...Societal Stigma 1 Running Head: Societal Stigma " " " " " " " High School students are less likely [than adults] to seek help for their mental illnesses due to societal stigma. " Guy Bukovsky" Ms. Fornazar" HSP3U" Dec 12, 2014" " " " " " " " Societal Stigma 2 " Through collecting 21 survey results and analyzing the answers given I was able to draw some conclusions. First off, people who have not been diagnosed with a mental illness are 11.6% more comfortable with talking to the guidance department about mental health; from this result, I can conclude that people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness are feeling shame or fear of stigmatization. In addition, those who have not been diagnosed with a mental illness are 11.67% more comfortable going to guidance in relation to a friend’s mental health. Those people who have been diagnosed with ADHD were generally more comfortable speaking with the guidance department. On the contrary, people who have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder were least likely to feel comfortable speaking with the guidance department. This further exemplifies the stigmatization of depression. The mean of all answers to the question “How comfortable do you feel when it comes to talking about your mental health issues with friends and peers?” is 3.18/5 which is significantly higher than the 2.31/5 and 2.59/5 regarding speaking to faculty and guidance, respectively. So while there is societal stigma...
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...MENTAL ILLNESS IN CANADA Name: Institution: In terms of the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health, health denotes the physical, mental, psychological and social normalcy of an individual and not just the absence of disease (NIMH, 2004). From the definition that has been given, it is clear that, there is more to health than the physical attributes. Mental health is important just like physical health because no individual is considered healthy if their mental health is deranged even if they are normal physically. The mental aspect of an individual coordinates other body systems, and for this reason, every human being needs to be mentally fit. Mental illnesses have been around for centuries, and they continue affecting every citizen in Canada, just like in various parts of the world. There is growing interest by researchers on issues of mental health and how these have impacted on society. As it is an important health topic, researchers have done extensive research and now, there is diverse knowledge on health illnesses in Canada. This paper analyzes mental illnesses in the Canada by dwelling on the history of mental illnesses, statistics of mental illnesses and impact of mental illnesses on Canadian population and government as a whole in terms of managing the condition. Statistics Mental disorders are common conditions internationally, and this is the same in Canada. Estimates reveal that 26.2 million Canadians over 18 years suffer from Schizophrenia mental...
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...areas of specialization in psychology, such as Clinical Neuropsychology and School Psychology, the overall idea is the study and research of the human mind and behavior. Psychology is known to aid those who suffer from a variety of mental illnesses while also helping people to comprehend better the mind and how exactly the brain operates; some believe such study is both ineffective and unethical. Majoring in psychology opens the door for various career opportunities since “there are over 200 classified forms of mental illnesses” that are “on a continuum of severity (The Five Major Categories Of Mental Illness, 2011).” Mental illnesses can take anyone as a victim, they do not discriminate. “One in 4 adults and one in five children will have a mental health disorder at some point in their lives (The Five Major Categories Of Mental Illness, 2011).” There will always be those who are unfortunate to have a mental illness, meaning the research will always be a necessity. Thus, the careers in psychology are to remain endless. There are many benefits to having a career in psychology, such as a high job outlook, being able to make a difference in people’s lives, and learning more about yourself and others. The demand for psychological services is high, and the statistics for people who have mental illnesses and disorders is even higher. Treatment centers for drug and alcohol addictions, social services, schools, hospitals, prisons, jails, and institutions will always need specially trained...
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...gray area of uncertainty when it comes to mental illness. The uncertainty mainly coming from psychiatrists that believe mental illness should not be considered a real disease. However, that is not the reality of the situation, because mental illness most definitely should be considered a real disease. Mental illnesses should be considered real diseases because of the effects it has on its victims, and by definition of what a disease is, along with it being very common around the world. Mental Illnesses effect on a person's well-being can be as small and drastic as any other disease out there. If anything, their (Mental Illness's) effects transition from small to drastic, is way faster than the majority of other diseases. This type of rapid transition is unfortunately found in one of the most mental disorder in our society, Depression (Major Depressive Disorder). Depressions effect merely starts...
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...A shocking one in five children in schools suffer with a mental illness. Despite the fact that this problem is so widespread, many of those suffering go without any treatment. Within American schools, children do not regularly receive evaluation of their mental health, and the problems that are caused by these illnesses are often attributed to laziness or irresponsibility. Schools often do little to assist those with mental disorders, yet many of these problems are directly tied to school performance. Therefore, American public schools need to improve and increase mental health services and regulation. The most obvious reason for this need is that mental health problems have a direct effect on in school performance. Anxiety disorders can cause students to perform poorly on tests along with any required peer presentations; many times students with anxiety will skip school to avoid these things causing poor attendance and dropping grades. Anxiety disorders can also cause a lack of concentration due to intense worrying (“Problems At School”). Depression disorders can cause a lack of...
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...Study on Mental Illness Cherelle Floyd HCA/210 March 2, 2011 Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life. Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder. The good news about mental illness is that recovery is possible. Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income. Metal illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character, or poor upbringing. Mental illnesses are treatable. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptom by actively participating in an individual treatment plan. In addition to medication treatment, psychosocial treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, peer support groups and other community service can also be components of a treatment plan and that assist with recovery. The availability of transportation, diet, exercise, sleep, friends and meaningful paid or volunteer activities contribute to overall health and wellness, including mental illness recovery. Metal illnesses are serious medical illnesses. They cannot...
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...forget them as soon as they’re said. I hear fragments of things but nothing whole.” Theodore is a high school student who has an abstruse past, in the young adult novel, All the Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven (Niven 266). The two main characters in the book are Theodore Finch and Violet Markey. Finch is a character who everyone regards as a “Freak”. He is a boy who has sporadic changes in his identity. He is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of a way that he will die, but every day he also searches for something to keep him alive and he always finds something. Violet is a typical popular...
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...Mental Illness on the rise in America How can we address that Mental illness is a growing problem for the United States? A mental illness is a condition that impacts a person’s thinking, feeling or mood that may affect his or her ability to relate to others and functions on a daily basis. Each person will have different experiences even people with the same diagnosis. Mental Illness is a growing problem in the US. Some people believe that mental illnesses isn’t a growing problem for the United States. This is something that has been happening for the longest, citizens are just noticing how many people actually have a mental illness today than before. For example, A psychiatrist diagnosed Connor with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and...
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...ORIGINAL Afr J Psychiatry 2010;13:116-124 Mental Health Stigma: What is being done to raise awareness and reduce stigma in South Africa? 1 R Kakuma1,2,3, S Kleintjes3, C Lund3, N Drew4, A Green5, AJ Flisher3,6, MHaPP Research Programme Consortium7 Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada 3Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa 4Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland 5Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development (NCIHD), University of Leeds, United Kingdom 6Research Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Norway 7The Mental Health and Poverty Project (MHaPP) is a Research Programme Consortium (RPC) funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID)(RPC HD6 2005- 2010) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DfID. RPC members include Alan J. Flisher (Director) and Crick Lund (Co-ordinator) (University of Cape Town, Republic of South Africa (RSA)); Therese Agossou, Natalie Drew, Edwige Faydi and Michelle Funk (World Health Organization); Arvin Bhana (Human Sciences Research Council, RSA); Victor Doku (Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana); Andrew Green and Mayeh Omar (University of Leeds, UK); Fred Kigozi (Butabika Hospital, Uganda); Martin Knapp (University of London,...
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...hospital setting to improve my patient-care relations. The stigma about mental health in society is one that is perpetuated by those who don’t truly comprehend the true severity of mental illnesses. This stigma is the result of people not fully understanding mental illnesses due to it not being discussed. If I was able to be apart of this organization during winter break, I could help break the stigma about mental illness by recounting my own first-hand experiences with patients. Mental illness is something that, in my opinion, isn’t discussed enough. Mental illness is...
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..."Man up". 1 in 4 people in the British population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year. The number of mental health problems in young people is constantly growing yet mental illnesses are still valued as less important and less serious than physical illnesses. Today is Mental Health Awareness Day 2014, and still mental health issues are given the back seat. We are scared, as a community to help those with mental illnesses in case we say or do the wrong thing, and as individuals to share out problems with others, in fear of being judged. Yet we, ourselves, judge others. A quarter of the population will develop a mental health issue, yet we are still so unaware, of how to act or what to say. Education is the key to this, education is the key to acceptance, so lets educate and be educated. I've learnt more about how to treat people on social media than my school has ever tried to teach me. They teach us, briefly, may I add, about body confidence, but this is done at age 16/17 and by this age the eating disorders, the depression, the self harm has often already started to take control. Teenagers no longer benefit from teachers telling them that everything is beautiful, they cringe and think "she has to say that, she's a teacher". The one good thing my school has taught me is that mental illnesses affect both boys and girls equally, but I know very few schools which acknowledge this. It's not weak to show you're human, it doesn't make you...
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...BIO340 Recitation 9/5/14 Dr. Steele In the article, “5 Disorders Share Genetic Risk Factors, Study Finds”, Dr. Jordan Smollar, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, discovered two abnormalities in one of his recent studies concerning mental illness and their genetic connections within the human brain. This study consisted of over 60,000 people worldwide to further strengthen his research quantitatively. Through the massive testing, Dr. Smollar believes he had found a connection between 5 mental disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, major depression, and attention deficit disorder) all with some sort of underlying relation with one another in the genetic “glitches” they share, 2 of which concerning a major signaling system in the brain. Efforts began in 2007 and so investigative data from 19 countries of people’s DNA, with 33,332 people with psychiatric illness while studying 27,888 people who were free of the illness was collected. Researchers came to find overlapping genetic effects in identical twins, which further solidified the possible connections previously discussed. They had found 4 DNA regions that conferred a risk of psychiatric disorders. However, in 2 of the 4 regions, it was not clear what the genes were involved in doing. The other 2 genes were calcium channels. Calcium channels are used when neurons send signals to function our brains. Certain drugs prescribed by medical professionals are used to block calcium...
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...Evolution of Mental Health Care University of Phoenix HCS/531 Mental Health care in the United States has evolved from a period where people with mental illnesses were considered to be possessed and shunned from society, to lobotomies, and community-based care. The stigma associated with mental illness and the limited public awareness that mental illnesses are treatable deters individuals from seeking care for mental illnesses. In the early 19th Century, many states built asylums which were housing units for individuals with mental illness. They were subjected to poor living and treatment conditions such as bloodletting and purging (Novella, 2010).With increased knowledge and education about mental illnesses, effective treatments are available. Various changes have occurred in the mental health field like societal attitudes, support, and service delivery which has made it more likely for those with mental illnesses to seek treatment. There has been significant progress in improving access to mental health services. In the early 1990s, there was a move toward deinstitutionalizing mental health patients. Patients institutionalized in state-run psychiatric facilities were moved and cared for in community settings versus the asylums (Knapp et al. 2011). The belief here was that if mental health...
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...out of their control. The negative ideas about mental health that come from the public are heavily influenced by the media’s negative portrayals when crime is committed by those with mental illnesses. When one “crazy” person does something wrong, every single person with OCD, for example, is also viewed as deranged and unpredictable. Although mental illnesses may ignite something in the brain to act, mental health can not fairly be the...
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...people today are born with mental illnesses. In my opinion, mental illnesses can be genetic or just caused by different complications within the human body. Sometimes there are complications with women during pregnancy’s that can cause a baby born with a mental illness. For example, when my mother was in labor with me I made a bowel movement inside her and if I would have ate it then I would of had a mental illness for eating my species. Some people have normal families and still have one person that is born with a mental illness. There is no specific or reason why a person is born with a mental illness. Anyone could be born with a mental illness so there is not one main cause for having a mental illness. Effective interventions for mental illnesses is to maintain a stable environment and ensure positive outcomes for that person. Considering the individual diagnose, goals and strengths will help with designing a good intervention. The family should have a peer support, medication management, family counseling, parent mentoring etc. This is to ensure the needs of that person with the mental illness and or also help the family solve problems with the life changes that come with taking care of a person with a mental illness. I have not personally witnessed an individual who had a mental illness. I have seen them people out in public who may have a mental illness. I can remember seeing children in school that had mental illnesses, but at the time I did not...
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