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Rayhan Nazir

Professor Cassel

English 1201.B51

21 July 2019

Mental Health: Is it taken seriously enough?

Mental health has always been an issue within society, especially in the youth. It is

estimated that around 46 percent of teenagers have dealt with a mental illness at least once in

their lives. To put that into perspective that means almost 1 in 2 people will go through this. On

top of that, 20 percent of those people have been diagnosed with a crippling mental disorder with

physical consequences. This trend of mental illness in teens is extremely concerning and what's

worse is that it is not getting better. In the last 10 years, the number of children/teens identified

with a mental illness has continuously increased. The question, what is being done to combat

mental health around the world? The answer, not enough.

These statistics show one thing, there is a significant issue that needs to be made aware

of. In order to that however it is important to know the basics of mental health. According to the

World Health Organization mental health, it is viewed as a “state of well-being in which

individuals realize their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work

productively and fruitfully, and are able to make a contribution to the community”. To break that

down, to have a healthy sense of mental health a person should be able to easily deal with the
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everyday stresses that life brings. If someone has trouble with that, then most likely they are

dealing with some form of mental health issue.

Until the mid-twentieth century, many people that were said to have a mental illness

were actually suffering from diseases like epilepsy or had physical damage to their brain. Now,

researchers have discovered that there is more to what a mental disorder can be defined as.

Diseases such as Depression, Anxiety, and Bipolar disorder can now be seen as proper mental

disorders . It is important to look into these different types of disorders and see how they affect a

person.

Anxiety disorders: People that suffer from these kind of disorders react to many

situations in life with terror and extreme nervous behaviour. These situations can be as minor as

knowing that there is a quiz coming up or you have homework due the next day. These minor

stresses in which people may be a little worried about can mean the world for people with

anxiety and can interfere with normal everyday functioning in life. Some examples of anxiety

disorders are OCD, PTSD, and panic disorders

Mood disorders: These kind of disorders then to affect how the person feels and the

emotions they experience. At one moment they may have long periods of sadness, happiness, or

both interchangeably. This can lead to a disruption of life activities and hinder your ability to

function. Some examples of these disorders include depression and bipolar disorder.
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Eating Disorders: People that suffer from these kinds of disorders suffer from severe

changes in emotions that revolve around food and their weight. For example if a person is

dealing with a stressful moment in his/her life, their first instinct may be to eat compulsively.

Some common examples are Anorexia and Bulimia.

Impulse control and addiction disorders: These types of disorders can cause a person to

have irresistible temptations and urges that can be dangerous to themselves or others around

them. One extreme example of this is Pyromania which means you have a compulsion to start

fires. Alcohol and drugs are more common addictions. People that suffer from these disorders

can struggle with common parts of their lives like responsibility and relations

Now with a basic understanding of the different types of mental illnesses, the next thing

to do is to look at the causes. Most people today are aware of the common forms of mental

illness like Depression and Bipolar however, it is important to understand how common it is and

how anyone can have them at any time. One of the most common ways mental illnesses are

acquired is through genetics. Depression and mental illnesses can even be inherited from

previous generations of family. This means a person that has many people in their family that

suffer from a specific type of disorder has a strong chance of getting it themselves. For example

if a person’s mom and grandmother had a history of suffering through Depression, there is a

stronger chance that person will have Depression. Another way is through physical factors. If a

person has gone through a serious injury or traumatic experience can have parts of their brain

damaged leading to them contracting a mental disorder. Psychological factors also can be a
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reason to develop a mental illness. If someone had to go through some harrowing experiences in

their life such as abuse, domestic violence, bullying, death of a loved one, etc. it could also affect

their emotional state of mind. Finally there are Social and Environmental factors. These are

factors that relate to the conditions of where the person may be living or are constantly around. A

common example would be a person living in Poverty or growing up in a dysfunctional family.

A child growing up in these conditions are more prone to developing a mental illness.

With the background information now presented it is time to look at how mental health is

currently being dealt with today. Is there really enough being done all around the world to

combat the problem mental illnesses bring? It would be natural to start with America. Over the

past few years there has been far more awareness for mental health then there has ever been.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done in treating the illness. According to Eliot Brenner

of the Stanford Social Innovation Review he states that “At least 85 percent of those in need of

treatment do not get it.”. This means that people that desperately need help to treat their disorders

are not receiving the attention they deserve to solve their problem. This unfortunately can lead to

even worse consequences such as suicide.

There is an argument that the world is investing billions upon trillions of dollars into

mental health efforts

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As shown by the graph above, mental health accounts for more than a 3rd of the World's

total economic output for noncommunicable diseases. The problem is, the total spending to

treating mental illnesses are actually pretty low. Countries that have a low income can only show

to spending not even 1 percent of their revenue generated. In addition, higher budget countries

like the USA’s spending on mental health in comparison of total health budgets is inadequate,

considering how much presence mental illness has in the country.

Professionals that specialize in mental health call this deficit between people with a

mental disorder and the people that actually get the help they need the ​treatment gap.​ This gap is

especially dangerous when children and teens start to fall in. Due to the compounded costs of

mental illness that is not treated, it can spiral and grow into something irreversible in adulthood.
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The question is, why are children falling in the gap and not getting the treatments they need?

Well it's best to see what the World Health Organization defines as the 3 rules of health care:

financially affordability, acceptability, and physical accessibility. To be more specific about

each, Physical accessibility refers to how easy it is for someone to get the treatment. The

treatment center ideally should be close to them geographically and should be very flexible when

it comes to timing. Affordability refers to how financially accessible it is to any individual that

needs it. A person should not have to empty their bank account to get the treatment they deserve.

Acceptability means that people are confident that the treatment and care will definitely help

them and is respectable to all cultures and social constructs.

The next issue comes with the lack of evidence based treatments. These treatments are a

recent development for the improvement in care for mental illness in patients. It makes use of

specific research when it comes to diagnosing a patient properly. With the attention on this
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treatment, it has allowed hundreds of professionally tested mental health treatments for many

people in the country. Although this was a major breakthrough in terms of mental health care, the

problem is that next to know one is getting it. According to ti Eric J. Bruns who is with the

department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences states in a recent study that “only 2 percent of

children in the United States received an evidence based treatment based on scientific research.”

The state of Connecticut is a good example of a state that has invested a considerable in

implementing this type of treatment and have achieved great results. However, the amount of

people getting the treatment is still not high enough. For example, at the Child Guidance Center

of Southern Connecticut, only 8 percent of the students attending are actually receiving the

proper treatment. That meant that 1275 people did not get the proper treatment they could have

gotten. The unfortunate fact is that this is still 4 times the national average.

Another issue comes with cultural factors and ethnicities. These factors such as perceived

stigmas and different conceptions of mental illness on treatment, likely influence the

effectiveness of certain treatments. For example the country of India has one of the largest

populations in the US. With that according to WHO it also has one of the largest populations

suffering from one form of mental illness. However, there lies a deficiency in how mental health

is dealt with in the country. There is less attention on the problem of mental health along with the

shame that many people feel when they have a mental disorder. There is also less people that are

professionally trained to deal with these disorders. In fact around 80% of people in the country

​ his
do not try to get the help from professionals or doctors when dealing with a mental illness.​ T

is due to the increasing stigmas that talk about shame, suffering, and discrimination that is
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presented in relation to mental illness. Unlike the USA, there is far less support and network that

is associated with mental health leaving many to feel isolated and alone within their issues.

Which can lead to unfortunate consequences like suicide. Below is a graph provided by the

National Crime Bureau in India that shows the increasing trend in student suicides.

With all this, it is important to recognize that taking all the statistics, research, and

evidence shown in the presence of mental illness into consideration, there is a definite problem in

mental illness in our community and what is being done to treat it. Although some high
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economic countries like the USA are providing lots of help and outreach in mental health, which

is still enough when looking at the research, there are still many other countries like India that

are still having many issues with the stigmas of mental health and the lack of treatment thereof.

Although the support for the treatment of mental illnesses have grown, there is still a lot of work

to be done.

Works Cited

“The Crisis of Youth Mental Health (SSIR).” ​Stanford Social Innovation Review: Informing and

Inspiring Leaders of Social Change,​

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ssir.org/articles/entry/the_crisis_of_youth_mental_health.

Kern, Lee, et al. “The Need for School-Based Mental Health Services and Recommendations for

Implementation.” ​School Mental Health​, vol. 9, no. 3, 2017, pp. 205–217.,

doi:10.1007/s12310-017-9216-5.

Levine, Art. Mental Health Inc : How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger

Our Most Vulnerable Citizens. Vol. First edition, Abrams Press, 2017. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2004398&site=eds-live.

“Mental Health Crisis In India Needs Immediate Attention.” ​Youth Ki Awaaz,​ 17 Jan. 2019,

www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/01/the-issue-of-mental-health-in-india/.

“Mental Health in America: Where Are We Now?” ​National Council,​

www.thenationalcouncil.org/mental-health-america-now/.

“Mental Illness Is a Global Problem: We Need a Global Response: Health Poverty Action.”

Health Poverty Action Mental Illness Is a Global Problem We Need a Global Response

Comments,​

www.healthpovertyaction.org/news-events/mental-health-world-health-day-2017/.

“Research, Data, and Evidence-Based Treatment Use in State Behavioral Health Systems,

2001–2012.” ​Psychiatric Services​,

ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201500014.