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Obinna

Mental or behavioral health involves our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. There has been a lack of consensus on the definition of mental health. As a result, it has caused a major obstacle for integrating mental health initiatives into global health programs and primary healthcare services. In general, there is use of the term mental health as a substitute for mental illness. It could be defined as the absence of mental disease or also as a state of being that includes the biological, psychological, or social factors which present to a person's mental state and potential to function within the surroundings (Manwell et al., 2015). The Center for Disease control (CDC) includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being while WHO (World Health Organization) includes realizing individual's potential, the ability to bear up with normal life stresses and contribute to the community as core basics of mental health. Mental health exists on a complicated spectrum, which is experienced contrastingly from one individual to the next, with diverse measures of complexity and distress and potentially quite different social and clinical outcomes (WHO, 2022). The term mental health and mental illness are often used synonymously to mean the same thing, but a person can encounter poor mental health and not be diagnosed with a mental illness. This can also go vice versa. 

One cannot discuss mental health issues without distinguishing the diverse types of mental illness. The disorder which is an illness can affect the moods, behaviors, and thoughts of the individuals impacted by it. The determinants of mental health could be individual psychological and biological factors, for instance, emotional skills, substance use and genetics. Other determinants could be vulnerability to unfavorable social, economic, geographic and environmental situations-involving poverty, violence, inequality and environmental deprivation. There are many mental disorders according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-5), the major types of mental illnesses are mood disorders (depression or bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders (schizophrenia), eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, and trauma-related disorders (for instance post-traumatic stress disorder (Casarella, MD, 2021). 

At some point, we must help, or support loved ones and friends who are struggling with mental illness or in need of mental treatment. Giving help or support to individual with mental illness is not a one size fit all situation. Every person is different, and circumstances vary a great deal. The first step is knowing the warning signs as in the case of loved ones and friends for instance, withdrawal from social interaction, dramatic changes in eating and sleeping habits, and unusual problems in school. Whatever the situation is, it is important to practice active listening. Communication is essential to making headway into helping someone suffering from mental illness. Active listening is particularly different from just hearing what an individual has to say. Offer to help or inquire how you can be of help and resist making negative remarks or judgmental. Encourage them to seek the help of mental healthcare provider or professional especially in cases that are persistent and offer to help them locate a provider. Help for those with mental illness can in diverse ways. Another exceptionally effective way of helping those with mental illness is to help or recommend them to join support groups. There are some local and national support groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) which offers programs to support, educate, advocate, and research funding for people affected by mental illness, their families, and friends (NAMI, n.d.). 

A lot of times, people with mental illnesses do not sort for or receive the help they need from mental healthcare professionals. This is due to the fear of being treated differently or concerns about losing their jobs, friends and a few acquaintances. Many of these problems arise from the experience of discrimination and prejudice the society have meted on mental illness. They feel stigmatized to express their suffering. The stigma can come from public belief, institutional, or self-inflicted or awareness. According to the American Psychiatric Association, public stigma includes the negative and prejudicial point of view that others have about mental illness; self-stigma involves the negative opinion that includes feeling of shame that individuals with mental illness have about their condition, and finally the institutional stigma is the structure of policies by the government and private institutions that results in limited opportunities for people with mental illness. Again, NAMI is one of many supports group that offers support, education and advocate for people with this kind of issue. 

Advocating for people with mental illness takes dedication, patients, and courage. Mental healthcare professionals can help individuals with mental health issues achieve recovery goals. They work in all aspects of healthcare organizations with varying job descriptions and specialties depending on the location but all work towards helping individuals with mental achieve recovery goals. One of the ways mental health professionals reach out to those in desperate need of aid is to encourage the politicians and law makers to prioritize mental health through their various professional organizations. Another way is to educate those who use stigmatizing language like the media outlets and other institutions. There are also challenges faced by underserved populations when it comes to mental health illnesses. The racial-ethnic minority group struggles from mental issues as well as tough barriers to receiving help for those problems. This includes a lack of community-based interventions, unequal access to evidence-based practices, and a lack of resources to fund health services (Mongelli et al., 2020). There are other groups that are marginalized like the sexual and gender minority groups, and persons experiencing homelessness, immigrant populations and incarcerated individuals (Chow et al., 2003). Researchers from Harvard medical school had suggested some ways to deal with the barriers and challenges to underserved population's needs to getting mental health care. The recommendations are: - 

a. Expanding outreach efforts outside of clinic walls with mobile clinics and technologies like telephone and video-based treatment otherwise known as telemedicine. 

b. Through social marketing campaigns designed to reduce stigma and make the individuals aware of treatment options. 

c. Making available feedback and reviews from patients about their behavioral health needs and the challenges to care and using the data to inform providers and policymakers about the needs of the underserved population. 

d. Providing mental health training to more than 120,00 community health workers in clinics and community organizations treating these populations. 

e. And to be effective, payment options need to be improved. 

 

 

References 

Casarella, MD, J. (2021, April 21). Types of mental illness. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-types-illness 

Chow, J. C., Jaffee, K., & Snowden, L. (2003). Racial/Ethnic disparities in the use of mental health services in poverty areas. American Journal of Public Health, 93(5), 792-797. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.5.792 

Greenstein, L. (2017, October 11). 9 ways to fight mental health stigma. NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/october-2017/9-ways-to-fight-mental-health-stigma 

Learn about mental health. (2018, December 12). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm 

 

Adam

 I have been through a lot when it comes to mental health. I have ADHD and was first diagnosed when I was about two and a half “ Being diagnosed at such a early age was rare at the time” “ As a army brat my first ADHD diagnoses came from an army doctor”. I was that child that at the age of three climbed up the ladder when they were fixing the roof. I had a great baby sitter who understood ADHD as a child, using techniques we would not have evidence that showed they worked for years later. Sadly she would die in a accident when I was just four and a half “ She was hit by an ambulance from the same department she volunteered at. The ambulance driver was found guilty for reckless driving. I wounded up in multiple facilities, many are now closed or fully restaffed due to abuse. I went through a ton of abuse. I wounded up in a mental health unit over a decade ago now and had all limbs tied above my torso for over 52 hours left with scares and because it was in rural area the actions were covered up. I know have extreme PTSD and am believed to have survived a MI due too mental health stress an exceedingly rare and deadly form of MI.

The stigma that surrounds mental health is the most dramatic thing out there. The stigma makes truly little sense. A lot of the stigma is done by those that do not understand mental health and the facts around it. When you call 911 there is a good chance the one coming to your door has PTSD or will have PTSD. The chance that the one coming to your door has attempted suicide is also remarkably high. On average about 125 LEOs die every year due to suicide. The average LEO has been in law Enforcement for about 10 years (Kulbarsh, 2016). The 2020 variable for those who have attempted suicide versus those have committed suicide is about twenty-five attempts for every one person who dies from suicide (CDC, 2022). There are about one million law enforcement in America (USAFacts, 2021). Using the formula suicides x years active x suicide attempts divided by those active we produce about 31’250. That is there is over 30’000 active members of law enforcement who have attempted. We have about one in 32 members of law enforcement who have attempted suicide. That doesn’t count those that have thought about it on some level.  Suicide is on the rise for just about all professional fields as while. The mental health crisis is coming from every way.

We must attack this mental health crisis from every way. We Must stop the abuse situations that go on in mental health institutions. Those who do not clean the property and allow dry blood to stay on walls for days “I have seen this so many times” need to be fired and possible charged with professional mis conduct. Those who need help will not get the help they need if there is a good chance some form of their rights is going to be violated. Many are not going to be open about their mental health if those around them go well you cannot have a job here if you have a mental health issue or have attempted suicide. I have literally had a officer who just meet me go while you cannot be a member of LEO if you have attempted suicide or have PTSD. Then she said oh while those numbers are a lie. Then oh while they let them back on the street when the PTSD goes away. Um PTSD doesn’t go away the symptoms can go up and down. Mine right now are going down I literally have in the last month not been able to sleep well. So as you can see we really need to educate everyone on PTSD. Those in certain jobs like all first responders must be educated and open to the facts and be able to accept them or be let go. Those that are LEO must be able to take in complaints from those with mental health conditions and investigate them. I literally have filed a number of complaints one being in New York dealing with a criminal offense involving the situations where I had all limbs tied above my torso for 52hrs and when I left I was still bleeding and these was no investigation. NY statue of limitations for this type of abuse could be a unlimited amount of time as it classifies kidnapping in the 1st degree. Yes there is a lot of evidence including from an old flip phone I was able to get. Yes I went to try and file a complaint nothing was done and yes even lately I have tried with nothing being done.  

I have been at a ER a number of times. They look at my mental health record and say oh he is mental. The mental label in ERs is a very real thing. Even though many with a mental health disorder have some form of a physical disorder. I have even been too the ER with what we now know too be gout and them telling me it is in my head. Clearly they did not even look at my foot or knee.   

There are a number of different things we can do to attack the issue of serving those with mental health conditions. I do not know if I will ever fully be comfortable in mental health department again. I do know we must fix the problems mentioned above. We can add requirements for those working with those with mental health conditions including yearly test on patient rights that cover everything. Yearly test on how many people with a mental health problem also have a mental health disorder. We need first responders to be educated in mental health a lot better. We also of course need to fix the abuse by law enforcement. This is having a mental treatment impact. We need funding for mental health across the board. We must stop the cutting of funding for mental health services. Mental health abuse investigating groups need be funded and given much more to hirer more investigators. Every complaint must be investigated no matter what. We need to stop adding to the stigma at all costs many do it. I have seen to many people who are clearly not educated go everyone with a mental health disorder should not have a gun lately and that is not the answer to the crisis of mass shootings yes we must investigate people who make threats and so on but if you get rid of guns from everyone who has a mental health disorder we may not have a signal police office or other member of law enforcement left.

The mental health crisis is the worst one in years if not ever. The stigma is getting in the way and if we do not move it out of the way we will lose way too many. The stigma is one that is actually, pretty easy to fix but that takes acceptance that is not there. Yes abuse happens, yes such must be investigated all the time. Yes those with mental health problems have the same rights as those who do not. Yes there is good chance no matter what you do you work with someone with a mental health chance, and it is possible you work with someone who has attempted suicide. Yes Suicide is not about you those around the one who attempted but instead about the one taking the action. No one is going to do something that can kill them just for attention, death is always in the equation like it or not. Yes if one goes to the ER for a medical reason they may have a mental health disorder as while chances are they have both a mental health disorder and a physical disorder We must issue the funding needed. We must require education. We must stop allowing abuse. If we do these things the stigma may go away, and people may live good and decent lives.

Reference

CDC, C. D. C. (2022, May 24). Facts about suicide. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html

Kulbarsh, P. (2016). 2015 police suicide statistics | officer. 2015 Police Suicide Statistics. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.officer.com/training-careers/article/12156622/2015-police-suicide-statistics

USAFacts, U. S. A. facts. (2021, April 28). Police departments, funding, Stats & Data. USAFacts. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://usafacts.org/articles/police-departments-explained/#:~:text=Over%201%20million%20people%20work%20as%20public%20safety,officers%20in%202008%20to%201%2C000%2C312%20officers%20in%202019.

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