Essay on 1 in 5 Diagnosed With Mental Disorder: Social & Biological Factors

Introduction

Mental health is a condition that faces fluctuations due to social and biological factors that enable people to achieve a suitable synthesis of their instinctive and potentially conflicting drives to develop and retain harmonious relations with other individuals and to be able to participate in changes that are constructive in a physical and social environment. According to Deutsch (2014), through the latest statistics carried out, one in five people are diagnosed with a mental disorder where one in twenty-four people have a severe mental disorder. The violent crimes seen today are the result of untreated mental health care, where lack of treatment is caused by unmet needs of individuals who do not have enough finances to pay for the services, lack of knowledge on care access services, and lack of insurance.

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In the mid-1800s, those who were mentally ill were either locked in cells or homeless. But mentally ill got better living conditions ad care after the introduction of asylums. Until the 1950s, most States continued to open Hospitals which were used to house patients with mental illness (Flaherty et al., 1996). However, the rules were changed by invention drugs utilized to treat mental illness. The patients who have lost hope could get help with a function in the Community and medicine. The paper examines the history of mental health and treatment in the United States.

The concept of mental health, given its imprecise borders and its nature, is better understood from its historical perspective. The understanding of mental health today has its origin traced back to public health developments in clinical psychiatry (Nolan, 2000). References to mental health as a state is found before 20th century in English language, but as a discipline or field mental health references are not found before 1946, a year when the International Health Conference which took place in New York formed World Health Organization and at the same time in London Mental Health Association was founded (Flaherty et al., 1996).

The Origins of Mental Health

The work of Clifford Beers in the United States is the origin of the mental hygiene movement. He printed a book centered on his experience after he was admitted to three mental hospitals. The book was published in 1908, and it had a great repercussion, and in the same year, there was the establishment of a Mental Hygiene society in Connecticut (Flaherty et al., 1996). In 1909, the National Commission of Mental Hygiene was established, and its internationalization continued from 1919 onwards (Flaherty et al., 1996).

The movement of mental hygiene in its origin through the reflection of experiences of Beers was basically and primarily concerned with the enhancement of health care of mental disorders patients. When the National Committee was formed in 1909, it was majorly concerned with harmonization of care for people who are insane in trying to eradicate abuse, neglect, and brutalities that the patients have suffered traditionally (Flaherty et al., 1996). Later the Committee expands its program to include a greater emphasis on preventive work through milder forms of mental disability. The rationale that was behind the shift was the belief that preventive measures to mental disorders are more active during the early life of patients who had begun to suffer during childhood and youthful stages.

The U.S National Mental Hygiene Committee by 1937 stated it is moving to promote diagnosis and treatment earlier, then develop adequate hospitalization, research stimulation, secure support and more understanding of mental hygiene and psychiatric activities, cooperating with private and governmental agencies who deals with mental hygiene, and creating awareness to people on the application of principles relating to mental health (Nolan, 2000).

Treatment in the Past

The poor treatment has been applied to mental illness for much of history when mental illness was considered to be demonic possession, and the patients were placed in asylums that were used to house psychological disorders patients. In the United States, Dorothea Dix, in the 19th century, led reform for mental health care through investigation of how the patients are poorly cared for (Nolan, 2000). She stated to lobby several States Legislatures and Congress to introduce change. Her efforts late to the creation of centers like Willard Psychiatric Center in New York, where cold baths were used in submerging patients, and also electroshock was used.

Then in 1954, antipsychotic medicine was used in the United States to treat mental health patients who gained more popularity in the 1960s. The treatment proved a great help in controlling of psychological disorders symptoms (Deutsch, 2014). In 1963, John F. Kennedy signed the Community mental Health Construction and Mental Retardation Facilities Act, which was passed by Congress. The Act provided federal funding and other support for centers for mental health in community settings. The passing of the legislation changed the services of mental health, which were delivered in the U.S, which resulted in 558,239 patients hospitalized at public hospitals in 1955 (Deutsch, 2014).

Mental Health Treatment Today

Today, community mental health centers are all over across the United States, which are located near client homes. The centers provide a large number of individuals with mental health services, which are of several kinds that address various problems. Correction systems have been developed where a group of mentally ill people is placed. Asylums are replaced with psychiatric hospitals that local Community and State governments run, and it focuses on short-term care for mentally ill patients where they have to stay in the centers for less than two weeks. The period was shortened because of the high cost of hospitalization, which ranged from 800 to 1000 dollars per night (Rothman, 2017). The length of time to stay the centers was limited by insurance cover, and the patients were only hospitalized when they become imminent threats to others and themselves.

Patients who have mental illness seek treatment after being referred by the criminal justice system, or they seek as they get involved with State's child protective services where care for their children has been removed due to neglect or abuse.

More so, in the United States today, mental health treatment can occur in a community or private hospital where a practitioner carried out the treatment or in a community mental health center. A child can be assisted by a school psychologist, school social worker, or a school counselor, then a person who has been incarcerated can receive group therapy even in prison.

In the past, funding sources for mental health, treatment did not pay for the services, but it has changed today with Addiction Equity Act and Mental Health Parity of 2008 which required health plans to be made in groups and introduction of mental health services parity by insurers (Rothman, 2017). Obama administration, through the U.S Department of Agriculture in 2013, announced use of 50 million dollars to assist enhances treatment and access to mental health services. The investment was made as an effort to strengthen communities in rural places (Rothman, 2017).

Also, today a person having a mental illness can speak with a caring physician who can refer the patient to specialized therapy. Mental health patients can receive services which are outpatient from several sources, which include psychiatrists, clinical workers, religious personnel, psychologists, and family therapists.

Currently, in the United States, there is the increased use of complementary and alternative treatment due to scientific advances, affordable non-pharmacological treatments, and social trends. Also, Biomedicine is highly evolving in response to non-allopathic systems, which increasingly opening. The systems are opening to physicians due to growing demands for various treatment choices caused by more individualized health care and lack of some choices in the model of mental health care that was previously being used.

The newer classes of medications have become widely available where a large portion of the United States population is can now access managed care, and more clinicians dealing with primary care are now given more responsibility to provide mental health care (Deutsch, 2014). Interventions have enhanced the adequacy treatment through the implementation of large community programs such as Anxiety Screening Day, Recognition and Treatment Program, Depression Screening Day, and National Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mental health and treatment in the United States have passed through some stages since the 19th century to today. Patients who have mental illness were subjected to imprisonment, exorcism, and execution. Then asylums were introduced to house the mentally ill patients, but little to no treatment was offered to the patients, where Dorothea Dix argued for more humane treatment. Today asylums are replaced with psychiatric hospitals that are run by local community hospitals and State governments. Patients receive outpatient care and therapy sessions, which are funded by private, insurance, and government funds.

References

Deutsch, A. (2014). The mentally ill in America-A history of their care and treatment from colonial times. Read Books Ltd.

Flaherty, L. T., Weist, M. D., & Warner, B. S. (1996). School-based mental health services in the United States: History, current models, and needs. Community Mental Health Journal, 32(4), 341-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02249452

Nolan, P. (2000). A history of mental health nursing. Nelson Thornes.

Rothman, D. J. (2017). Conscience and convenience: The asylum and its alternatives in progressive America. Routledge.