History of mental health

Mental health is coming to awareness in recent years around the United States; however, mental health diagnoses have been present throughout human existence. Not only has mental health been in existence since human beings, but also racism has haunted minorities in negative ways. This short essay will trace the history of mental health, since 1900’s in the United States to some of the recent studies addressing minorities in mental health. Tracing the history of mental health there is an interconnection with racism, and African Americans have been victims of medical experimentations and research along with other ethnic minorities (Harrison-Ross, 2007). Researchers used African American’s stereotypes that society had of them to justify their…

Every day is the same to you; you wake up, read the paper, and drink your coffee. You work at the East Cambridge Prison, where you keep the inmates in order by whipping them, chaining them up, and by not giving them food. You know that the conditions are wrong and inhumane, but it’s a well-paying job. You don’t speak out because you’re worried about your family and three kids at home who need to be fed. Stories like these occurred in prisons and mental institutions all around the world. The…

stalls often times in cellars. Most of the patients who were disobedient were chained up naked and beaten/ lashed with rods and other sorts of items. After some time, asylums soon became institutions, where instead of just holding and punishing the mentally ill, they began trying to treat the disorders as well. One of the most common ways to “treat” a mental disorder was electroshock therapy, this is still used and there’s controversy on if this method really works to “cure” mental illness.…

Community Connections is a mental health agencies established in 1984. Its mission during establishment was to, “provide mental health services to consumers who were transitioning from institutional care into society” (“Community Connections History,” 2008). The focus of the agency then was to, “provide treatment for people who were diagnosed with major mental disorders and needed help to regain skills lost after years of institutional care” (“Community Connections History,” 2008). The founder…

Mental illness is a condition that impacts many Americans today. It affects an individuals thinking, feelings, or behaviors and it may also affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis. The treatment for mental illness is drug therapy according to diagnosis and mental health counseling. In my mental health clinical I assess my patient using therapeutic communication to get a health history, personal history, mental status, the reason they are there, mood,…

Mental illness has evolved considerably since the Ancient Greek perspectives of balancing humours. As time progressed the benefit of knowledge helped to explain and treat mental illness. However the drastic and frequent changes that occurred have left a mixed but relevant legacy. Therefore this essay will explain how psychiatry has evolved. The historical theories of mental illness will be briefly noted in order to grasp early explanations of mental illness. The history of mental illness prior…

“Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions- disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior”, (Mayoclinic). People diagnosed with mental disorders reflect on their past to institute the reason being in the condition they are faced with firsthand. A diagnosis of a mental health condition is not only a fraction of the behavioral effect of the average human being’s behavior, but a dosage of daily struggles one will experience firsthand. Mental illness is a…

nation’s recent history have a common theme; the offenders have a history of mental illness. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration reported that in 2012 approximately 43.7 million (18.6%) American adults had a diagnosable mental illness in the previous year with 9.6 million (4.1%) considered to be serious mental illnesses.1 Many people who experience mental illness will never hurt others but will consider or commit suicide, a leading cause of death in the US. Many others…

Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, individuals of racial minority populations such as African American individuals underuse mental health services in comparison to Caucasian individuals due to factors such as stigmas surrounding mental health, and access barriers (2001). Moreover, mental health and mental illness in minority individuals are often exacerbated and worsened due to experience factors such as racism and…

Jeffrey A. Lieberman correctly highlights the reality that the US mental health care system has failed many individuals. However, his assertion that violent crime offenders commonly have untreated severe mental illness is misleading. Following tragedies such as the murder-suicide perpetrated by Vester Lee Flannagan II (1), many like Dr. Lieberman inaccurately proclaim that these occurrences have a primary common denominator: persons with severe mental illness. Not only does this further…