Women With Serious Mental Illness Essay

I’ve always been passionate about understanding others; stepping into their shoes and seeing, thinking, and appreciating the lives they live. I think it is important to take that extra step and see things from a different point of view. It is the only way to achieve a true understanding. I believe in this philosophy so much so, that it’s one of the main reasons I have this blog; to give others a glimpse of a life with mental illness. I’ve been in treatment for 2 months and 26 days and I think it’s time for another peek into my brain.

I valued the participants, with a mental illness, sharing their perspective and experiences of living with a mental health diagnosis. As social workers, it is beneficial to understand a clients experience and environment to the best of our ability. I will take away the stigmas faced by individuals with a mental illness and consider how this impacts their psycho, social, and emotional

From there, the article talks about how mental illness is a global problem and how societies all over the world see it as a burden. Because of this, mental illnesses have become a chronic disease, especially in the United States; this because nothing is being done to help those affected. The article has a focus on creating strategies to help resolve or improve the problems there are with mental illness. The author looks at past resolutions and asks people who are actually going through this themselves in order to better understand what society can do to help alleviate some of the pain and

One of the biggest contributors for poor healthcare is the stigma against mental health. This stigma allows healthcare providers to view those with a mental illness as having low relevance, thus creating disinclination towards providing adequate resources and/or care. This negative stance, based on misinformation and prejudice creates those that have a mental illness to lose their self confidence. Because of this loss, people with mental illness decide not to contribute to their health or livelihood. In the past fifty years, many advances have been made in mental healthcare. However, with the attached stigma, many people choose to not seek out treatment.

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

Although about 450 million people in the world currently are suffering from a mental illness, many untreated, the topic still remains taboo in modern society (Mental Health). For years, people with mental illnesses have been shut away or institutionalized, and despite cultural progression in many areas, mental illnesses are still shamed and rarely brought to light outside of the psychiatric community. The many different forms in which mental illness can occur are incredibly prevalent in the world today, and there is a substantial debate about the way that they should be handled. Some people are of the opinion that mental illness is merely a variance in perception and that it either can be fixed through therapy or should not be treated at

Years ago mental illness was perhaps the most misinterpreted and mistreated illness. It is a disorder that is characterized by disturbances in a person’s thoughts, emotions, or behavior. At one time it was a sickness that no one would dare talk about. The humiliation was so strong it was looked upon as a crime. Patients would be “put away” not to be treated but to protect them from the community. It was an illness to be ashamed of and was thought to be brought upon by patients themselves. Mental illness refers to a wide variety of disorders, ranging from bipolar disorder or depression, to post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia. Each one of these disorders can cause anywhere from mild distress to those that impair a person’s ability to function in normal day-to-day life. In the movie “Call Me Crazy: A Five Film”, it looks at how each individual copes with mental illness and succeeding in everyday situations. By comparing similarities in the film with the differences about mental illness in ordinary life we can understand how the movie at times exaggerated mental disorders.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “1 in 4 adults live with a serious mental illness (Ken).” This means that in American there are almost 62 million people suffering from mental illness (Mayo Clinic). With that being said, only a small portion of the United States’ healthcare budget is used to fund mental health related research and facilities. Sarah Kliff, journalist for the Washington Post, reported, “…about 5.6 percent of the national health-care spending, according to a 2011 paper in the journal Health Affairs (Sarah).” Kliff also expressed that the United States has a budget of $113 billion dollars annually to spend on healthcare. Consequently, that means that only 6.3 billion dollars are spent on mental health issues every year. This is a staggering number consider that roughly 25% of the United States’ population is living with a serious mental illness (Sarah) Due to the large portion of American’s living with serious mental illnesses it directly impacts family communication. To get a better understand on family communication and mental illness this paper will discuss what a mental illness, communication symptoms of mental illness, how to improve mental illness, as well as communicating options for help with your loved one.

numerous individuals in America, with nearly 43.8 million adults in America living with a serious illness (Mental health facts in America, n.d). Many of these adults suffering with a mental illness also play the role of a mother, father, or caregiver. According to Costea (2011), “…31% of American women and about 17% of men have a 12-month prevalence of at least one psychiatric disorder, and of those 65% are mothers and 52% are fathers”. However, research focuses on the individuals suffering from a mental illness, and often overlooks the patient’s children and the distress the parents’ mental illnessmay cause on their children. Children of parents with a mental illness deal with a complex life that is filled with

He reported that over half of Asians, Latinos, and African Americans in need of services did not receive any medical treatment for their mental illness. Additionally Burns (2009) reports, “Women of low socioeconomic status have been shown to be at particular disadvantage in accessing mental health care, and there are clear barriers to accessing alcohol and substance abuse services for women compared with men.” After reviewing this article it is shocking to see the structural violence against individuals with mental illness, individuals dealing with homelessness, ethnic or racial minorities, and

Mental health is defined as a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. We have been aware of mental health since prehistoric times, but we began making advances towards helping people with their mental health in the 1840s when activist Dorothea Dox requested for better living conditions for individuals that are mentally ill. In just 40 years, Dox effectively influenced the U.S. government, and got the funding to build 32 psychiatric hospitals all over America. Since then, we have made considerable progress, there are currently 5,627 psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. Though we have come far, we are still not far enough. Approximately 60% of adults, and nearly 50% of youth with a mental illness received no mental health services in the previous year.

It is estimated that 43.5 million Americans, adults 18 or older, live with mental illness. This number represents 18.1% of all U.S. adults (National Institute of Mental Health, 2014). Stigma toward those who are seen as different have existed for as long as civilization itself, with the stigma for mental illness being one of the most prominent and long lasting that society has had to face throughout its ages (Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012). Increased understanding and awareness for those individuals suffering from mental illness is necessary for us to overcome the impacts stigma has on our society.

Mental health—and the stigma that comes along with it—is a very important issue, one of global importance. Shah and Beinecke explain that 450 to 500 million people suffer from mental illnesses (15). Just considering the amount of people who suffer from mental illness is enough to prove that this is a global issue. Despite the large amounts of people who are affected by mental illness, only one third of countries have some sort of program to help (15). This shows the lack of concern for those who suffer from mental illness. Stereotypes affect many people, and those with mental illness are no exception. Everyone has their own preconceived perspectives and notions of mental health, and many of them are uninformed and unjustified. It is up to us to start changing our viewpoints on mental health.

68% of women and 57% of men that suffer from a mental illness are parents. Mental illness is a substantial contributing factor to child poverty. Many children have a parent who has had a long-term mental health problem, and this can lead to alcohol or drug problems.

Mental illness is a health condition that affects an individual’s moods and thinking in a way that changes how that person relates to other people in society. The functioning of the affected person is also altered and usually results in the person failing to perform some of the daily activities that the person has previously engaged in. Mental illness can be considered a combination of both social and health complications, affecting the social life of the people who fall victim in many ways (Elliott & Huizinga, 2012). There are some health complications that are also experienced with mental disorders. It is also important to note that medical attention forms part of the therapies that try to correct or control this condition. More recently most concern has been on the fact that mental illness is a major social problem in the world (Gonzalez & Rosenheck, 2014).