The issues with mental health today By: Rebecca Schwartz

Imagine living in a world where people are isolated from others because they were different from the norm and were shipped off to islands with these gigantic, rundown buildings to live in.

Throughout history, reformists have failed to solve the issues involving mental illness by misclassifying mental illnesses, sending people to jail because of their mental disorders, and the inability to provide help for people of all social status.

Missclassifying Mental Illnesses:

  • ADHD and Bipolar Disorder are often mistaken for the other since they share similar symptoms such as irritability, restlessness and hyperactivity.
  • ADHD is usually common in children, which makes the missclassification of either disorder bad for the child since they won't be getting the help they actually need.
  • Autism also is confused with ADHD because of the hyperactivity in both disorders.
The brains of people with ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, and PTSD.

Mental Patients Being Sent off to Jail:

  • Links between the people that commit massacres and their inability to get help is being drawn
  • People are usually in and out of hospitals and jail because of no treatment.
Statistics on jail inmates with mental illnesses.

Poverty and Mental Illness Help:

  • Many people in the US who have mental illnesses, don't have enough money to pay for the expenses that come with their disorder.
  • Mental Healthcare is bad with helping cover the money needed for medication, therapy, etc.
  • People with less access to medication and that are socially isolated have an increased rate of mortality.
Shows how poverty is linked with the amount of people with mental illnesses.

Mental health has been a debated issue from the Progressive Era to now. Many citizens in the US still are not getting the help that they need to function. In some ways, muckrakers have been able to bring new insights to mental illness yet, it is still a major issue to this day.

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