This paper presents an in-depth look at mental illness using two stories - "Sybil" and "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", each details a different type of mental illness.
1,850 words (approx. 7.4 pages), 2 sources, 2001, $ 59.95
Abstract This paper presents an in-depth look at mental illness using two stories - "Sybil" and "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", each detail a different type of mental illness. The two types, MPD and schizophrenia are often confused with each other.
From the paper:
"Mental illness has been with us since the beginning of time. There are many types of mental illness and they vary in severity and duration. Two of the most misunderstood and often misdiagnosed mental illnesses are Multiple Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia. These disorders are often confused with one another. If we examine the characteristics of each one we will see where their differences are and how they are treated. There are two movies that underscore the ramifications of the disorders and the treatment options of them both. Sybil and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden are both portrayals of mental illness in women and how that illness affected their lives and families. "
Abstract An exploration into the many different types of mental illnesses and what the illnesses do to the patient, their symptoms and their treatment. Illnesses examined are: Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Depression, Multiple Personality Disorder and various eating disorders. Major focus is given to treatment of these illnesses and the breakthroughs in this field.
From the Paper "Schizophrenia is a disorder that can affect anyone. It is the greatest the greatest disorder that effects teenagers. When someone is affected by the disorder it is not just that one person that has to learn to deal with it, the families of the patients must also learn to deal with it."
Abstract This paper discusses the high incidence of mental illness among the homeless and takes a look at the possible connection between homelessness and mental illness. The paper discusses the adverse impact of homelessness on the treatment of mental illness and looks at whether homelessness causes psychiatric distress, or whether mentally ill people are homeless because of their psychiatric disorder.
From the Paper "For more than three decades researchers have sought to determine the nature of the relationship between mental illness and homelessness due to the pervasiveness of mental illness in this population. Most recent studies indicated that approximately one-quarter to one-third of the homeless population suffered from a serious mental illness."
Abstract The paper discusses how the environment in a home where there is a terminally ill parent is often significantly different than a "well" household. This is not only because this home has the paraphernalia associated with the ill, such as sick beds, pharmaceuticals, wheel chairs and the like. These factors cause tense situations that make all family members more stressful. The paper then discusses how children of terminally ill parents experience other frightening daily occurrences. The paper concludes that youth need assistance in dealing with death and grief in order to help them cope with the changes occurring in their lives.
From the Paper "Many children and families go this situation. According to national statistics, by the age of 15, over a million children in the United States will lose a parent to a terminal illness (Mahoney, 2005). Although numerous programs and resources are available to help those children who are grieving the death of a parent, there are few organized interventions to help families cope with their children's emotional needs during the parental illness and treatment, when help is especially needed."
Abstract This paper analyzes mental illness as a social problem. The paper studies this issue from the interactionist, conflict and functionalist perspectives. The paper asks how mental illness impacts the individual sufferer and society. The paper also looks at the concept and impact of de-institutionalization.
From the Paper "The challenge of mental illness in society may be viewed as a social problem. Mental illness is a source of serious social problems, not just because of the number of people affected by it but also due to the extent to which social ..."
Tags: mental illness, functionalist, conflict theory, interactionist, health care, psychology, social problems
Abstract The paper discusses how every individual handles a terminal diagnosis in his own way. It shows that a patients' experiences while dying is in large part dependent on the nature of their illness, as well as on patient, family and health care professionals' reactions to it. The paper studies different factors which might cause an increase in stress.
From the Paper "Unfortunately, despite such efforts, many patients and health care professionals do not understand that patients who suffer from PTSD at the end of life can still respond to treatment. According to Short (1991), the information flow of imagery is a very good way to deal with terminally ill patients who are suffering from a chronic or terminal illness such as cancer. The purpose is to decrease physical symptoms. Stress reduction techniques such as biofeedback may be used to reduce heart rates and skin reactivity. Once a patient has physical problems, physiological problems may also arise. Various types of memories from the body or mind can re-occur through actions or thoughts. For example, in one case a patient envisioned cancer cells attacking her friend. She had had breast cancer two years prior, had undergone chemotherapy, and was medically healthy. Expressing her emotions by replacing herself with her friend made it apparent what she was feeling and then started to steer her away from hopelessness (Short, 1991)."
Tags: care, diagnosis, fatal, ill, pts, terminally
Abstract This paper examines how mental as well as physical well-being is essential to live a prosperous life. It highlights and discusses the various possible factors that contribute to the mental disorders found in juveniles such as psychological reasons, cultural aspects, sociological causes and biological factors.
Outline
Statement of the Problem
Thesis Statement
Employed Research Methodologies and Tools and Techniques
A Brief Overview
Possible Factors Causing Mental Illnesses in Juveniles
Suggestions for Ameliorating the Issue at Hand
Putting All Together: A Quick Recap
Conclusion
From the Paper "With the world rapidly transmuting into a global village, diversity in all walks of life as augmented manifolds thereby posing various challenges for the people involved. One such problem that MUST be looked into with far more pull pertains to the mental well being of children of all ages. Various factors some known whereas others still unknown come into play and are usually working vitally behind the high crime rates in juveniles, severe lack of patience, tolerance and mental as well as emotional stability and innumerable serious mental illnesses among children. For similar reasons, massive figures indicate that mental illnesses in children are quite common. This further gives rise to a chain of connected issues and problems for the world at large."
Abstract This article consists of two parts. The first part discusses the stakeholders of the Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004. The advocacy and policy of these stakeholders are discussed, as well as what could have been done differently. The second paper develops a position that agrees with this policy. It addresses the policy's strengths and weaknesses and looks at what should be provided. The writer further discusses how it should be funded, who should administer the program and provides a recommended course of action. "
From the Paper "The stakeholders in the Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment and Crime Reduction Act were many. There were originally five senators who backed the bill as it was initially proposed, including Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who introduced the legislation in order "to foster local collaborations which will ensure that resources are effectively and efficiently used within the criminal and juvenile justice systems". These initial stakeholders might have proposed a different and higher amount of funding for grants, etc. in the legislation, as those who sponsored it in the House of Representatives cut funding in half, writing that "the bill authorizes $50 million for the current fiscal year 2005, and such sums as shall be necessary for fiscal years 2006 through 2009" as opposed to the $100 million that the original asked for."
Abstract This paper examines the view that traditional societies are less friendly to individuals with mental illness, which leads to the perception that there is less mental illness when, in truth, it is simply more well hidden. The paper then compares views of mental illness in modern socieites, and, in particular in Canada, to those of traditional socieities such as China, the Aboriginal socieites of Canada, and Middle Eastern societies and concludes that there is no single answer to how traditional cultures treat mental illness.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Mental Illness in Modern Societies
Mental Illness in Canada
Mental Illness in Traditional Societies
Mental Illness in Canada's Aboriginal Population
Conclusion
From the Paper "It is this kind of practice that differentiates the Chinese and the Canadian process of caring for the mentally ill and may lead to a difference in how they are perceived. However, the practice goes far beyond simple numbers on a percentage scale. Some traditional cultures rely first on their own traditional forms of mental healing, turning only to modern solutions when their preferred methods fail to work. In Morocco, for example, a Berber family might first consult a fquih, a traditional healer, before turning to the services of the Centre Psychiatrique Universitaire Ibn Rochd (CPU) to treat mental illness."
Tags: chinese, berber, aboriginal, spiritual, family
Abstract This paper discusses the problem of homelessness in the United States, particularly with regard to the mentally ill. The paper focuses on how the mentally ill homeless can be helped. It discusses the solution according tothe government, which is to de-institutionalize those who have mental illness and then looks at the problems associated with that solution.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
History of Mental Illness The Problems of Homelessness
De-institutionalizing the Mentally Ill A Study of Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Citizenship
From the Paper "The solution according to the government is to deinstitutionalize those who have mental illness, but in reality many of these patients are released from the institutions and become homeless. The process of deinstitutionalization sounds easy and most professionals believe the mentally ill can adjust to the community (Zissi, 2006). Few people understand the problems of the mentally ill when it comes to social environment factors and living in the community. A major problem with the mentally ill adjusting to the community is the stigma of the labels they receive once they are diagnosed. "The stigma of mental illness remains a serious social problem and critical impediment to treatment seeking among diagnosed individuals" (Teachman, Wilson, and Komarovskaya, 2006, p. 75). People who have mental health problems have trouble adjusting to the community because it is not easy for them to make friends and even for family members to develop close relationships with them. Many homeless people who have mental health issues would rather return to the environment of being homeless because they have friends who are also homeless and they are not treated as abnormal."
Abstract The paper looks at how society's view of mental illness has evolved in order to determine whether the execution of the mentally ill violates the Eighth Amendment. The paper refers to several Supreme Court decisions on insanity and executions and illustrates how there is no easy solution to the moral dilemma that surrounds the execution of the mentally ill. The paper does come to the conclusion, however, that seriously mentally ill people are being denied a meaningful opportunity to present their own defenses. The paper therefore contends that even if society fails to conclude that the execution of the mentally ill violates the Eighth Amendment, it seems clear that many mentally ill defendants have not received due process of law, making their convictions and sentences unconstitutional.
From the Paper "It is impossible to say, with any real degree of accuracy, what percentage of people on death row is mentally ill. There are several reasons for this impossibility. First, mental illness is difficult to define, and is subject to broad changes over time and space. Therefore, a person who was not mentally ill at the time of a conviction might be considered mentally ill under modern standards, and vice-versa. Next, mental illness is difficult to diagnose. The very crimes that land people on death row are things that most people consider "crazy," however that does not mean that the people who perpetrated them are actually mentally ill. Furthermore, mental illness has different meanings for health professionals and the legal community; therefore, a person might be considered mentally ill in one context, but not in the other."
Abstract This paper examines the history of mental illness from the earliest colonial times, when it was believed that mental illness was caused by the baby being born under a full moon or having slept in moonlight to the medical prognoses and classification of different disorders today. It discusses the attitudes and diagnoses of mental illness over the past couple of centuries and the development of treatment. It evaluates whether genetics or physical environmental damage are the sole cause of mental illness and how researchers now believe that nature and nurture work together and that causes of mental illness will never be boiled down to one gene or a set of genes.
From the Paper "The last decade of the 20th century brought an explosion of knowledge regarding the causes of mental illness. Improvements in ability to make images of the brain as well as genetic research coming out of the Human Genome Project are forcing mental health experts to take a fresh look at the causes of mental illness. This new information also has treatment implications. Where previously, all mental illness was viewed as faulty emotional and psychological development, evidence is now emerging that many forms of mental illness may have a strong genetic component. People with the genes for a mental illness might or might not develop it depending on what happened to them in their lives, so in this model, mental illness still is somewhat environmentally based, but the physical evidence for mental illness is mounting."
This paper examines Sander Gilman's argument that disease and illness are main avenues for projecting societal beliefs, views and ideologies, as detailed in his book "Disease and Representation."
Abstract This paper explores Sander Gilman's theory that the representations of illness and disease are manifestations of society which are susceptible to changes, much the way knowledge is. Art and literature are two major avenues in which society projects its beliefs and views. Gilman uses this phenomenon to examine how disease and illness are seen through society. Gilman contends that in art and literature, painters and poets have accumulated their society's fears of illness and disease and manifested them into very detailed pictorial representations. The writer stresses the need to create representations that can be physically seen which would lessen society's fear of illness. This paper also discusses the various methods created by scientists in which observations and ideas can in fact be seen and scrutinized which results in better understanding of disease and illness.
From the Paper "Scientists have created a method by which observations and ideas can be observed and scrutinized in order to better the comprehension of the world. The scientific method is central to new ideas and theories becoming more accepted in the scientific community. Just as a human relies on its five senses to interact with the world, the scientific method relies on human observations and ideas to create knowledge. Thus, in its own essence, the scientific method is relying on lesser means of perception in order to broaden the understanding of the world. As an idea passes through the scientific method on its way to becoming accepted knowledge, it must first pass the task of acceptance by society."
Tags: science, perception, art, literature, illness, disease, society, social
Abstract This paper discusses how dealing with a life-threatening illness is a complex and an emotional process, often considered the most challenging and stressful event in an individual's life. By understanding how other people cope with life-threatening illnesses may help patients and their families prepare for or cope with illness. This essay reviews the phases an individual progresses through when facing illness and will present an overview of an acute health care setting for the terminal phases of illness. A review of the literature about dying in an acute setting helps delineate the limits of such a setting. The paper further discusses the role of the nursing profession and provides recommendations to improve the delivery of health care in an acute setting. Lastly, the paper presents the author's personal reason for exploring the topic.
