The Influence Of Mental Health

Mental health plays a role in everyone’s lives if they know it or not. Record of mental illness dates back as early as 3500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia as evidenced by the discovery of trephined skulls. Along with Mesopotamia, the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and India attributed the will of the gods or demonic possession to why individuals would act outside of the norms of society, when the root of the problem had less supernatural reasons, and was actually caused by mental illness. Hippocrates was the first to introduce the concept of disturbed physiology as the basis for all illnesses. (Lyons) This placed mental illness on the same level as other medical disorders from the belief that the mentally ill are genuinely suffering,
The United States does not have a national mental-health system, nor has it ever had one. Caring for the severely mentally ill has been the responsibility of the states, starting with the first asylums and mental-health hospitals established in the mid-19th century. In 1999, the U.S. Surgeon General labeled stigma as perhaps the biggest barrier to mental health care, and sadly, modern society still has a tendency to stigmatize people with mental disorders. Bringing awareness to mental health stigma will lead to a better quality of life for those suffering from mental illness through gaining economic support, aiding to surmount discrimination, and integrating mentally ill individuals into
(Insel) Shockingly, of the 450 million people worldwide who suffer from mental health conditions, 60 percent do not receive any form of care. Much is not the cost of care, but the loss of income due to unemployment, expenses for social supports, and a range of indirect costs due to a chronic disability that began early in life. The World Health Organization has reported that mental illnesses are the leading causes of disability adjusted life years worldwide, accounting for 37% of healthy years lost from non-communicable diseases. Depression alone accounts for one third of this disability. People who have negative views of mental health are less likely to help lift the burden of mental illness. By bringing awareness to mental illness society will be more apt to donate to better care for mentally ill individuals so funds can be put toward beneficial aspects instead of helping individuals simply survive. Creating parity between mental and physical illness allows for research, training, treatment and prevention that will lead to money saved and citizens helped. The discrepancy between the cost of mental health disorders as compared to the funding of research is startling, and is believed to be caused by the stigma associated with