Mental Health Essay Examples

The rate for the amount of stress people are under, homelessness, and usage of pharmaceutical drugs, street drugs, alcohol, and widespread micronutrient deficiency are increasing everyday. These factors all exacerbate mental health complications and contribute to poor overall health. Mental illness refers to any conditions that affect cognition, emotion, and behavior (Manderscheid, 2009). According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), mental health covers many disorders including: Anxiety Disorder, Depression, Eating Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia, are a few; and in which these disorders are often associated with children and adolescents, older adults, men and women (Manderscheid, 2009). It affects many different people especially soldiers who are post-war. Many of them are traumatized after returning home from terrifying war situations that may cause them to experience PTSD. When an individual experiences any or accumulation of these mental health disorders it affects them and their loved ones tremendously. Some cases are severe enough to destroy a person’s life. Many people often avoid seeking treatment or talking about mental health because there is this stigma in which people associate mental illness with a negative attitude. It’s disappointing to know that mental health still has a stigma attached to it. Having mental health illness is the same diagnosis as a person who was just diagnosed with coronary heart disease or any other disease.

There should not be stigma held for mental health because it is becoming a global burden. Mental health has a direct burden for everyone globally. The number of mass shootings has increased significantly as guns, medications, and opportunity has increased for those with mental health issues (Carroll, 2016). The lack of availability of health care services causes an astronomical indirect loss due to decreased ability to teach adequate nutrition to those of poor mental health. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014 states, “to initiate systems wide change, the current model for nutrition education of health care professionals must be modified (Kris-Etherton, Pratt, Saltzman, & Horn, 2014)”. It is said 70% of adolescence in juvenile justice systems encompass at least one mental health circumstance and at least 20% exist with a severe mental illness. Mental health has been neglected and leaving millions in a silent nation. Access to services, increased education, empowerment of the population and health care delivery system must be emphasized for sustainable progress. Efforts must be focused on educating health sources on adequate nutritional sources, detoxification methods, stress reduction, and to source the population with this information and make it readily available for immediate improvements in mental health. Mental health patients are frequently lacking in several nutrients, vital minerals, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. Crucial micronutrients are lacking from the peoples daily diets, largely due to food being over processed, lack of dietary diversity, and the growing population. There is no knowledge on the nutrition an individual should be eating and many people may not be able to afford a healthy meal which results in them eating a cheap fast food meal that is over processed. There is a serious shortage of those capable to treat mental health patients (The State of Mental Health in America, 2017).

There needs to be more resources and easier access for treatment. In the areas that do have mental health professionals, there are not an adequate amount of providers for everyone. Most psychiatrists are located in cities, several patients in need are outside these areas, resulting in a long commute to get to the closest psychiatrist (Varrell, 2017). There is a pattern here that we are seeing globally that tends to affect the lower and middle income countries the most. For example, Lesotho, Africa where there were 39.03 suicides per 100,000 in 2016 (1). Many individuals lack access to adequate care. Resources and medical care is a necessity that everyone needs. Some may not have the ability for transportation or finding a therapist that understands their language. Many countries do not have that many psychiatrists. This may be cultural because many cultures don’t believe in mental illness. For example, many people in India do not believe in depression and anxiety. This is an issue because someone who is suffering from depression is living in India trapped with this chaos inside seeking for help that can’t be treated. Areas that do have psychiatrists almost always prescribe their patients antidepressants. The antidepressants have many side effects. Instead of prescribing pharmaceutical drugs, there are alternatives. The medical field is lacking knowledge in holistic means. The pharmaceutical company does not address the root of the issues. It is only addressing the pain and the symptoms the individual is experiencing at that same moment. It causes them to become reliable to pharmaceutical drugs. The immediate and long-term needs of the mental health population must be met, and there are cost effective methods for improving mental health. Widespread, community-based micronutrient supplementation must begin immediately to reduce omega-3 fatty acid, vitamin, and mineral deficiency in high risk populations. Supervised weekly nutritional supplementations’ at homeless shelters, wick programs, etc. could prove to reduce the prevalence of mental health issues among those at high risk.

“Detoxification is an essential part of a prevention and treatment program for recovery of mental health, including PTSD, depression, and addictions (Korn, 2017)”. Developing a tailored approach to decreasing stress can assist one in management of mental health conditions and improve quality of life (NAMI, 2018). Using a holistic model of health care treating the person as a whole (considering mental, emotional, physical, social and spiritual states of well-being) rather than how allopathic medicine treats, which merely addresses the symptoms of the problem, is essential in helping mentally ill patients (Ackerley, Casler, 2014). Supplements containing amino acids possess the ability to decrease symptoms, as they are transformed to neurotransmitters which will lessen depression and further mental health troubles. On the foundation of gathering scientific verification, a successful therapeutic intervention is up-and-coming, specifically dietary supplement/treatment. These could be suitable for getting a handle on and to a degree, stopping bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, autism, addiction, attention deficit disorder (ADD) otherwise known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and eating disorders. The majority of prescription medications, as well as the ordinary antidepressants lead to side effects (Rao et al., 2008). Mental health is a pending concern. It affects poor rural populations predominantly. Americans have exceptional and serious mental health problems due to nutritional deficiencies, toxins, and lack of resources. There are serious social and economic consequences. Mental health has a direct burden on America. The immediate and long-term needs of the mental health population must be met, and there are cost effective methods for improving mental health. Mental health has a direct impact on the health care delivery system.