Essay Example on Mental Illness: Challenges, Symptoms & Care Needed

Mental illness is the description of a condition where an individual suffers from a wide range of complications that affect the individual's thinking, mood, and behavior. The mental illness that an individual may be facing varies in terms of its severity. That is whereby the complications that an individual is suffering from may differ from one person to the other. The people that have mental illness always need special care because they are unable to behave as ordinary people do. That is because they suffer from a condition that makes them unable t think and act like other ordinary people in society. The situation is caused by the abnormal functioning of their brain, which affects their judgment. That hurts the various activities that they undertake daily. Thus, there is always the need to address the issues they face in the course of their lives differently. For example, when administering justice, they are still treated differently in some cases. That is because of their judgment, and synthesis of information is impaired. Therefore, it would be unfair for an individual to subject them to the same treatment as other people in society.

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Based on data from the world health organization, at least a third of the adult population worldwide suffers from a mental disorder. That is because of the defects that the individuals have, which affects their moods and thinking. In the long run, they need to be treated in a particular way because they are in s unique situation. However, in most cases, mentally challenged individuals are discriminated against in society. That is because they are not in a position to function and behave like the rest of the people in the population. In most cases, that discrimination is justified, because of the degree of care and conduct that is expected from individuals. However, in some cases, there might be preferential treatment, which is based on some policy frameworks that are meant to protect the people that are mentally challenged. For example, there is the case of the people that are mentally ill, who are sentenced to prison for crimes they had committed earlier.

Various policies related to the people that are arrested and have any kind of mental illness. It is essential to establish the relevant facts about an individual's mental state before they are given a sentence. That is because the individual committed an offense, not out of the will, but because of the mental illness, they are being affected with. Most of the policies are useful because they give protection to the mentally challenged inmates because of the unique nature of their condition. However, not all of them are perfect, and they need some review so that the mentally ill people are protected from any form of mistreatment. Although various policies need revision to serve the sick, mentally inmates better, there are some which are excellent. For example, there is a policy that states it is illegal to detain an individual in a corrective facility pending a ruling. That is because the mentally challenged individual needs restorative medication and care. However, prisons are not well equipped for such purposes. That is because they are meant for behavioral correction and not well suited for the mentally challenged. That is an example of a policy that is well designed for the welfare of the mentally challenged individuals.

The other policy recommendation that would be gre3at for the welfare of the mentally ill inmates and offenders is the idea of community-based mental health services. There should be adequate investment by the government in the essential community-based services, which is meant to provide basic services for the mentally challenged individuals (Nair & Pariante, 2014). The primary benefit of community-based mental health services is the reduction of incarceration and law enforcement that is unnecessary. That is because when a mentally challenged individual commits a crime, what they need is not a correction of behavior. The issue that should be of priority is proper medical care from professionals, which will have the effect of reducing or reversing the impact of the mental condition. That is the purpose of community-based mental health services, a service that is not well developed in a prison setting. That is because of the different settings and motives of the two. When a mentally challenged individual is sentenced and taken to prison, that has no benefit to either the individual or the society. That is because it will be a wastage of prison resources. That is because the individual will not have a reformation of their character. However, when they are taken to community-based mental health services institutions, they will receive treatment, and they will be in a position to have better judgment. With better understanding, the crime they committed earlier ill, not re-occurs. That is because they will have better judgment and relate their actions to consequences.

To complement the services by community-based mental health services, there is Assertive Community Treatment, which are the services offered for mentally ill inmates. The goal of the services is to make sure that the day to day needs of the mentally challenged individuals are adequately addressed. That is because, in the prisons, the inmates might not get the attention they need. Therefore, at the end of their sentence, they will not have changed in any way, and that means there would have been wastage of the prison resources (Lamb et al., 2001). That is because there will not have been any change in the individual's character, and they will have been detained in unfavorable conditions. Therefore, in the end, their welfare will have been significantly compromised, which might deteriorate their mental states. The most important aspect of the Assertive Community Treatment is the avoidance of unnecessary incarceration of an individual. The services provided by Assertive Community Treatment have been linked to various benefits. For example, in 2017, there was a reduction in jail days by 83% among people that were related to mental issues. That translates to improved welfare of the inmates with mental challenges. Instead of serving time, they were taken to corrective centers, which had far much better benefits as compared to the case in prisons.

There are numerous shortcomings regarding the treatment of inmates with mental illnesses. That has the effect of reducing the effectiveness of the prison system regarding the way they treat the inmates. There is no benefit to the inmates because the prisons are not well equipped with personnel and systems to enable the better rehabilitation of the mentally challenged inmates. That is because the inmates that are mentally ill require more help than what is being provided by the prison system. Moreover, the inmates do not benefit at all because the state does not provide the rehabilitation they need in the prisons. Furthermore, the state does not help its goal of changing the behavior of the inmates. That is because its efforts that are meant to have a better society through a change in behavior is not achieved. That is because the prison system does not help the inmates change behavior. Therefore, no party benefits from the system. Hence, it is evident that there is a need for policy changes to enable the prison system to address the needs of the mentally challenged inmates. That is because the treatment that most of them receive is inadequate to serve their interests and serve to rehabilitate their behavior.

Because of the rise in the number of mentally ill patients, there is the need to have different policies and activities which are meant to take care of the inmates. Moreover, the various events will have the effect of increasing the effectiveness of the prison system regarding the treatment of the inmates that are mentally challenged. The first policy recommendation is about the use of Telepsychiatry in taking care of the mentally ill inmates. Telepsychiatry is a technology form whereby there is the use of telemedicine in the field of psychiatry. That is whereby there is the use of telecommunication to enhance review the conditions of the inmates that are mentally challenged. In most prisons, that form of technology is unavailable. That has the effect of reducing the effectiveness of the care that is being received by the inmates. However, with the use of Telepsychiatry, there is enhanced effectiveness. The primary benefit that is associated with Telepsychiatry is enabling the inmates to have access to better medication and care regardless of their location. Moreover, the inmates that are mentally challenged are in a better position to have access to better professionals, which enables their conditions to be administered in a better way. The qualified psychiatrists are able to deliver care to the patients without having to travel to the prison facilities. That enables them to effectively offer their services to more inmates because of the elimination of the need to go to different locations. Moreover, it reduces the costs associated with the transportation of the professionals. That is because of the removal of the need to move around so that they can administer care to the inmates. Monitoring of the progress of the treatment being delivered to the inmates is more enhanced with the use of Telepsychiatry because more parties can be part of the evaluation. That has an advantage to the prison system and the inmates as well. That is because the inmate receives appropriate care, and the system increases its effectiveness by rehabilitating the conditions of the mentally challenged patients.

The other policy recommendation is about enhanced awareness of the conditions that affect the inmates. That is achieved through educating various parties about the effects and forms of mental illness among the patients. The first group that should be adequately equipped with such information is the staff that works in prison. These are the people that interact more with the inmates and have a better chance to increase the effectiveness of the prison system regarding the treatment of the mentally ill inmates. When the staff in prison are equipped with knowledge about how to effectively deal with the inmates with mental challenges, that will have the effect of improving the outcomes associated with their treatment in the long run. The other party that needs adequate information about how to deal with mental issues in prison are the inmates. That is because they are the ones that spend more time with one another and have a better chance of noticing the effects of other inmates that might be mentally challenged. With adequate information about the nature and impact of mental challenges among the other inmates, there will be a better treatment. When the policy of enhanced education of inmates and staff about psychological problems is incorporated in system, there will be a positive effect on the welfare of the mentally challenged inmates in the long run.

Conclusion

Adult inmates suffer a lot of challenges, which is because of their unique problems that need adequate intervention by the responsible stakeholders. One of the most significant policy interventions that can be used for there to be a positive change in the prison system is through the use of neuroscience to enhance correctional change for inmates that have mental illnesses (Baskin-Sommers & Fonteneau, 2016). That is whereby the inmates undergo tests that are meant to establish whether they have any issues; so that they may receive adequate care in the long run. The tests should be done in time so that the inmates can receive appropriate care as soon as it is convenient for all the parties that are involved in administering care. The earlier the intervention based on neuroscience is appl...