Research Topic Proposal

As a person in this society there is always someone with a mental health problem and we can see how their lives would be improved if they were given better treatments and support. The proposal question I have is why isn’t mental health getting the proper funding to help this problem in our society. Mental health research can save many lives and can even improve the quality of their lives which are not loved. Along with this it also benefits the society as a whole that we live in today by creating it a more talkable topic and even economic benefits that contribute in a thriving community which is built off of reducing levels of mental ill-health and alos the levels of stigma and discrimination about this topic. Us as a society knows mental health is a big issue but yet mental health research is underfunded and under-prioritised by our own government. It is constantly put last compared to other issues that are not as big. We are missing so many opportunities to reach breakthroughs that are seen in other areas of our healthcare that could transform people’s lives and help better their life. Some problems we deal with to this day and that I would be researching about is. Mental health problems account for a quarter of all ill health yet they receive less than 6% of all health research funding. Three-quarters of people with a mental health problem receive no treatment or support why? Public giving to mental health research is virtually non-existent in comparison to cancer, heart and circulatory problems, and many other topics. We do not yet understand enough about all of the causes of mental health problems or even how we might prevent them, and how and why treatments can work. So why not research why there's a stigma and why mental health is such a touchy subject for our society today.

Abstract Research Paper

The research paper on mental health illnesses along with the stigma that follows it. The paper covers what stigma is, a brief history review on mental health, what deinstitutionalization is,  the expelling of mentally ill people from society, Government funding is directed at other purposes, and the latest developments in the area for mental health. The goal for this paper is to inform people about how people with mental illness are not given the proper treatment. As well as the stigma that has formed around it for the past decades. The world has a word that they use to view the perception of mental ill people. It is known as “stigma” has a strong effect and meaning behind it. Stigma is the activity by somebody when they see you by a certain characteristics or attributes that you may have. People can form stigmas based on the color of your skin, your ethnic group, mental illness and even any disabilities you may have.Stigma is when someone sees you in a negative way because of your mental illness. 

Diving into the Stigma of Mental Health

For the sophomore research paper it was decided to do the research paper on mental health illnesses along with the stigma that follows it. The paper covers what stigma is, a brief history review on mental health, what deinstitutionalization is,  the expelling of mentally ill people from society, Government funding is directed at other purposes, and the latest developments in the area for mental health. The goal for this paper is to inform people about how people with mental illness are not given the proper help. As well as the stigma that has formed around it for the past decades.

The world has a word that they use to view the perception of mental ill people. It is known as “stigma” has a strong effect and meaning behind it. Stigma is the activity by somebody when they see you by a certain characteristics or attributes that you may have. People can form stigmas based on the color of your skin, your ethnic group, mental illness and even any disabilities you may have. When people treat you negatively because of your mental illness, this is a form of discrimination.  Stigma occurs on many occasions but most often when someone uses another's illness to define them. Many people who strugle with mental health issues also have the social stigma and discrimination which in the long run can make their problems worse and even harder to recover from. This may cause some people with major mental health issues to avoid getting due to the fear of being stigmatised by society. Mental illness has a huge effect on many people in the United States. Many scientists that study the brain have said that about every ⅕  adults experience mental illness ever. So that is approximately  43.8 million people, which is more than 18 percent of our population. Many children are also affected as well, with approximately 13 percent of those being between the ages of  8 and 15. All of these kids and adults are experiencing a severe mental disorder during their lives and aren’t getting the help they need. A huge treatment for mental illness during the beginning in medieval times was isolation. It is no surprise to find out that insane asylums became known for this treatment along with many others by the 17th century.  Congestion and poor sanitation were not kidding issues in these asylums , in which this wound up prompting numerous actions to improve the quality and mindfulness for the mentally ill emotional well-being. It shows how the condition of the mental care industry through the past was extremely poor.

The government proposed many ideas for funding for mental care hospitals like the idea of deinstitutionalization.  With this came a lot of refusal in many places to not provide care to people with the most serious conditions because many people didn't believe or believed the stigma around it. There was a lot of  deinstitutionalization in the 1970s and 1980s. Deinstitutionalization is the process of replacing the long-stay psychiatric hospitals with a less isolated community mental health service for those diagnosed with a mental disorder and or developmental disability.  Massive deinstitutionalization was done, which contributed to neglect of people with mental illnesses and homelessness. Major changes in mental health law made using force or threats for interventions less possible. Some commentators in the media saw this as “crazy people on the streets”.  Although we already had some reasonably effective antipsychotic and antidepressant medications, they had many serious side effects, patients found them weird and sometimes it wasn’t enough for them. Residence in the community also allowed access to street drugs and alcohol, resulting in substantial increases in psychiatric and substance abuse by people with mental illnesses. The government's failure to provide necessary care has been around for such a long time. Everyday, men, women, and children behind bars or in the real world suffer from the lack of access to the right amount of medical and mental health care needed. Chronic illnesses can go untreated for years, emergencies are ignored by family and the society, and patients with serious mental illness fail every time to help get the necessary care they need. The failure to provide prisoners with access to health care needed often can result in tragedies. This also violates the U.S. Constitution. Nearly forty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Estelle vs. Gamble ignoring a prisoner’s serious medical needs can amount to a lot. It says:

“an inmate must rely on prison authorities to treat his medical needs; if the authorities fail to do so, those needs will not be met. In the worst cases, such a failure may actually produce physical torture or a lingering death.… In less serious cases, denial of medical care may result in pain and suffering which no one suggests would serve any penological purpose.”

Providing prisoners with care that they need today can help everyone out if they are released one day. In the end the government has failed several times to provide the proper government and in the end it will be hard to cover up and help when it's at its worst. 

Although there were improvements with mental health and the stigma many people still had the stigma in their mind and started to expel mentally ill people from society.  Many people believe that people with mental ill health are violent and dangerous, when in fact they are more at risk of being attacked or harming themselves than harming other people. Many people didn’t believe that the mentally ill people were at more of a risk to harm themselves then other to the point where congress passed the Equality Act of 2010. The Equality Act of 2010 says:

“It is illegal to discriminate directly or indirectly against people with mental health problems in public services and functions, access to premises, work, education, associations and transport.”

This equality act was mainly passed when family, friends, schools, and even workplaces began to outcast the people with mental illness because they began to believe the stigma that was built around mental health illness. The stigma associated with mental illness can be described as the social stigma, which involves the attitudes others have around mental illness. It is very real. Studies on public stigma towards mental illness shows the stigma is still widespread. While the public still may accept the medical or treatments of the condition and the treatment in which it is needed to help, many people still have a negative view of those with mental health conditions. Scientists have found in a study that this sort of stigma can and will lead to poorer treatment outcomes within the patients.  

In the end of this all it is very important to understand mental health issues and acknowledge they exist. For the longest time in our society many people have pushed away the idea that people actually struggle with mental health issues. They even outcast the people who needed the most help in the past during the 1900s. Through the last few decades the US government has most definitely made improvements with funding, treatments, and awareness for mental health issues. Although mental health issues in teenagers plays a big role in suicide the government is working there hardest to work this out. Many people believe the future of mental health will be good. The stigma around mental health illnesses will most definitely go away. This will result in higher people coming in for treatments and getting the proper help they need. Instead of being scared of being stigmatized by the society they live in. There’s a lot of improvements to be made but it also will be worth it in the long run.

Work cited

Borinstein, Andrew B., et al. “Public Attitudes Toward Persons With Mental Illness.” Health Affairs, www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.11.3.186.

“Medical and Mental Health Care.” American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/issues/prisoners-rights/medical-and-mental-health-care.

“What Is the Equality Act?” What Is the Equality Act? | Equality and Human Rights Commission, www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act-2010/what-equality-act.

“A History of Mental Illness Treatment.” Concordia University, St. Paul Online, 14 Oct. 2016, online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/history-of-mental-illness-treatment.

"Mental Health." Gale Global Issues Online Collection, Gale, 2020. Gale In Context: Global Issues,link-gale-com.douglascountylibraries.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CP3208520271/GIC?u=cast18629&sid=GIC&xid=c5512bbd. Accessed 10 Feb. 2020.

“Antidepressants.” Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., June 2019, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/46/antidepressants. Accessed 10 Feb 2020.

“Suicide.” Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., November 2019, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/316/suicide. Accessed 10 Feb 2020.

“Depression and Mood Disorders.” Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., August 2019, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/119/depression-and-mood-disorders. Accessed 10 Feb 2020.

Annotated Bibliography 

"Mental Health." Gale Global Issues Online Collection, Gale, 2020. Gale In Context: Global Issues,link-gale-com.douglascountylibraries.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CP3208520271/GIC?u=cast18629&sid=GIC&xid=c5512bbd. Accessed 10 Feb. 2020.

Summary:

In this article it goes into depth about mental health by describing it. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is a state of well-being that enables people to cope with the normal stress of life, do productive work, contribute to the community, and otherwise realize their potential. Mental illness is a disruption of mental health affecting a person's emotions, mood, thinking or behavior. Mental illness may arise from physical causes, such as disease, or a combination of environmental, psychological, and genetic factors.. Wealthier nations also struggle with mental health care. In China, mentally ill people are often stigmatized and are reluctant to seek care. The country has only 1.7 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. The United States has 12 per 100,000, and faces other problems with mental health care.

“Antidepressants.” Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., June 2019, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/46/antidepressants. Accessed 10 Feb 2020.

Summary:

This article talks about antidepressants and what they do. Antidepressants are medication prescribed by doctors to treat depression and or any other disorders, like panic, eating, and anxiety disorders. Many different antidepressants are available for adults and teens to use and help with their mental health disorders. Researchers have not yet found out how antidepressants can change the chemistry of your brain. 

“Suicide.” Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., November 2019, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/316/suicide. Accessed 10 Feb 2020.

Summary:

It can be scary when you look at the suicide statistics for teenagers. A 2018 study published in Pediatrics found the number of children and adolescents hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or attempts has gone up more than doubled between 2008 and 2015.  The Canadian Mental Health Association reports that suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of ten and twenty-four, and accounts for 24 percent of all deaths among fifteen- to twenty-four-year-olds. Statistics Canada estimates that approximately 10 people die by suicide every day. In the United States, the youth suicide rate has risen dramatically after a fifteen-year decline. Out of every five people who take their own lives, four are likely to be male. Females are three times more likely to attempt suicide, but males are the ones who complete their attempts. 

“Depression and Mood Disorders.” Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., August 2019, teenhealthandwellness.com/article/119/depression-and-mood-disorders. Accessed 10 Feb 2020.

Summary:

We all can get the blues or be down sometimes. But if it's to the point when those bad feelings hang on for weeks or months. It could be an illness called depression. If you’re depressed you probably feel sad, discouraged, and hopeless for an extended time.