Essay Example on Communities and Mental Health

i. Community

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

According to this particular text, community, is by definition, a group of people with common characteristics, and one which is dynamic.

ii. Community Mental Health

When defined from a public health point of view, community mental health is an initiative which deals with both the development and delivery programs for a particular group of people with the intentions of promoting, protecting as well as treating mental health and mental health conditions.

iii. Mental Health

Mental health is defined as the successful performance of mental function, which results which results in productive activities, the ability to fulfill relationships with other people and also capacity to adapt to change and coping with adversity.

iv. Mental Illness

Unlike mental health, mental illness is a general term that collectively refers to all mental disorders, which are deemed as the health conditions which are characterized by various features such as mood, behavior, or alterations in thinking.

b. Two different types of Community as identified in the reading, naming one community of each type that you belong to.

According to Dalton, Elias, and, Wandersman (2001) there are two types of communities, which include relational and locality communities. To begin with, a relational community is one which is defined by interpersonal relationships, and unlike the locality community, it is not bound by geographic region. A good example of the relational community that I belong to is the women community, which is bound by gender. Locality community, on the other hand, is what is often perceived as the ideal community. Unlike relational community, locality community is characterized by geographic locations. An example of a locality community that I belong to is Harlem District Community.

c. Describe the six elements of community as identified in the reading

According to this particular reading, there are six very crucial elements of a community. These elements are such as;

i. Membership

This is a crucial element of community that gives one a sense of belonging and identity.

ii. Common Symbol systems

This is a community element that is characterized by similar rituals.

iii. Shared norms and values

For a certain group of people to be referred to as a community, they ought to exemplify some shared values and norms.

iv. Mutual influence

Every community has the mutual influence element, in which case, the members of the community have a particular impact on the group, while the group, in turn, influences its individual members.

v. Shared needs as well as the commitments to meeting them

According to Israel et al., (1994) community, will always exemplify similar requirements and the people should also exemplify some form of common commitments to meeting them.

vi. Shared emotional connections

Finally, there need to be an emotional or a spiritual bond that holds the people of a particular community, together.

Question 2

a. Describe and discuss the four mental health reform movements as laid out in the reading.

In the history of mental health, there have been four primary mental health reform movements, which include; The Moral treatment Movement of (1800-1850), The Mental Hygiene Movement, the Community Mental Health Movement, and finally the community support movement (Varcarolis, et al.)Firstly, the moral treatment movement was the first mental health reform that was initiated by William Tuke, in the early 1800s. In the foundation of this movement, Tuke was the idea that people needed to an asylum away from their everyday lives so that they could receive healing and restore their deterioration in morality. Secondly, there was the mental hygiene movement which was formed between 1890 and 1920 by Adolf Meyer and Clifford Beers. As a reform movement, it was based on the belief that it was possible to cure mental illness if it was both identified and treated early. On the other hand, the community mental health movement was founded between 1955 and 1970 (Varcarolis, et al.). With the formation of this mental reform movement a new concept of community mental health was formed. With the formation of this movement, the Community Mental Health Centers Act was passes and it was intended to bring about the establishment of full-time community mental health centres in the United States. Finally, the current day Community Support Movement was formed in 1975. Particularly, this reform era was founded owing to the criticism and the negativity that was associated with the previously established community mental health centers which did not meet the needs of the mental health patients. In the same vein, the reformers of this particular movement wanted community support systems which would address common social welfare needs of the mentally ill such as job training and housing.

b. How has each helped to further community mental health?

i. Moral Treatment Movement

This particular reform contributed to further community mental health in the sense that, various public and private asylums were built in almost every asylum. These asylums, in turn, were used for treating the mentally ill right from the early stages so as to restore mental wellness as well as preventing the chances of the patient developing some chronic conditions.

ii. The Mental Hygiene Movement

The formation of this mental reform movement helped further community mental health through the development of lobotomy and electroconvulsive therapy which enhanced the effective treatment of mental illnesses at early stages.

iii. The Community Mental Health Movement

With the formation of this movement, there was an establishment of full-time community mental health centers across the United States, which mostly helped to improve the state of community mental health.

iv. Community Support Movement

This particular mental health reform aided in furthering community mental health through its provision support services such as domestic support, advocacy, financial and housing assistance for the mentally ill, and training among others.

Works Cited

Varcarolis, Elizabeth M, et al. Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: A Clinical Approach. 2010.