Epidemiology

Mental illnesses are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. Over 26 percent of all Americans over the age of 18 meet the criteria for having a mental illness. Evidence suggests that 450 million people worldwide have some mental illness. Major depression ranks fourth among the top 10 leading causes of disease worldwide. By 2029, mental illness is predicted to become the leading cause of disease worldwide. Women are more likely to have a mental illness than men. One million people commit suicide every year and 10 to 20 million attempt it. A World Health Organization (WHO) report estimates the global cost of mental illness at nearly $2.5 trillion (two-thirds in indirect costs) in 2010, with a projected increase to over $6 trillion by 2030.

Evidence from the WHO suggests that nearly half of the world's population is affected by mental illness with an impact on their self-esteem, relationships and ability to function in everyday life. An individual's emotional health can impact their physical health. Poor mental health can lead to problems such as the ability to make adequate decisions and substance abuse.

Good mental health can improve life quality whereas poor mental health can worsen it. According to Richards, Campania, & Muse-Burke, "There is growing evidence that is showing emotional abilities are associated with pro-social behaviors such as stress management and physical health." Their research also concluded that people who lack emotional expression are inclined to anti-social behaviors (e.g., drug and alcohol abuse, physical fights, vandalism), which reflects ones mental health and suppressed emotions. Adults and children who face mental illness may experience social stigma, which can exacerbate the issues.

Global Prevalenceedit

Mental health can be seen as an unstable continuum, where an individual's mental health may have many different possible values. Mental wellness is generally viewed as a positive attribute, even if the person does not have any diagnosed mental health condition. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well-being, the capacity to live a full and creative life, and the flexibility to deal with life's inevitable challenges. Some discussions are formulated in terms of contentment or happiness. Many therapeutic systems and self-help books offer methods and philosophies espousing strategies and techniques vaunted as effective for further improving the mental wellness. Positive psychology is increasingly prominent in mental health.

A holistic model of mental health generally includes concepts based upon anthropological, educational, psychological, religious, and sociological perspectives. There are also models as theoretical perspectives from personality, social, clinical, health and developmental psychology.

The tripartite model of mental well-being views mental well-being as encompassing three components of emotional well-being, social well-being, and psychological well-being. Emotional well-being is defined as having high levels of positive emotions, whereas social and psychological well-being are defined as the presence of psychological and social skills and abilities that contribute to optimal functioning in daily life. The model has received empirical support across cultures. The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is the most widely used scale to measure the tripartite model of mental well-being.

Demographicsedit

Children and young adultsedit

According to 2020 data, mental illnesses have a stagnant incidence among adults but are increasing among the youth, categorized as 12 to 17-year-olds. Approximately 13% of youth in the United States reported suffering from at least one major depressive episode in 2019-20, with the greatest increase (18%) in Oregon. Only 28% receive consistent treatment and 70% are left untreated. In lower-income communities, it is more common to forego treatment as a result of financial resources. Being left untreated also leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse, which in turn causes its own host of mental health issues.

Mental health and stability is a very important factor in a person's everyday life. The human brain develops many skills at an early age including social skills, behavioral skills, and one's way of thinking. Learning how to interact with others and how to focus on certain subjects are essential lessons to learn at a young age. This starts from the time we can talk all the way to when we are so old that we can barely walk. However, there are people in society who have difficulties with these skills and behave differently. A mental illness consists of a wide range of conditions that affects a person's mood, thinking, and behavior. About 26% of people in the United States, ages 18 and older, have been diagnosed with some kind of mental disorder. However, not much is said about children with mental illnesses even though many develop one, even as early as age three.

The most common mental illnesses in children include, but are not limited to anxiety disorder, as well as depression in older children and teens. Having a mental illness at a younger age is different from having one in adulthood. Children's brains are still developing and will continue to develop until around the age of twenty-five. When a mental illness is thrown into the mix, it becomes significantly harder for a child to acquire the necessary skills and habits that people use throughout the day. For example, behavioral skills don't develop as fast as motor or sensory skills do. So when a child has an anxiety disorder, they begin to lack proper social interaction and associate many ordinary things with intense fear. This can be scary for the child because they don't necessarily understand why they act and think the way that they do. Many researchers say that parents should keep an eye on their child if they have any reason to believe that something is slightly off. If the children are evaluated earlier, they become more acquainted to their disorder and treating it becomes part of their daily routine. This is opposed to adults who might not recover as quickly because it is more difficult for them to adopt when already being accustomed to a certain direction of life.

Mental illness affects not only the person themselves but the people around them. Friends and family also play an important role in the child's mental health stability and treatment. If the child is young, parents are the ones who evaluate their child and decide whether or not they need some form of help. Friends are a support system for the child and family as a whole. Living with a mental disorder is never easy, so it's always important to have people around to make the days a little easier. However, there are negative factors that come with the social aspect of mental illness as well. Parents are sometimes held responsible for their child's illness. People also say that the parents raised their children in a certain way or they acquired their behavior from them. Family and friends are sometimes so ashamed of the idea of being close to someone with a disorder that the child feels isolated and thinks that they have to hide their illness from others. When in reality, hiding it from people prevents the child from getting the right amount of social interaction and treatment to thrive in today's society.

Stigmas are also a well-known factor in mental illness. A stigma is defined as “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person.” Stigmas are used especially when it comes to mentally disabled people. People have this assumption that everyone with a mental problem, no matter how mild or severe, is automatically considered destructive or a criminal person. Thanks to the media, this idea has been planted in our brains from a young age. Watching movies about teens with depression or children with Autism makes us think that all of the people that have a mental illness are like the ones on TV. In reality, the media displays an exaggerated version of most illnesses. Unfortunately, not many people know that, so they continue to belittle those with disorders. In a recent study, a majority of young people associate mental illness with extreme sadness or violent tendencies . Now that children are becoming more and more open to technology and the media itself, future generations will then continue to pair mental illness with negative thoughts. The media should be explaining that many people with psychiatric disorders like ADHD and Anxiety, can live an ordinary life with the correct treatment and should not be punished for something they cannot help. Along with social stigmas, individuals with a mental illness can develop a self-stigma. A self-stigma is when the affected individual does not come forward about their feelings in fear of being judged. These self-stigmas can deter the individual from seeking help and treatment.

Sueki, (2013) carried out a study titled “The effect of suicide-related internet use on users’ mental health: A longitudinal Study”. This study investigated the effects of suicide-related internet use on user's suicidal thoughts, predisposition to depression and anxiety, and loneliness. The study consisted of 850 internet users; the data was obtained by carrying out a questionnaire amongst the participants. This study found that browsing websites related to suicide, and methods used to commit suicide, harmed suicidal thoughts and increased depression and anxiety tendencies. The study concluded that as suicide-related internet use adversely affected the mental health of certain age groups it may be prudent to reduce or control their exposure to these websites. These findings certainly suggest that the internet can indeed have a profoundly negative impact on our mental health.

Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz compared that 50 years ago children were either categorized as good or bad, and today "all children are good, but some are mentally healthy and others are mentally ill". Social control and forced identity creation is the cause of many mental health problems among today's children. A behavior or misbehavior might not be an illness but exercise of their free will and today's immediacy in drug administration for every problem along with the legal over-guarding and regard of a child's status as a dependent shakes their personal self and invades their internal growth.

The homelessedit

Mental illness is not only prevalent among children and young adults but also the homeless. Mental illness is thought to be extremely prevalent among homeless populations, though access to proper diagnoses is limited. In an article written by Lisa Godman and her colleagues, they reference Smith’s research on the prevalence of PTSD among homeless people. His research stated, "Homelessness itself is a risk factor for emotional disorder." What this quote is saying is that being homeless itself can cause the emotional disorder. Without looking for other reasons for emotional disorder and really looking at the simple fact that an individual is homeless can cause the emotional disorder. Godman’s article stated "Recently, Smith ( 1991) investigated the prevalence of PTSD among a sample of 300 randomly selected homeless single women and mothers in St. Louis, Missouri. Using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS; Robins, 1981; Robins & Helzer, 1984), she found that 53% of the respondents could be diagnosed as exhibiting full-blown cases of PTSD."This quote needs a citation As the source explains, the conclusion that was drawn from Smith’s investigation after studying 300 homeless individuals is that 53% of those people were eligible to be diagnosed with PTSD. She continues and states: "Besides, data from clinical observations, self-reports, and empirical studies suggest that at least two commonly reported symptoms of psychological trauma, social disaffiliation and learned helplessness are highly prevalent among homeless individuals and families."This quote needs a citation Other data were able to prove that PTSD and learned helplessness were two symptoms that were very much present among homeless individuals and families. The question would be how are these people being helped. This is evident that mental health among the homeless is an issue existing but barely touched. In another article by Stephen W. Hwang and Rochelle E Garner, they talk about the ways that the homeless are getting actually getting help. It states "For homeless people with mental illness, case management linked to other services was effective in improving psychiatric symptoms, and assertive case management was effective in decreasing psychiatric hospitalizations and increasing outpatient contacts. For homeless people with substance abuse problems, case management resulted in greater decreases in substance use than did usual care."This quote needs a citation The question would be how are these people being helped. As the source explained, case management provided by services helped improve psychiatric symptoms. It also caused a decrease in substance use than usual media care.

Immigrants and Refugeesedit

The Rohingya from Myanmar are a large group of stateless people who experienced war, deprivation of social rights, and other cultural and political instability and they are currently residing in the southeastern part of Bangladesh as refugees. There are very little research has been done on their mental health status due to war, daily environmental stressors due to continuous displacement, historical trauma, and life in the refugee camp.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 148 Rohingya adults in the refugee camp in Bangladesh and the result indicated that people are suffering from post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), Depression, somatic impairment, and other associated functional impairment as well. this study revealed that all these MHCs developed due to the high level of daily environmental stressors in the camp, also due to lack of food, lack of freedom of movement.

Cultural and religious considerationsedit

Mental health is a socially constructed and socially defined concept; that is, different societies, groups, cultures, institutions, and professions have very different ways of conceptualizing its nature and causes, determining what is mentally healthy, and deciding what interventions, if any, are appropriate. Thus, different professionals will have different cultural, class, political and religious backgrounds, which will impact the methodology applied during treatment. In the context of deaf mental health care, it is necessary for professionals to have cultural competency of deaf and hard of hearing people and to understand how to properly rely on trained, qualified, and certified interpreters when working with culturally Deaf clients.

Research has shown that there is stigma attached to mental illness. Due to such stigma, individuals may resist 'labeling' and may be driven to respond to mental health diagnoses with denialism. Family caregivers of individuals with mental disorders may also suffer discrimination or face stigma.

Addressing and eliminating the social stigma and perceived stigma attached to mental illness has been recognized as crucial to education and awareness surrounding mental health issues. In the United Kingdom, the Royal College of Psychiatrists organized the campaign Changing Minds (1998–2003) to help reduce stigma, while in the United States, efforts by entities such as the Born This Way Foundation and The Manic Monologues specifically focus on removing the stigma surrounding mental illness. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a U.S. institution founded in 1979 to represent and advocate for those struggling with mental health issues. NAMI helps to educate about mental illnesses and health issues, while also working to eliminate stigma attached to these disorders.

Many mental health professionals are beginning to, or already understand, the importance of competency in religious diversity and spirituality. They are also partaking in cultural training to better understand which interventions work best for these different groups of people. The American Psychological Association explicitly states that religion must be respected. Education in spiritual and religious matters is also required by the American Psychiatric Association, however, far less attention is paid to the damage that more rigid, fundamentalist faiths commonly practiced in the United States can cause. This theme has been widely politicized in 2018 such as with the creation of the Religious Liberty Task Force in July of that year. Also, many providers and practitioners in the United States are only beginning to realize that the institution of mental healthcare lacks knowledge and competence of many non-Western cultures, leaving providers in the United States ill-equipped to treat patients from different cultures.

Mental health and occupationsedit

Mental health in social workedit

Social work in mental health, also called psychiatric social work, is a process where an individual in a setting is helped to attain freedom from overlapping internal and external problems (social and economic situations, family and other relationships, the physical and organizational environment, psychiatric symptoms, etc.). It aims for harmony, quality of life, self-actualization and personal adaptation across all systems. Psychiatric social workers are mental health professionals that can assist patients and their family members in coping with both mental health issues and various economic or social problems caused by mental illness or psychiatric dysfunctions and to attain improved mental health and well-being. They are vital members of the treatment teams in Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in hospitals. They are employed in both outpatient and inpatient settings of a hospital, nursing homes, state and local governments, substance abuse clinics, correctional facilities, health care services...etc.

In the United States, social workers provide most of the mental health services. According to government sources, 60 percent of mental health professionals are clinically trained social workers, 10 percent are psychiatrists, 23 percent are psychologists, and 5 percent are psychiatric nurses.

Mental health social workers in Japan have professional knowledge of health and welfare and skills essential for person's well-being. Their social work training enables them as a professional to carry out Consultation assistance for mental disabilities and their social reintegration; Consultation regarding the rehabilitation of the victims; Advice and guidance for post-discharge residence and re-employment after hospitalized care, for major life events in regular life, money and self-management and other relevant matters to equip them to adapt in daily life. Social workers provide individual home visits for mentally ill and do welfare services available, with specialized training a range of procedural services are coordinated for home, workplace and school. In an administrative relationship, Psychiatric social workers provides consultation, leadership, conflict management and work direction. Psychiatric social workers who provides assessment and psychosocial interventions function as a clinician, counselor and municipal staff of the health centers.