The Need to Raise More Awareness About Mental Health

Introduction

In 1600s people who were mentally ill were referred to as “lunatics.” They were usually cared for by family or paid other families to provide for them. People with mental illnesses were placed in almshouses and were put together with people who had other disabilities. In the 19th century, Philippe Pinel came up with the moral treatment movement. It was the idea that people with mental illness “should be treated with humane, sympathetic, and personal care in a hospital or asylum setting”.

Mental illness has impacted everyone in my family included me for years. I was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder after my father died when I was eight years old. Mental illness runs in both sides of my family. My great-grandmother on my mom’s side even committed suicide due to mental illness. Mental illness has not just affected me and my family but also my community. Within eleven months four students/alumni of my high school, Downingtown east, committed suicide. April 22, which just passes was the one-year anniversary of the second student, Tommy Walsh. I picked this topic because it does not have enough attention. No one likes to talk about mental health, but we need to. People need to speak up before it is too late. More than 7,500, people signed an online petition to help raise awareness for mental health in Downingtown East. At a school board meeting superintendent, Lonardi said “this is one of those cases where it really does take a village”. One step at a time, communities need to come together to help raise awareness about the effects of mental health.

Literature Review

“Mental Health is the state of relative psychological and emotional well-being in which an individual can make acceptably rational decisions, cope adequately with personal and external stresses, and maintain satisfactory adjustment to society”. Mental illnesses causes may be chemical, physiological, genetic, biological, or social and impair a person’s ability to function properly. Social workers are employed in a wide range of mental health facilities including; residential treatment center, inpatient mental and psychiatric hospitals, outpatient treatment agencies, community and mental health programs and employee assistance programs. Social workers provide services in three different levels. Social workers provide counseling at the micro level, group therapy and family treatment at the mezzo level, and lastly, social workers can advocate for change and develop programs to meet mental health needs at the macro level.

The National Institute of Mental Health study shows many preteens screen positive for suicide risk During ER visits. Research found that one-third of children ages ten to twelve years screened positive. Seven percent of those youths were seeking help for psychical concerns, not psychiatric. Lives could be saved if screenings were done no matter the symptoms. Research has also shown that A number of preteens who died by suicide had been seen by a doctor in the month before committing. In the article “Mental Health is Stagnant. Here’s Why” that’s that 350 million people suffer worldwide from depression, yet we have failed to help people get better. The Advocacy Committee Chair for the American Brain Coalition stated in the article, “to stop the painful, expensive, and unjust consequences of untreated mental illness, we need to demand that depression and brain research become a priority of this country” (2017). A lack of specific “targets” is the problem with the science of antidepressants. The primary reason for why scientist are still clueless is due to the lack of government funding. The stigma towards those with mental illness is a social justice issue and demand full attention and financial commitment.

In the article “Mental health is a global issue- here’s how neuroscience can cross international boundaries” suggest that neuroscience can help understand the underlying factors behind mental disorders. Adapting different cultural and environmental factors in clinical trials of pharmacological and psychological treatments would be beneficial. Combining neuroscientific and global mental health strengths in treatment and research could lead to improving quality of life and how well people function with their disorder.

According to the article “Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations: Conceptual Issues and Research Evidence” people who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual have a higher prevalence of mental health disorders due to stigmatization. The scientific question of the article was, is homosexuality a mental disorder? The results from this research showed that lesbians and gays suffer more mental health disorders included substance abuse, affective disorders and suicide. It is said that prejudice, discrimination, and stigma create a stressful social environment that leads to mental health disorders.

In order to become a professional mental health social worker, students have to take mental health social work courses as part of the academic curriculum. In addition to the courses it is important for social workers working in mental health to possess skills including; understanding the patients, cater to the needs of the patients, proper counseling and follow-ups and create a trust with the patients. There are ten social work competencies in mental health recovery-oriented practice. The ten include; identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly, apply social work ethnic principles to guide professional practice, apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments, engage diversity and difference in practice, advance human rights and social and economic justice, engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research, apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services, respond to contexts that shape practice and lastly, engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. The six core values and ethics social workers should aspire are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence.

Conclusion

From writing this essay my thought of mental health needing more attention has only grown, and I am not the only one who thinks so. The stigma around mental health needs to go because too many people worldwide are suffering. People are throwing away their money when they can be donating it to find better solutions for mental health. In the article I mentioned above, it talked about how government funding would help scientist make adjustments to old medications and even create new ones but it seems as long it is not important enough. More and more teens are dying from suicide each year. It is about time, in this generation that people speak up about mental health before it is too late.