in 25 Americans live with a serious mental illness that significantly impacts one or more life activities (NAMI.org, 2015). These disorders span across the lifetime, many starting by the age of 14, and mental health care is often the root of progress or hindrance for a person whose life is impacted by these unseen disorders. Though it is not always evident that an individual is experiencing mental illness, these complications influence the daily lives of millions of people worldwide, regardless of age, culture, race, religion, or other delineation. As a result, it is vital that this sector of healthcare be thoroughly examined for inefficiencies,
Due to the politics underlying both, gun control and mental-health legislation, this recent shift came with a lack of simplicity. Being careful not to ignite inaccurate stigmas about mental illnesses; advocacy groups and congressional Democrats remained reluctant not to connect escalating gun violence with people suffering from mental health disorders as the leading cause of these recent shootings. Deep disagreements on Capitol Hill, along with great demands from family members of individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness would not come cheap. Also, it would only become another obstacle standing in the way of accomplishing the goal of bringing change to the mental health system (Sun,
What is left is that we have many citizens who are mentally ill and are not receiving treatment. However the patients who are able to receive treatment are only able to have some treatment covered. Health insurers are responsible for covering the immensely large cost of substantial treatment, a mixture of medication and therapy; since therapy is highly priced, less reliable, and time consuming; patients typically do not receive treatment for therapy. Health insurers would much rather cover medication because it is cheaper, it heals patients faster, and it is more reliable than therapy. However, medication is not made to heal, but to only coax symptoms of a mental illness (Sandberg).
As the issue of mental health increases among Americans more and more mental health facilities are shutting down. Patients who need help are not receiving the proper care they need, and the families of the loved ones impacted by these disorders are watching them suffer. With no place to live for these patients they often end up on the streets only to get involved in crime and end up in jail. The only way to stop this vicious cycle from growing even more is to put more funding into the mental health facilities. It is essential that the public understands that mental illness is a disease that needs to be cured, and it is not an abnormality to be scorned and mocked; therefore funding mental health facilities will help both the victims who need treatment and the public who needs to be educated on the facts. The funding of these mental institutions will stop these individuals from
In today’s society there is a greater awareness of mental illnesses. With this greater awareness one might assume that there would be a substantial increase in government involvement or funding in the area of mental illness treatment. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in the U.S. today. There are hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness that go untreated. These potential patients go untreated for many reasons. These reasons are discussed in the Time article “Mental Health Reform: What Would it Really Take.
A rather hotly debated current topic in healthcare is the assertion that mental health suffers more staff and specialist shortages than any other sections of healthcare. Mental care takes up a unique and important place in the healthcare sector, especially in the nursing workforce. In mental health nursing, some workers are engaged in acute care while others are engaged in the larger mental health community. In the latter setting, nurses work and interact in integrated teams with communities and professionals such as social workers, occupational therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists (McAllister et al., p. 575). Clearly, mental healthcare integrates multiple disciplines working to improve patients’ mental wellbeing.
A huge percentage of Americans suffer from various mental illnesses. 1 in 5 adults in the US, or 18.5% of the population, will experience mental illness in a given year (NAMI). With these mental illnesses come so many difficult questions. How can we improve the lives of Americans struggling with mental illnesses? What happens if these Americans become harmful to themselves or others? And how can we help and keep their families involved? The American government as well as several organizations have been trying to tackle these issues. Congressman Tim Murphy created a bill called the Helping Families in Mental Crisis Act (H.R. 2426) that seeks to “fix the nation’s broken
The negative stigma of mental health has lightened slightly over the years, however, it has not rescinded entirely. People still have an unmanageable time admitting that they may have a mental disorder and that they require assistance. Human beings struggle with these hindrances openly and also hidden on a daily basis. Therefore, our civilization needs to remove the shame associated with the treatment of mental disorders and work on devising a progressive suitable mental healthcare plan in order to ensure that many live a healthy, happy, and prosperous
Mental illness has been a social problem of this country for years however the way government has addressed the issue has been inadequate. This bill addresses the struggle that families have in finding care for their loved ones. The ineffective polices and antiquated programs that have been in place to care for the mental ill. Mental illness is a social problem that does not discriminate based on age, class, or ethnicity. The way physicians address and handle individuals and families with mental illness when untreated imposes severe burdens on the economy. The extraordinary delay in responses results in a mass of suffering.
A mental health issue is a disorder or different kinds of conditions that affects one’s mood, thinking and behavior. It even affects how we think, feel, and act. A mental health issue also helps determine how the people handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from the childhood and teenage years throughout adulthood. People who have a mental health disorder use several things to try and cope with their disorder; some think about drug use and even suicide. The federal government has had these conditions brought to their attention but will they do anything for these people with these kind of these disorders.
Healthcare delivery for persons with mental illness is complex and many barriers exist that prevent patients from receiving quality care such as homelessness, substance abuse, imprisonment, stigma, accessibility, and cost. A review of the history of mental health, an examination of past and future laws, and an assessment of what the barriers to achieving mental health wellness are, will help to improve awareness and promote better treatment solutions for those afflicted by mental illnesses.
You walk over to your hallway closet, a door that has been sealed shut for years. Slowly, you twist the handle, and with each degree the knob turns, you find your hesitation strengthening. “What lays behind this door?” you question, “Do I want to deal with it?” Yet you find your courage and pull open the closet. Everything comes crashing down. Like a hallway closet, society pushes away challenging topics they do not understand. How the mentally ill are treated falls under this category. Our government has neglected to establish proper mental health care, despite passing multiple legislations that address the issue. In 2008, President Barack Obama passed the 21st Century Cures Act, attempting to advance mental health care. Although
Properly treating and providing adequate resources for those who are mentally ill has long been an issue in America. Most often the mentally ill are treated as criminals, locked away in jails instead of allocating resources to better train police officers in encounters with individuals who suffer from these mental ailments; housing these individuals in satisfactory mental health facilities instead of jails would better suit their needs. A stigma has been placed upon mentally ill individuals, they are seen as being dangerous, irate, and more likely to partake in criminal activity. There is a necessity for police officials to be properly trained in how to recognize as well as how to handle a mentally ill person, jails along with prisons must cease being used as housing quarters for the mentally ill, individuals in impoverished, minority communities need to have the same access to mental health facilities and resources as people in middle-class areas are privy to, and lastly mental health screenings should be a prerequisite to gun ownership to help ensure the decrease in mass shootings committed by those who are of ill mind.