Mental Illness Final Essay

Submitted By Matthewlee7G
Words: 686
Pages: 3
Open Document
Matthew Lee
Cheryl Russell
English 200
Giving Up

The mentally ill have dealt with hatred and the disliking by others for hundreds of years now, but most were normal at the start of their lives. Richard from the book Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman had similar traits to the mentally ill. As well as, the majority of the society in London Below seem to have some sort of mental illness. I also saw similarities with the story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, because of the absurd day dreams Walter had driving his wife to go shopping. Mentally ill patients like this get pushed away from society; especially patients who suffer ridicule for their fluctuation in their thoughts, emotions, and behavior from people today.
Society has always had a negative attitude towards the mentally ill and especially in certain cultures. “Many cultures have viewed mental illness as a form of religious punishment or demonic possession” (Unite). Today, the United States will often diagnose a patient with mental illness and confine them with other patients in a care facility or prison. “Nearly 40 percent of the more than 11,000 inmates in city jails suffer from mental illness” (Keeping). However, there are some policies in the United States that support the mentally ill and their treatment. “The National Alliance for the mentally ill was founded in 1979 to provide support, education, advocacy, and research for people with serious psychiatric illnesses” (Unite). As well as, some social welfare programs have tried to fund and improve health care access for diagnosed patients. A major program is Unite for Sight that helps the mentally ill get health care (Unite). These programs are some of very few that try to help the mentally ill in society today. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter shows different signs of mental illness in the story. James Thurber really engaged me in his short story with the detail of the stories Walter was imaging and the real life items that produced the scenes. For example, Walter was powering up the “Navy hydroplane” in the first scene of the story followed by his wife’s complaint that Walter is driving the car too fast, which showed that he was day dreaming. Thurber continued with the same theme as Walter passed the hospital by removing and putting on his gloves dreaming he is a surgeon. This constant theme kept me intrigued throughout the story. Although Richard, from the book Neverwhere, was not mentally ill, society pushed him away similar to how society pushes away the mentally ill today.
Show More

Related Documents: Mental Illness Final Essay

Hibby: Mental Health Issues Essay

Physical Education Assignment By Shouvik Das and Viraj Mental Illness Every day, thousands of individuals are suffering from one mental disease or another. In addition to their mental state, the individuals experience major stress due to a variety of things, but one of the main things that they receive stress from is stigma. Stigma is an opinion or judgement held by individuals or society towards a certain subject. It can also be defined as a mark of disgrace that sets a person apart. Stigma contributes…

Words 598 - Pages 3

Criminalization Of Crime

"All crime is symptomatic of mental illness." (Linden, 271) Sociologists in the late 1950's strongly believed this statement accurately described why crime took place. Further research concluded that this was not true. The fact that this was once believed to be the reason behind crime gives us a clear image of just how important mental illness is in regards to criminal behavior. Not all sociologists agree on just how prevalent mental illness is amongst prisoners but there is no denying the facts…

Words 705 - Pages 3

How Is Mental Illness Presented In The Double Image

The first poem, “The Double Image”, is a blended poem involving mental illness along with Sexton’s self-loathing that corresponds to her biography. Sexton does not tell the audience but rather shows the audience the experience of mental illness in order to convey her unpleasant stance of feminism. The speaker, constantly referring to a hospital, shows a reflection of unresolved predicaments from both the past and present. J.D. McClatchy clearly addresses the focus of hospitalization by using, “…

Words 358 - Pages 2

Why Is Suicide On The Rise Essay

The final indicator would be making their final arrangements such as giving away prized or favorite possessions or saying goodbye to their loved ones. While these are all very large indicators, any irregular behavior or abrupt changes in personality are also clear signs. Research shows that mental illness such as depression as well as substance abuse is very common in suicidal people. According to Out of The Darkness Walks Over 90% of all people who die by suicide suffer from mental illness…

Words 995 - Pages 4

Mental Health Issues In Sports Research Paper

recent ball tampering that the Australian Cricket Team took part in) and Mental Health. This Essay will highlight the definition of mental health and what it means for the players involved, why does sport affect a player’s mental wellbeing, it will explain one famous athlete that has experienced severe mental illness, what can be done to help players with mental illness and then conclude on one final sum up of this topic Mental health illnesses are a severe problem that all players around the world…

Words 797 - Pages 4

Academic Skills For Professional Practice

Student ID No: 000716871 Programme: BSc (Hons) Mental Health Cohort: 9/12 Course Title: Academic skills For Professional Practice PTG Leader: Omo Submission Date: 24/10/12 Word Count:492 Academic Skills Preparation Activity One Selected article Howard & Gamble C (2011) Supporting mental health nurses to address the physical health needs of people with serious mental illness in acute inpatient care settings Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing18: 105-112 Keywords selected…

Words 550 - Pages 3

Milk Crate Theatre Analysis

The mission of the Milk Crate Theatre is to recreate stories of mental illness to debunk commonly believed myths, and bring to light issues that people with mental illness encounter on a regular basis. The cast is primarily composed of real people who have have suffered from OCD, psychosis and depression to convey the message of hope and resilience (“Closing Curtain on Stigma” 2). The stigma associated with and mental health was increasingly present during the middle ages. The guilt caused by Macbeth’s…

Words 1687 - Pages 7

The Biogenetic Model

The words mental illness, bipolar, OCD, schizophrenic and many other associated words tend to draw a negative mental image for the general public. However, there is an approach aimed at changing this perception through the use of the biogenetic model, and yet evidence suggests this model is both helping and hindering the efforts to reduce public stigma. The biogenetic model is based on the view that mental illness is biological, traced to individual parts of the brain rather than the result of psychological…

Words 1925 - Pages 8

Crisis Intervention Paper

These teams work with mental health programs to help those with mental illnesses who are experiencing a crisis. They are specially trained to help in a crisis since many times officers are the first responders for those experiencing a mental illness crisis. When officers are not trained to handle these situations, it can cause problems because those with mental illnesses can come across as belligerent, violent, and uncooperative at times. This paper will explore relevant mental health statistics and…

Words 1684 - Pages 7

Insanity Defense

defense attornies’ arguments often do not make it clear. There are small but distinct differences between the types of insanity. First there are those that are clinically insane. These people have been diagnosed by doctors with some sort of mental illness. Those that are clinically insane are put in psychiatric hospitals which are facilities made for the treatment of the mentally ill (Fiak…

Words 775 - Pages 4