Challenges Facing the Mentally Ill in the Community Essay
Challenges Facing the Mentally Ill in the Community
Instructions:
Write a 700 words OPINION EDITORIAL that critically analyses the challenges with realising aspirations of the common good in your professional community, locally and globally.
CHOOSE (1) TOPIC. The opinion editorial piece should be for the governments locally or globally. It be also be also for the public locally or globally.
Challenges faced by people with mental health in the community – you need to identify a challenges/ problem in this area, such as homelessness, unemployment, alienation from wider society etc
OR ISSUES ABOUT AGED CARE
CHALLENGES such as LONELINESS,NEGLECT, ABUSE(ELDERLY ABUSE)
Solution.
Challenges Facing the Mentally Ill in the Community
Mental illness has become a serious issue, as it is no longer an issue for the aged individuals only, but also for all other age groups. The risk factors for mental illness include drug and substance abuse, hereditary factors and aging among other factors. It is unlucky that many individuals with mental illness feel ashamed in seeking help; hence, fear that the community would give them a negative treatment (Rennie & Woodward, 2015). Others face the challenge of finding a place to live or seeking employment among other problems. Challenges that face individuals in the American community need to stop in order to perceive the victims as having a problem hence assisting them in solving it.
Stigma
Most of the mentally ill individuals grow up or live in the communities where most individuals are illiterate about mental illness, linking the issue to spirituality or bad characters. Even though people diagnosed with mental illness occur across all types of jobs, if it happens that one has the disease, they are perceived as less stable, unable to work efficiently and that they could not be relied upon in taking care of our loved ones and property (Hurley, 2012).
This stigma deserves to be terminated, because the vast majority of these individuals live fruitful lives, create good friendships and do not interfere with the normal lives of others. It is easier for them to hurt themselves rather than others if their condition is not treated. The stigma makes these individuals to feel ashamed and carry their pain in themselves without other people realizing it.
Discrimination
The mentally ill individuals face discrimination from the community they live in because they do not understand about the illness. If one has never had experience, knowledge or a person close to him/her dealing with the illness, then information obtained from groups or individuals without adequately educating them, then they may get the information wrongly. Awareness created through media such as “the minority of individuals with mental illness committing crimes is not big issue,” makes people to be scared about these patients (Blackmon, 2011).
Discrimination could also occur in the employment fields. If an individual stands the best opportunity to be promoted into a senior position but has mental illness, the directors of the company would opt for a second choice of an individual believing that the mentally ill employee would result in losses. Moreover, if fellow employees discover that one has a mental illness, then they may mock him/her making the victim to be isolated.
Unemployment
If an individual fight the stigma associated mental illness and secures job, upholding the working schedule could be challenging because of stress and medication processes. However, proper medication or therapy could assist individuals with certain disorders related to mental illness such as schizophrenia or depression, maintaining their working abilities. The US government does not support dismissal of such patients from their duty but encourages the employers to support them in their recovery or treatment process (Müller-Isberner, 2010). A few employers also understand such cases and could allow employees with such illnesses to continue working. However, if the effect of the illnesses results in inconsistency at work, then the employers would analyze the unproductivity of the employee, and resolve by terminating the employee contract or services for the benefits of the organization. Support for the mentally ill individuals is mainly from the family members, depleting their resources, ending up being homeless due to poverty. Research indicates that a third of homeless US citizens are diagnosed with mental illness.
Criminalization
Inability to understand mental illness, stigma, poverty and inaccessibility to treatment promotes crime among mentally ill individuals (Jacobsson, 2013). The government policy allows untreated individuals with mental illness to face the law. State prisons house about 20 percent of the mentally ill.
Lack of Care
The laws concerning Medicare are biased towards mental illnesses. The law restricts the period for providing the patients with the inpatient care. However, Medicare for physical illnesses is not limited. Individuals with such illness are just evaluated to determine the level of their illnesses to determine those that could cause danger to their health or others after which they are released without treatment if they have no effects (Benson & Miles, 2013). Nevertheless, state funding for such illness have been cut down leaving the burden to families and communities. Moreover, coordinated care for such patients does not exist since schools or hospitals and organizations with mentally ill patients do not communicate with each other.
It is time that people should understand the challenges facing mentally ill individuals such that these challenges are shunned away to provide individuals with support for recovery. The government should strengthen and improve its support for care of the mentally ill. The community should also assist the patients in accepting themselves thus avoiding the stigma that is the biggest challenge facing these individuals.
References
Benson, P. & Miles, A. (2013). The Mentally Ill in Contemporary Society. Contemporary Sociology, 12(5), 559.
Blackmon, P. (2011). Addressing Family Challenges Associated with Mental Illness (1st ed.).
Hurley, J. (2012). Mental health (1st ed.). San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press.
Jacobsson, L. (2013). On stigma and discrimination of mentally ill — report from a WHO/EURO task force. European Psychiatry, 17, 81.
Müller-Isberner, R. (2010). Criminality of mentally ill patients in general psychiatry. European Psychiatry, 17, 26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0924-9338(02)80117-1
Rennie, T. & Woodward, L. (2015). Mental health in modern society (1st ed.). New York: The Commonwealth Fund.