Mental illnesses have a high prevalence amongst the United States population. Each year, tens of millions of individuals suffer and are affected by mental illnesses (National Institute of Mental Health, 1). These illnesses range from anxiety disorder, eating disorders, major depression, personality disorder, and many more. Yet, with the existing knowledge, mental providers and professionals, and the DSM-5, mental illness remains a growing mystery to the public. Literature has played a significant role in how mental illnesses are defined, their characteristics, and the portrayal of those who are mentally ill to the public eye. From memoirs on mental illness such as Susanna Kaysen 's Girl, Interrupted to Daphne 's Scholinksi 's The Last Time I
Mental illness can be obtained by genetics or injury. “Examples of mental illnesses are schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, and etc.” - source 3. Hearing unknown voices, emotions switching, and strong sense of moodiness are all cases of mental illness. Some illnesses are more worse than others, if worse than an others visit a local psychiatrist.
The issues of mental illness have been around from the start of human existence. Mental illness is considered any psychiatric disorder that cause untypical behavior. Questioning happened more in the 1930’s when more problems came around and how to fix it began to arise. Mental illness included the diseases, the cures,
When people hear the words, “mental illness,” they think of insane asylums and psychiatric wards, but that’s not necessarily the case. Yes, back in the 1800’s they did have asylums for people with mental disorders. But that was when doctors didn’t fully understand mental illnesses and disorders. But currently, doctors are able to comprehend illnesses and disorders. Nearly one in five Americans can suffer from any type of mental illnesses.
In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.
Mental health is a state of psychological well-being. According to World Health Organization (WHO) mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others." (Organization, WHO 2001) However, cultural differences, race, ethnicity, personal background, subjective assessment, and socioeconomic status all affect how mental health is defined. This variation in definitions of mental health between different sects of our society further causes drift in methods of treatment, and may cause the burden of mental health to be greater on some cultures.
Anna Quindlen in the article, “The C Word in the Hallway” argues that mental illness don’t get enough awareness or help that it actually needs. Quindlen supports her argument by using similes, tone and bias’ to state that many teachers are not trained to recognize mental illness and so some just dismiss it and so that leaves “over two thirds of the mentally disturbed children without any help”. Insurance also does not aid in covering the costs because “health insurance plans do not provide coverage for necessary treatment”, or if they do then they think that they should “penalize those who need a psychiatrist instead of an oncologist”. The author's purpose in writing this was to inform people about the scary reality that many kids and teens face today and to argue that it is nothing to joke about and that it needs to be taken seriously. The author writes in a formal tone for parents, teens, and other adults to be aware of the seriousness of mental illness in teenagers.
Determining the age at onset of a mental illness is difficult because it can present itself at any age in a person’s life due to
Growing up with mental illness they called me crazy, annoying, and angry. They looked at me differently. They’d even talk about it amongst themselves, but never offered guidance. That’s the problem with society these days. Everyone loves a party, but no one wants to clean up the mess. There are many reasons I have chosen to enlighten my readers on severe clinical depression. Not to get pity for my actions and blatant disregard for others. I write for awareness because, so many people today need help and no one really knows how to help them. Often someone’s first cry for help is his or her last and I just don’t think that’s right. In this story I will tell you about my mental health, how I hit bottom, and my getting back on track.
According to Mayo Clinic, a mental illness can make a person miserable and cause numerous problems in their daily life. For example, when you are at school or on a job or in a relationship with someone. There are several types of mental illness. They include depression, bipolar, anxiety attack and changes and in behavior. When reading Buck the reader finds out a lot about his mother because MK decides to read his mother personal journal. MK finds out his mother was depressed at a very young age. There was something going on in MK mother 's life that made her want to kill herself at an early age. This is not uncommon according to an article in Ebony magazine. A young lady named Simone Sneed was diagnosed at the age of thirteen with being bipolar disorder. Simone Sneed thinks it was the emotional tension that caused her to be bipolar. Emotional tension is the way a person deals with the different situation. It is kept on the inside and not shared with other people. This is how mental illness becomes a silent killer. This shows mental illnesses in a perspective of
Many people in our society refuse to think that mental illness is something real or that it affects many people. Mental illness is something that is looked over and never gets any real attention. Many people are not able to get help because they don’t have the resources or it is considered to feminine. “The C-Word in the Hallways” by Anna Quindlen and the book, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger and the movie Dead Poets Society, explore society’s attitude towards teenage mental health. Anna Quindlen explained that if people aren’t able to get proper mental health care, then they could possibly do something harmful to themselves or others. In Catcher in the Rye, if Holden had not been institutionalized, then he would have likely committed
Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions. They are disorders that affect how a person thinks, feels and acts. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick shows the background of someone living with a mental illness. This book distributes and humanizes what Quick describes as the “mental health community”. Quick portrays mental illness realistically through the main characters because Quick himself suffered from depression and anxiety and hopes that a conversation about mental illness could be started (“Oscar Nominated”).
Mental health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of mental illness. It is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioural adjustment”. From the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual 's ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.
Mental disorders are commonly misconceived as Wyatt Fisher, a Colorado-based licensed psychologist implied in an interview with The Cheat Sheet; “People tend to view mental illness as a sign of weakness that people should just be able to ‘get over’, and many view it as a title given to those who are just ‘crazy’”. At one point mental health was a
While the topic of mental health awareness has recently been introduced, the roots of mental illnesses run deep into history. Mental illnesses, also called mental disorders, are a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. Many people with mental illnesses are now fighting to increase awareness of disorders like depression and anxiety, and some argue that the best way to educate about mental illnesses is to teach about it in school. By educating about mental illnesses in schools, activists are hoping to increase understanding about the topic and prevent teenagers who have mental illnesses from feeling alone.