Mental Illness Response

The New York Times video has addressed to difficulties that come along with mental illness treatment. This has widened my knowledge about the illness as it requires commitment in order to treat it effectively. Unlike other illness an individual is capable of hiding what they are suffering from. The healing process further proves to be difficult as it deals medication, psychotherapy, support group, peer support and hospitalization when the case is extreme. The healing process shows that a lot has to be put together in order including family and friends who are supposed to accept the patient in order for them to heal completely (Berghuis, & Jongsma, 2010).

Like Stacy, she was able to hide it from her family yet she did not know what she was suffering from until she was 18 years. She was afraid of stigma as she was dealing with depression. She was scared what her family and friend who say about her. This proves that people are afraid of the mentally ill patient as most people assume that they are likely to be mad and they can harm other individuals (Compton, Shim, & American Psychiatric Publishing, 2015). The patients are also afraid of letting their friends know what they are suffering from as they may lose them as a result of social stigma. Mental illness affects the patient activities as they are forced to drop from activities that they were active in. Individuals with mental illness especially students are forced to drop out of school in order to tackle the illness. Their academic performance is also affected making them deteriorate in their studies. Discrimination is real to the people with mental illness which negatively affect their lives. They become isolated in which their lives are destroyed (Gilmartin, 2009).

 

Reference

 

Berghuis, D. J., & Jongsma, A. E. (2010). The severe and persistent mental illness treatment planner. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.

Gilmartin, J. (2009). Health psychology in context. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.

In Compton, M. T., In Shim, R. S., & American Psychiatric Publishing,. (2015). The social determinants of mental health.