Mental Illness And Mental Health

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.

According to Merriam-Webster, mental health illness is described as a broad range of medical conditions (such as major depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or panic disorder) that are marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to impair normal psychological functioning and cause noticeable grief or disability and that are usually related with a disruption in standard judgement, feeling, mood, behavior, interpersonal interactions, or daily functioning. Mental health is described as a level of psychological comfort, or the absence of a mental illness. It is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment from the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an person 's capability to enjoy life, and produce stability connecting life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. The World Health Organization, suggests mental health illness includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, inter-generational dependence, and self-actualization of one 's intellectual and emotional potential, among others. The WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the recognition of their capabilities, managing with normal stresses of life, constructive work and involvement to their community. Ethnic differences, prejudiced evaluations, and competing professional

Mental health as Pilgrim (2005) stated is used positively to indicate a state of psychological wellbeing and negatively to indicate its opposite, or euphemistically to indicate facilities used by, or imposed upon, people with mental problems (pg 3) although Richards (2002) argued the concept of sanity and insanity are relative and may vary according to individual and social perspectives, and illustrated that an acceptable behaviour at an arts festival may not be perceived similar in a private home and that there are times when every one of us could be considered to be in an abnormal state of mind (pg 13-15) and in that regard dispensed the term ‘madness’ which could have emotive meaning, is neither a medical term nor a diagnosis and could

In today’s society mental health has become something that is much more known to individuals and their families. Mental health is something that is as serious as a physical illness but it is still feared and misunderstood by many people including those who are diagnosed with mental illness (Stuart, 2012). Though you cannot see mental illness physically it inside the body and mind and can do just as much damage, if not more. There are many forms of mental illness that include; anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias and panic disorders. Many individuals with mental health seek help from doctors, nurses and therapist to help overcome the challenges of mental illness (Stuart, 2013). Dealing with a mental health issue is hard enough as it is because many people misunderstand them and they carry a stigma with the mental illness that needs to be overcome by the individual. For those newly diagnosed medications are given to help improve the psychosis, hallucinations and major depressive disorder with great success, but for many the medication that is given has a side effect that makes the patient gain large amounts of weight throughout treatment (Kabinoff, Toalson,Masure,Healey,Mcquire & Hay., 2003). Not only are you dealing with stress from being diagnosed with a mental illness and learning to cope but now you are also given the stress of caring extra weight around and having people judge you because of

Mental illness has been the most overlooked issue in society today let alone within prisons. Researcher Lurigio (2001) explored studies from the 1970’s through to the 2000’s on the deinstitutionalization and restructuring of mental health laws that basically channeled the mentally ill into the corrections system. Often mentally ill offenders are released into community care. Lurigio emphasized that community based care “compartmentalizes” mentally ill offenders and creates limitations on whom they treat. This creates yet another gap within the corrections system for offenders to fall into. Those who require treatment may not get what they need because community care can only treat so much. These “missed” offenders are often the most serious and chronic.

Mental Health Statistics show that at some point in our lives, 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem. With Anxiety and Depression being the most commonly diagnosed forms of mental illness, current thinking shows that tackling this problem head on, by addressing depression through treatment in clinical practice but also in the wider community as a major public health concern. (Mental Health Foundation , 2014)

Mental illness affects many people throughout the United States each year. Some people classify it as any psychiatric disorder that is the cause of untypical behavior. Many years ago, doctors locked up mentally ill patients in mental institutions and basically forgot about them. Medical professionals housed the mentally ill in different corridors of the hospital. Sometimes, they stayed in isolation and were in some type of restraints. Once government officials realized that neglect was getting out of control, deinstitutionalization became a hot topic. Deinstitutionalization started as a government policy that became a long-term trend to lessen the burden on professionals in mental treatment facilities. Its intent was to have fewer treatments in public hospitals and fewer people residing in the facilities. The deinstitutionalization movement began in the mid-1950s and government officials were hoping the process would improve the treatment toward the mentally ill (Lauer, 2014). Additionally, there were several drugs that helped the mentally ill and officials believed that those people would get better care by living in a community based environment. Moreover, it was another way to balance the government budgets. However, the impact on human service agencies, specifically community mental health facilities, prisons, and probation offices, was less than adequate because all of the unknowns and the social stigma attached to the mentally ill.

The recent 2007 National Survey of Mental health highlighted anxiety disorders as the most prevalent (evident on graph) followed by depression and substance abuse. Prevalence of mental illness generally decreases with age with most prevalence in ages 16-24

Mental illness; the term has increasingly become mainstream, as seen on the television, newspapers, and twitter. Shortly after the fatal shooting of a new screw in Virginia the word got around that the gunman had shown symptoms of a mental condition. A mental disorder is prolonged dysfunction in thoughts behavior and/or emotions that significantly deviates from common human behavior. During his life This individual was never diagnosed of this condition however after analysis of the terrible shooting and other events which led to the shooting showed major disturbance of his mind. With the recent advancement of psychology, the once underlying and difficult to interpret conditions have been exposed and step are being taken to overcome mental disorders. However, there is still debate of how mental disorders are viewed in the community and when thinking outside the norm turns into a mental condition. In the case of the Virginia shooter some analyst argued that the shooter was mentally well with wrong morals whereas some argued in favor of the existence of a mental condition. Taking a look at the major life events preceding the shooting, an insight into his mental health can be used to determine type of disorder he might have had. For instance, he had recently been fired from the same news agency for misconduct and many complains which had been filed against him. His Facebook and Twitter accounts showed that he felt out of control of his life, stress of losing a job and a lot of

A long-contemplated concept in health and the wider community has been the hindering factors preventing good health outcomes for people with mental illness. One principal theory that has emerged is that stigma is preventing these good outcomes from being achieved. Three reoccurring links emerging in literature are that stigma impacts self-concept, stigma causes isolation and withdrawal, and that stigma reduces help-seeking and treatment adherence. These three themes will be explored individually from the primary perspective of a healthcare context to determine the effect of stigma on the health outcomes of people with mental illness. This topic of concern was selected as it has not received much attention by previous researchers. As such, little is still known and understood about the causal link between stigma and health outcomes.

Mental illnesses are brain diseases rooted in biology. Approximately one in every four adults has experienced a mental health disorder according to the Huffington Post. National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) statistic identified mood disorders as the third most common cause for hospitalization in the U.S. for youth and adults. Mental illness compared to other chronic diseases is far more complicated and subjective. This serious and objective health problem has become increasingly obvious recently. In the past years, increasing numbers of children and adolescents experienced emotional disorders. The question of whom or what is responsible for this problem requires understanding the factors affecting the illness in the fields of biology,

According to the Mayo Clinic, mental illness can be described as a “wide range of mental health conditions, disorders that affect an individual’s mood, thinking and behavior”. It is important for society to be aware of the situation so that precautions are created in order to help monitor the issue that mental illness has on public health. Mental illness supplies a substantial burden of disease worldwide. According to S. Marshall Williams, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 450 million people suffer from mental disorders. It is extremely important to understand the hardship that come with those who possess issues regarding mental illness as it correlates with public health and violence. It is imperative to understand that mental health is fundamental to overall health and well-being and should be treated with the same urgency as physical health (Williams, 2005). Society should know that mental illness can influence the onset, progression, and outcome of other illnesses and often associates with health risk behaviors such as substance abuse, tobacco use, and physical idleness which can often lead to crime as a way for individuals to release their frustrations (Williams, 2005). Moreover, it is important to identify the early onset of risky behavior in order to create a blockade to prevent negative acts from occurring. Although there is a possibility of violence committed by those who may have mental illness, the public is no less accustomed to

Mental illness has always been present, but the views and treatments have drastically changed through the centuries. In past decades, particularly in and after the 1930s, advances in helping the mentally ill have increased in this field because of the growth of government funding and medical breakthroughs. Additionally, society has become more knowledgeable and accepting of the struggles the mentally ill face; programs and non-life-threatening treatments have been created since society has become involved. Today mental illness can be helped and even cured with professional help and medical attention. Though the world knows more than it did a few years ago, much is yet to be discovered; the gruesome past of mental illness is still highly present. Mental illness is an uphill battle for all who are diagnosed, and to understand fully the struggle and persona of the mentally ill, one must look into the treatments prescribed in the previous century, medical breakthroughs, and treatments of mental illness today.

I have chosen to include seven immediate family members in my family genogram. These family members include my grandfather, John Brown, who was a deacon at a Baptist church before his passing. My grandmother, Susan Brown, who is currently caring for my sister and her child. Also included is my mother, Yvonne and her two younger sisters Pamela and Adrienne. Both my mother and her sisters are currently unemployed. In this genogram, I have also included my brother Aaron, and my sister Kristin. My sister Kristin suffers from a cognitive disability due to an accident that occurred when she was a child. While completing this genogram, I noticed the prevalence of mental illness within my family. Within this analysis, I chose to focus on mental

Freud and Maslow, along with many others who have studied and are still studying human behavior settle that mental health does affect physical health. People are healthier when they have a higher self-esteem; thus making negative people/ones with low self-esteem less healthy. Ever hear that stress wears down the body? It’s absolutely true! Stressing can cause problems and produces fear and anxiety. Stress can grow a resistance to disease and can slowly decrease your health.