A mental illness is “a condition that impacts a person 's thinking, feeling or mood and may affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis” (www.nami.org). During a school year about 52 million students and 6 million adults working inside schools will be asked to take a mental health screening to be tested for a mental illness and with these mental health screenings they are often performed without parental knowledge or consent and can lead to dangerous childhood medication use and multiple misdiagnosis’s that cause pain and suffering to those who were misdiagnosed with a mental illness. With this being said we need to put a stop to misdiagnosis’s and childhood medication by stopping mental health screenings in …show more content…
Paul also stated that “according to Medco Health Solutions, more than 2.2 million children are receiving more than one psychotropic drug at a time. In fact, according to Medico Trends, in 2003, total spending on psychiatric drugs for children exceeded spending on antibiotics or asthma medication”. For any concerned parents that object to having their children forcibly medicated can be charged with child abuse. Take the case of Maryanne Godboldo, for instance. Maryanne’s 13-year-old daughter was taking Risperdal, (which is a neuroleptic antipsychotic medication that has multiple hazardous side effects) after being told from a mental health screening that was done at her school. When Maryanne noticed that the medication was making her daughter’s condition worse, she decided to take advantage of alternate treatment options. When doing this Child Protective Services (CPS) came and charged Maryanne with medical neglect. Child Protective Services then took custody of Maryanne’s daughter after a 12-hour stand-off in which CPS then enlisted the help of a police SWAT team (http://www.eagleforum.org). This situation could have been avoided if mental health screenings were not permitted in schools. Mental health screenings lead to pain and suffering not only for the child but for …show more content…
“At a Colorado homeless shelter, 50 percent of the 350 young people given the TeenScreen were found to be suicidal risks, and 71 percent screened positive for psychiatric disorders. Although such youngsters are certainly suffering from residential and social instability, and probably from not eating or sleeping properly, the TeenScreen diagnoses lead to medications instead of appropriate interventions”. Take the case of 13-year-old, Aliah Gleason. Aliah class was screened for mental illness, and after the screening, her parents were told that Aliah needed further evaluation due to scoring high on a suicidal rating. Aliah was then referred to a university consulting psychiatrist, and therefore to an emergency clinic. Six weeks later, a child protection worker appeared at her school, interviewed her, and then summoned her father to the school. They ordered him to take Aliah to Austin State (psychiatric) Hospital. When Aliah’s dad refused Aliah was rushed into emergency custody and had to have a police officer drive her to the hospital. During the five months Aliah was in the hospital she was not allowed to speak or see her parents and she was placed in restraints more than 26 times and was given at least 12 different psychiatric medications, many of them simultaneously. Despite the caretakers’ uncertainty about her diagnosis and if she even had a psychiatric illness to begin with, Aliah’s parents
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION: Raven Wright is a 13-year-old eighth-grader who was initially scheduled to be seen at the Psychiatric Consultation clinic at the outpatient pediatrics. The clinic staff was contacted by patient 's the therapist, who brought up a number of concerns. Per review of the chart, Dr. Sandra Shocket was concerned that the child is having thoughts of harming self and others without a plan and that child hears a voice telling her to do things. Raven was described as, anxious and depressed. At the time of appointment
Understanding psychological disorders are very important in human development, the first step is to define what is meant by a disorder. How do psychologists determine that there something is psychologically wrong with a person? What behaviours are abnormal? A psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioural or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and/or create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms. A clear sign of abnormal behaviour or mental state is when an individual's behaviour is destructive to themselves or their social group, such as family, friends. Above all psychological disorders create a maladaptive pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that lead to detriments in relationships and other life areas. There are several ethical issues in treating psychological disorders. There two ways of treating psychological disorders through; psychotherapy this form of treatment involves social interactions between a trained professional (therapist) and client. This is delivered on a one-to-one, face-to-face meeting. Another way of treating psychological disorder is through pharmacological treatments. This is the use of proactive drugs to treat certain disorders. This essay will aim to highlight the pros and cons of using pharmacological and psychological treatments.
In New York, a minor can obtain mental health services, including counseling and medication management, without the legal guardian’s permission if the parent is deemed detrimental to the minor’s treatment (Feierman, Lieberman, Schissel, Diller, Kim & Chu, 2002). While this agency does prefer to obtain a guardian’s permission for mental health services, this social worker believes in taking a “person first” approach to treatment. Precious reported that she suffered a great deal at the hand of her mother and she did not want her involved in her life. It is not this social worker’s mission to cause Precious more harm, or to allow treatment to be impeded, even if this is an unpopular choice. This social work stands by this decision, because Precious is in desperate need of a safe space to process her trauma.
This paper will discuss the different effects managed care has on the quality of mental health care for its clients. On the positive, managed care has increased availability to a cliental that would otherwise not be able to afford mental health care. On the negative, there has been a reduction in quality in order for managed care corporations to keep costs low and still make money. Proper implementation of managed mental health care would likely result in high quality, low cost mental health care.
Mental illness have been part of humans for many years. Some mental illness can be hidden, while others can be seen a mile away. Schizophrenia for example, is a mental illness that can be easy to conceal. "Schizophrenia is a chronic, disabling mental illness whose symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions and cognitive problems, the illness afflicts about 1 percent of the human population...." (Shnabel). It means that there are people around the world that hear things and see things that not many people can, not knowing what the difference between real and fake is. "Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are among the most debilitating mental illnesses because multiple facets of functioning are impaired"(Compton). Seeing and hearing
Some facts about psychiatric drugs for children are that the drugs are prescribed with a false diagnosis. The children that are prescribed are not seriously impaired by their symptoms, they are merely becoming older and showing signs of adolescents; however, pediatricians see a small frustration in a child’s life and convince the parents or legal guardians that they need unnecessary medications to make the children docile and untroublesome. Little do the parents know, the drug given to the children means more money for the pharmaceutical companies and psychiatric research teams and may not even help the children at all.
The purpose of jail is to control criminals, decrease crime rates, decrease recidivism, and by the end of the inmate 's sentencing individuals are expected to return to society as if everything were “normal”. However, the majority of individuals who are incarcerated is because they did not pay fines, they were not able to post bail, or because they have a mental health diagnosis. Who knew jails were the new models of psychiatric facilities. It’s been proven that people with mental illness often experience worsened symptoms, recidivism, and abuse while incarcerated. Which poses the question of is jail the place individuals with a mental health diagnosis should be?
were males, 7221, and the rest 564 were females. In order to see if the participates had any sort of mental illness they looked at self reported treatment, related to mental health (Biltz). The results of this study found that the amount of inmates that participating in this study had a disproportionally number of inmates with mental healthy that were physically victimized. According to this study prisons are a violent and unsafe place for people who suffer from mental illness (Biltz). Male inmates who suffered from any form of mental illness were nearly 1.6 times more likely to be physically victimized while in prison. Females inmates who had a mental illness were even more likely to suffer from physical victimization, they were nearly 2 times more likely than male inmates with mental illness (Blitz). Inmates that were African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to be physically victimized either by inmates or staff.
Unknowingly, children have been the number one abusers of psychotropic medications. Children in the United States are on drugs for longer and more often than kids in any other country. Most children who are overmedicated come from foster homes and children of low-income parents. Most children who come from foster homes have experienced some type of trauma, for example, being taken away from their families. These children are at higher risk for having emotional disorders and mental health disorders. They often receive medications
Mental Health is a common topic in all agenda’s in the United States. It is currently looked at broadly across all segments of health; in fact, over the years there have been multiple approaches to addressing the needs of the population affected by lack of mental health or that have prominent mental health disorders. Over the past century the United States has been especially concerned about the mental health problems of our children and youth (Tuma, 1989). Worldwide 10-20% of children and adolescents experience mental disorders (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014). This topic has been so important to the extent that as early as 1909, the white house conference on children recommended new programs to care for mentally disturbed children (Tuma, 1989), but the process seems to continue to be in planning phases with some advancement in mental health policies for children. One hundred years later, the surgeon general national agenda for children’s health, the president’s new freedom commission on mental health and the American Psychological Association are all pushing efforts to address children’s mental health issues (Odar et al, 2013). More so, the stakeholders mentioned above agree on the fact that there is a large gap between the mental health needs of children and the supports and services that are available to meet those needs (Tolan and Dodge, 2005). However, in spite of many different approaches Tolan and Dodge (2005) state that “Children’s mental health continues to be neglected even with growing scientific evidence of the importance of mental health in children’s development” this is occurring specially within the primary developmental systems such as pediatric care and school, and of efficacy of interventions for chil...
Due to the Chinese belief that mental illness is remarked as forbidden, individuals attempt to hide this fact to protect their integrity. Coupled with the actuality that this stigmatized illness will lead to abandonment by friends and society at large, it is kept a secret rather than seeking medical support. According to Abdullah & Brown (2011), the Chinese culture keen importance on harmony and communal strength affects their view of mental health which can be perceived strange. These habitual notions of passionate proclamation, personal attainment and prosperous social endowment, to name a few, continues to dominate and influence the psychological cause to request mental healthcare.
The importance of mental health and its effect on individuals has been underestimated. The stigma and discrimination of those affected by mental disorders still exists today. The advancing technology and thorough research are slowly moving towards a less discriminating and better understanding of mental health. More and more patients especially children and adolescents are being diagnosed with different mental disorders. Not enough programs and grants are given to screen and protect children from developing mental illness conditions. In order to maintain mental health’s importance and decrease the stigma associated with it, further education, prevention, and promotion is necessary.
There are so many cases alike that are suffering from some sort of mental illness and have no idea that they are or don’t know what to do about it. Data compiled by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) indicate that approximately 15% of children in schools as of right now have untreatable mental illnesses. There are at least 200 known mental illnesses throughout the world, and at least 100 can affect everyone of all ages. Abuse and home conditions are large starters of mental illness, behind that is private and or public schooling. Mental illness can be started in the main places in a teens life, yet mental illness is not mandatory for even health classes to teach in
Children are a crucial part of society. They participate in almost all aspects of a society whether it is in schools, community activities, or in the workforce. However, not all children develop the same skills and are granted the same opportunities as others because of a mental illness. Mental illnesses are as serious as physical illnesses and they negatively affect a child’s life. There are a variety of mental illnesses children may have with different levels of severity; mental illnesses hinder childhood development, and they affect a child’s social and home life.
Can you picture the student voted “most likely to succeed” in your graduating class? This individual must have had everything going for them. They probably had good grades, popular, never in trouble, no health issues and socially and emotionally stable. However, twenty years later, after graduating college, a successful business owner, had a beautiful wife and three kids, he decides emotionally he is done and takes his own life. Mental health issues can manifest at anytime with varying degrees of significance on the emotional stability of a person. Factors such as socioeconomic status, biological and environmental issues all dictate mental health needs. Obviously, a variety of circumstances can evoke these mental health issues. Now imagine coping with these mental health issues and being expected to still be a normal student and conform to your peers around you. This is what we expect of our students dealing with a variety of mental health issues. The policies and procedures are established to meet the needs of all students. The mental health issues are recognized and evaluated based on the best placement for the student to receive an education. The public school system has the responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education. The school does the best they can to provide a whole school approach to deal with the increasing number of mental health concerns. However, the mental health concerns carry on beyond high school.