Better Understanding of Mental Health Issues

Question 1

Reflect on what factors have influenced, your opinion and attitude towards people.

Based on my prior on the Mental health of people:

Before I started my course in HSW110, my understanding of the mental health problems of people was that, these problems range from worries that we all experience as a part of our everyday life. I have learned that there are the majority of people who face this problem and can get over it or learn to survive with it (Corrigan, Druss & Perlick, 2014). It had been determined that symptoms of this problem have traditionally been segregated into groups named either neurotic or psychotic symptoms. Such a problem is supposed to be treated only by a doctor, rather than personal weaknesses.

Apart from this, anxiety and depression can have an adverse effect person's ability to get on with life. Those who get affected may see things that no one else sees, hear voices, and feel unrealistic and powerful about daily events. In my opinion, mental illness is a kind of disease that affects the way an individual thinks, behaves, or feels. There are five types of mental illness that I have learned; Anxiety disorder, mood disorder, schizophrenia & psychotic disorder, dementia, and eating disorder. Its cause can be heredity, as many mental problems run in families, and they may pass from parent to child. Biology is considered another cause of it i.e. abnormal balance of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Also, psychological trauma, which suffered as a child can cause mental problems. I was very negative towards people who have this mental illness. I hated talking to them (Flanagan, Farina & Davidson, 2016).

After engaging in the HSW1110 course, my knowledge of mental health:

The course enables me to find & critically evaluate social factors that boost mental health and illness, and affect the onset and course of mental illness. Moreover, it made me understand competing models that surround mental health issues in Australia. It also provided me a chance to explore how social practices & ideas contribute to the ways in which communities, families & individuals are influenced by mental illness. After this course, I have learned that my attitude towards them was completely wrong. There are many people who don't understand the situations that they face due to this problem. Therefore, after engaging in this course I understood people having mental health problems should be treated with care and love and have been more empathetic towards them.

QUESTION 2

To what extent has social media affected your views about mental health?

Recently, social media have changed the way people interact. We no longer wait for newspaper updates. People are now using social sites to get the latest news, or issues that are most appealing to them (Lyndon, Crowe & Davis, 2016). Apart from this, it has proven its power in encouraging people to take action on an unnecessary issue. Social media is considered a very powerful tool to influence people's thoughts, views and feelings. While reading news on social media about people suffering from mental illness, I noticed that sometimes they do not provide full information regarding its causes and symptoms. They spread a kind of fear through their stories and pictures associated with mentally challenged people. I have noticed that they show disabled people as an extraordinary or heroic individual because of their problems. It also made my views negative regarding these types of mentally challenged people.

The media can play an important role in raising awareness and countering stigma. In my opinion, I think that it can be a better force to change people's views towards those who face mental illness. I held a perception cultivated by my family with mental health problems but now I am truly ashamed of my past views on people who suffer this problem. Based on a report by Milly, Before I had them myself, I feared people with mental health problems. This article I read which I found unsettling about the saying of mental health. Now I learned that fear always follows the unknown, the misunderstood and from experience, fear has always followed mental health. Therefore, the media can play a crucial role in representing mentally challenged people in a way that could remove negative thoughts of people and promote the rights of persons with this problem (Park, West & St, 2015).

QUESTION 3

Challenges faced while dealing with people having mental health issues.

Working with people having mental issues faces various challenges (Peterson, Skeem & Zvonkovic, 2014). Carers may feel confused, overwhelmed, frightened, chaotic and physically as well as emotionally drained. People who are distressed harm their bodies deliberately and most usually in secret in order to deal with intense emotional pain. Sometimes, they cut or burn themselves or are injured in dangerous ways (Seeman, 2015). I could have faced various psychological, emotional, social and economic challenges. I have to play multiple roles including day-to-day care, supervising, medications, taking patients to the hospital and many more. Mild problems in person are common as they can be helped by way of talking and supporting them. But the one who is suffering from severe problems goes through many circumstances.

It becomes difficult to communicate with them as they fail to share their feelings, and their problems and some experience hallucinations which affects their confidence to a great level. I have to make them feel good by knowing that they are accepted in any type of condition they are going through so that they feel free to share their problems and feelings with me. Mental issues create distance between people and loved ones. So it becomes important for me to let them express their problems without interrupting in between.

Sometimes I find it difficult to handle them, as they become anxious regularly. But talking with them with special care and understanding their views makes them feel better. This helps me in handling them easily (Shepherd, 2018). So to avoid such circumstances I have to develop some strategies to cope with them and their burden. Sometimes I find it very frustrating since often as I often have complete picture of the person's condition.

The main difficulties faced by the carers are dealing with the reactions of society and navigating the mental health system. Thus, caring for a person with mental illness means living with symptoms. It's very difficult as it cannot be diagnosed with blood tests, x-rays or other medical tools. To diagnose such illness they need health professionals that diagnose with the help of psychometric tests. It becomes challenging to predict progress in individua

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