Mental Illness Sociology

How does society perceive mental illness? The majority of people think that the mentally ill are unable to live life normally, or should be able to fix themselves and that it is not really a problem. Others think that it’s a fad to be, or pretend to be, mentally ill. There are many thoughts like these that society believes are true. People need to realize what mental illness really is and what it does to the brain. Knowing how to help someone with mental illness is important, and it is more important to know the risk factors that are induced by these problems. Mental illnesses are very harsh on the brain and body, but nobody really knows what they are. What really is mental illness? “Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and

There’s a problem, though: the United States has a shortage of mental health services, and the ones that are provided to people are very expensive, thus creating a gap between treatment and the mentally ill. Many people do not get help, but they need to. It does not help when most people look down on the mentally ill. Mentally ill people even disapprove of themselves having this illness, which makes them more skeptical to reach out for help. As a community, we need to help them feel comfortable in their own skin and help teach people that it is not uncommon and it is not incorrect to have a mental illness. Patients that do not get treated do not get 100% better, and the people do search for help end up being turned down for treatment. “‘It’s time to promote appropriate and accessible services for all those in need,’ said Cher. She goes on to discuss the importance of talking about mental health problems, and not being afraid to tell someone about a potential problem,” (www “Recovery Is Possible”). Medicine can help fix mental health problems, and there’s many more treatment options than people would think. There’s many people apart of this mentally ill community that are unable to find access to the resources that they need to get better, like therapy. There are many different types of therapeutic treatment that can help how mentally ill people function. The most common type of therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy. “The CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) approach helps people think about the way they think about themselves, the world and other people, and how these ideas, then affect their thoughts, emotions or feelings, and behaviors,” (Williams 200). There’s many other types that doctors use to try and help how people think, and rationalize the situation at hand. Acceptance and commitment therapy, also known as ACT, is