Understanding Mental Ill Health Essay

Mental Health America (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association) is the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives. With more than 320 affiliate nationwide, we represent a growing movement of Americans who promote mental wellness for the health and well being of the nation, every day, and in a time of crisis (2007 Mental Health America). As an organization, Mental Health America has been around for nearly a century. We began work in 1909 when Clifford W. Beers, a young business man who struggled with a mental illness and shared his story with the world in his autobiography “A Mind

Within this unit I will be showing my past and learnt knowledge of the main forms of mental health problems according to the psychiatric classification system. I will be looking at the strengths, Limitations and alternative frameworks for understanding mental health. I will also demonstrate ways in which mental health problems can and do impact the individual and there social network.

Mental illness is an epidemic that plagues the United States. In 2014, it was estimated that one in five adults, or 43.8 million individuals, are diagnosed with a mental illness each year (NIMH, 2014). Among military veterans and the active duty population, the prevalence is even higher. According to one study conducted in 2014, nearly 25% of an active-duty, non-deployed Army population of 5,500 screened positive for a mental disorder of some kind, while 11% of those same individuals also tested positive for more than one mental illness (Willingham, 2014). There are several prominent non-profit organizations that selflessly dedicate their efforts toward diminishing these staggering statistics. The most notable of these associations could arguably be Give an Hour (GAH). GAH functions on the expertise and kindness of volunteer licensed mental health professionals who provide complimentary and confidential care to veterans, service members and their families. GAH offers an excellent opportunity for Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioners (APRN), specifically, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP), to offer assistance to a population who is clearly suffering from the pestilence of mental illness.

Comprehensive Mental Health Services (CMHS) is an organization in Kansas City, Missouri dedicated to serving those with mental illnesses, ranging from both low- to high-functioning. This group has a for-profit and non-profit side. The for-profit side utilizes doctors, nurses, and a pharmacy to aide in the non-profit side. Case workers, therapists, addiction recovery, and group homes are all funded via the organization. With diverse staff involvement, CMHS has a multitude of positions ranging from full-time salary doctors, to full-time hourly case workers, to volunteers. Volunteers vary between other organizations that CMHS collaborates with, including Harvester’s food pantry, and even patients who want to donate their time to some of the less-fortunate. While those with mental illnesses are oppressed, this report is not about their oppression, rather their open-mindedness on the oppression of those around them.

During life dilemmas, do you feel you’re unable to endure through daily functions and once the circumstance is resolved, do you often feel relieved? This occurrence is a part of everyone's life, but for my family this happens everyday with very few serene moments. However, in the peaceful times with my family, my mind and body are at ease, and I wish that feeling would last forever. Unfortunately, the aroma of tranquility departs while I’m experiencing the motions of my demanding life. In the stressful times diligent quotes such as “This, too, shall pass” and “Everything happens for a reason” have helped accomplish my daily responsibilities. In the past few years, these simple, encouraging words have provided me the confidence to overcome obstacles with my family, anxiety, and depression. I believe, that mental illnesses have added an unbearable amount of stress and pain to individuals and families.

Graduation rates would increase due to free tuition as students would not have to balance work, school and would just to be able to continue their education. Students also would not have as much stress on them since they do not have to work for their education.

One health crisis facing the world is the issue of young men between the ages of 15-24 who struggle with anxiety and this is an international crisis due to its prevalence and medical costs. As a result, many organizations and schools have created interventions designed to address the various determinants. This paper will describe and discuss two interventions that have taken place regarding the determinants of poor individual choices of coping strategies and the lack of knowledge regarding mental health which I have chosen to focus on.

Researchers Christina Borba, Lara DePadilla, Benjamin Druss, Frances McCarty, Silke Esenwein, and Claire Sterk conducted a study about women with serious mental illnesses. Using the National Institute of Mental Health study, the researchers used randomized groups to gather information. By using specific questions about the lives of women with a serious mental illness, the researchers were then able to categorize the main themes that impacts women living with a serious mental illness. The observations were then used to inform mental health professionals the complexity of women living with serious mental illness and how to improve their life by taking a contextual approach to the treatment of their mental illness.

Mental illness is an issue that hits extremely close to home. Both of my uncles on my fathers side developed schizophrenia in their 20’s. One of them, upon being diagnosed, committed suicide. This happened before I was born, but the fall-out is still visible in my family. The other now lives in a home for those with mental illness. He is on medication, which helps with many of the symptoms, and has been an important pillar in my life. There is a fair chance that either my brother or I may contract schizophrenia, and for these reasons, mental illness will always be a large part of my life. I say this, not to arouse pity, but simply to make a point that no matter where you stand on mental illness, chances are that you or

Deinstitutionalization, which occurred in the latter half of the twentieth century cause adequate mental health services to be insufficient for the mentally ill population. Mentally ill individuals were send back to society despite of their prevailing circumstances. The lack of assistance made mentally ill individuals to commit a high percentage of crimes due to their state of mind. Mentally ill individuals who had committed crimes were being incarcerated instead of forcing them to receive mental health treatment. According to Schneider (2008) the percentage of mentally ill entering the Criminal Justice System has increased 10 percent per year over the last decades. The rapid increase of mentally disorder inmates has caused prisons to obtain the responsibility for mentally ill individuals and provide them with basic mental health services. However, prisons are not providing the adequate mental health treatment which in result causes mentally ill individuals to continue with their insane behavior after prison time. The recidivism rate is higher than 50 percent among the mentally ill prisoners who are released (Collins, 2015). The revolving-door- like fashion system which causes mentally ill inmates to return to prison indicates that the need to provide services outside of those institutions for offenders is necessary. Mentally ill individuals have continuously increased in prison population because courts have been implementing the idea that criminals should receive

Given the information provided through the summary of facts provided by the court reporter and comparing the facts and possible symptoms of Mr. Wertz to those stated within the most recent edition of the Diagnostic Statistic Manual (DSM), the conclusion that I have reached is that Mr. Wertz does indeed suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. With the description of symptoms provided, it would appear that Mr. Wertz is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result from his past deployment to Iraq in the Army. Several of the symptoms that have been listed within the summary of facts are representative of the diagnostic criteria for the trauma-stressor disorder of PTSD as listed within the DSM-5.

The United States process for caring for the mentally ill during the eighteenth century was comparable to the way the English’s process. Both processes were not considered to be too thoughtful. The colonies believed it was local communities that were to be held accountable to care for their own. Since colonial society was primarily rural, individuals who portrayed different types of behavior were tolerated. Furthermore, if colonials were in sparsely settled areas, people who broke social rules could keep to themselves (Levine, 1981). Additionally, wealthy families would keep their disturbed family members in attics or cellars and would hire private attendants, and poorer families disturbed family members would be put in jail or cages on

Mental health is being successful in doing mental functions resulting in being able to form relationships with other people, getting things done and having the ability to work around problems and stress. Your mental health can affect how you think, act and feel. Over the years of your life, your mental health is shaped by the events that you have experienced such as abuse or trauma. Having a healthy mind is just as important as having a healthy body. Conversely, just like how you can get a disease physically, you can get one mentally. This is known as mental illness.

I think this is the biggest question I ask myself, provoking my interest in the subject that can maybe answer it- Psychology.

psychoactive drug dependence six month before hospital admission and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) three months before hospital admission. Therefore, 106 in-patients (59 %), 45 men and 61 women (mean age 38.4 years; 95%CI 35.8-41.0), evaluated as healthy, according to their physical examination, medical history, routine blood and urine tests; not pregnant or breast feeding, were included into the study and provided blood samples for the assessment of Borna disease virus (BDV) infection markers.