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Samantha McBroon

Professor Charles Freeland

English Comp. 2

10-25-2020

Why Does Mental Health Need to Be Considered a Vailed Health Problem?

Why does mental health need to be considered a vailed health problem? Why can’t

society view mental health as an actual issue? Why does society think poorly of people that have

mental health issues? All these questions can be asked to answer this one question. People do not

believe that mental health is an actual issue that effects people every single day. I know firsthand

that it does, from personal, family, and friends. Mental illness is a chemical imbalance in the

brain. There are different processes that you can use to help understand and work with your

mental health. You can take different medications that help fix the imbalances. We look at this

and most people that understand mental illness will see it as a health issue. People that do not

have mental illness do not understand what they go through and what the people around them go

through. All the information that I have found to help support this question brings in even more

question about mental health and how different mental health is. People that work with people

that have mental health issues they understand that mental health is a vailed health problem. Do

you know how much it cost to get help and medication when you do not have insurance? Let us

just say expensive.  Throughout this paper I will be talking about how mental health effects so

many different types of people this includes but not limited too different ages, races, ethnicities,

and even social class. I will be sharing different stories and reasons for why mental health needs

to be taken seriously. It needs to be talked about in different situations because mental health is

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an everyday all-day struggle. Some people do not have the means to take care of themselves that

can make it even more difficult for people to live a "normal" life. I am hoping to get as much

information as possible to show that mental health should be treated like any other health

problem because it can and does affect people the same way. People should not be treated

differently because of the certain health problem they have. This paper will show the different

accepts of mental health and how it effects people in general. 

I have found 5 different statements that would help focus on why mental health needs to

be considered a vailed health problem. The statements are mental health impacts more than just

the person that has the illness, daily living with mental health, mental health needs to be

considered as an actual physical health issue, professional mental health help and medication

cost a decent amount of money; we need to help support adolescence, young adults, and adults

with health care options, and there needs to be a lot more people working in this field to help

with the prevention of suicide and other harmful problems in every age group, social class, race,

religion, and many other social aspects. The information that I have found helps provide

creditable information that helps support my question and why it should be fixed. Throughout

the paper I will be using personal experiences to also be used as creditable information because I

have personally experienced the effects of mental health on myself and the people around me. I

am going to start out with the statement, then use the information from the source, lastly use the

personal experiences. At the end I will wrap up all of the information to show how all of this can

be used to understand and fix the understanding of mental health and how it needs to be

considered a valid health issue.

Mental health impacts more than just the person that has the mental health issue. “A

survey showed that more than 80% of patients agreed that their mental health conditions have

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had a detrimental effect on their family.”[ CITATION Mar20 \l 1033 ]. When family members and

close friends are effected by someone’s mental health it can show in three different forms

somatic problems (migraines, loss of appetite, fatigue, insomnia), cognitive and emotional

problems (anxiety, depression, guilt, fear, anger), and behavioral troubles (changes in attitude

and social withdrawal) [ CITATION Mar20 \l 1033 ]. This information shows that even though

someone might not directly have a mental health issue they can still be affected by it. You can

see these partnerships, when one person is facing a mental health issue like depression it can also

cause the person they spend their everyday life with to start to spiral as well. These situations get

overlooked because people do not believe that mental health effects more than just that

individual. There are so many different types of mental illness some are even just situational, that

you might be able to change or you might not. If someone is not able to help themselves then

they need to take action into their own hands and learning coping mechanisms and other

strategies that will help understand and define the feelings you are having and determine what

the main issues are. Personally, I have seen mental illness rip a family apart and that was my

own. My mother suffered with mental health her whole life, but she was told that its not a real

thing by her parents. She never got the help that she needed at a young age. The final underlining

situation that happened was my mother was cheating on my father and when that person stopped

giving her the attention that she wanted she freaked out and tried to shallow a bunch of pills. At

this point, I was about 3 years old and my brother was 5. My dad got a call from the hospital

while he was at work, he came picked my brother and I up and took us to my grandmas’ house.

From that day on I have been in the same house since with my father and stepmom. Her mental

health illness that she never got treated for caused most of her relationships to fall apart. That

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does not mean that it was just her fault a lot of things can causes this but for my mom that was

the major issue.

Living with mental health can impact your everyday life, like sleeping, eating, education,

careers, relationships, and health [ CITATION Mar \l 1033 ]. When mental health effects your

everyday life you notice it. When mental health goes untreated it can affect personal and

professional lives [ CITATION Mar \l 1033 ]. I deal with my own mental health issues every single

day and it can be difficult sometimes. I have seen it affect different people for many different

reasons. My best friend did not have certain mental health issues until she became involved with

someone that gave her anxiety because of the situations that happened in their relationships. Now

that she has removed that person from her everyday life, she is able to take care of herself and fix

the things that she was struggling with. This goes with my question because it shows that mental

health is something that physically effects a person and that is why it should be considered an

actual physical health problem. When you decide to take your mental health into your own hands

you can get the correct and right help that you need. It can be hard for people to figure out what

their mental illness is. There are so many different types of mental health illness that it could be

related to that you need to get professional help to understand what is actually going on and the

current type that you might be suffering from. People deal with mental health everyday and it

shows in the way they act and the emotions they show.

“Scientific advances have established that mental disorders are just like any other medical

conditions” [ CITATION Jud00 \l 1033 ]. The reason for this is because if you do not get your mental

health under control then it could affect your life more than it already has. It can affect your

physical health, behavioral health, and emotional health. Mental health is one of the most

prevalent concerns for our society. It can and will affect every aspect of your life and the people

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around you. Mental health is consistently going to be in your life, you can not simply “cure”

mental health issues. You must learn to cope and understand why you are feeling the way you

are. One of the best ways to help mental health is talking about it! Holding so much inside is

bound to make anyone feel like nothing with every change or just consistently having those

thoughts that give you your mental health issues. It all just depends on the person and what they

are struggling with but talking about it is a great way to cope. One of the main reasons there is

not a cure for mental health is because everybody is different. People do not have the same

minds or bodies so everyone might need something different. There is not a magic cure for any

mental health issue because medication is not always the answer. Some people need to go a

different route and focus on diet and investigate meditation as a coping mechanism. There are so

many different types of treatment that can be used to help cope with mental illness. These other

treatments that have been used are CBD, THC, and Micro dosing. This is the same when it

comes to helping a person with a physical health issue. Different kinds of treatment for different

kinds of people.

One of the major issues why mental health needs to be considered a physical health issue

is because of the treatment that comes along with having mental health. “Equal full coverage as

physical illness” [ CITATION Jud00 \l 1033 ]. This is a major concern for a lot of people because

once you no longer have coverage then it is almost impossible to get help for your mental illness.

This is because of how much these things cost. If society decided to make mental health

considered a physical health issue, then it would be covered by most basic insurance companies.

Jobs and companies believe that not giving their employees mental health coverage will save

them money. This is false because it can cause even more issues. If mental health is not taken

care of and pushed of it can cause even more issues for a company more than just money. Now

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they have someone that is struggling with mental health illness and they decide out of the blue

just to quit. Maybe if that person was giving the accuse they needed for their mental health the

company would not have to find a person to cover that employees work [ CITATION Jud00 \l 1033 ].

There are other worse things that could happen other than someone just leaving their job. They

could just decide to leave the world in general and just commit suicide.

Children aging from 12-17 years old, only 15% of them that have been diagnosed with

mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders have gotten the proper information for

continuing their mental health journey into adulthood [ CITATION Reb20 \l 1033 ]. When you look

at that fact it shows that once you hit a current age you might not be given the same access that

you had when you were younger because of insurance and other external problems that could

cause an issue. A lot of information that was given in this article were strictly fact based.

Different percentages of people that are given the correct mental health care. “Access to mental

health services is limited for many vulnerable and underserved groups” [ CITATION Joh20 \l 1033 ].

This is something that I found very interesting because some of the reasons these people are not

getting the help they need is because they might be a certain gender, race, or even age. These

situations can not be changed they are internal factors that need to be looked at and thought

about differently.

“Professional counselors are uniquely positioned to treat clients who are experiencing

suicidal ideation, crisis, or any related symptoms, but access to care is an entry point that some

clients are afforded” [ CITATION Joh20 \l 1033 ]. There are so many different reasons that people

are not given the same access to mental health services. Some of the major ones that often get

overlooked is mental health in the homeless community and in the elderly/older generations.

Most of the information that I found made me think about how mental health is not even really

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looked at when it comes to mental health. You might ask how this is possible? Mental health

professional shortage area (MHPSA) has a study that shows different outcomes that can affect

people based off not having enough mental health professionals to work with everyone.

“MHPSA outcomes studies overwhelmingly focus on physical health outcomes, leaving a

research gap for understanding how MHPSAs impacts mental health outcomes” [ CITATION

Joh20 \l 1033 ]. This shows you that even mental health does not investigate the effects of itself. I

always remember when I first started taking medication and going to therapy, I did not want

anyone to know because it has always been looked down upon. If I talked about my mental

health it was with my therapist and or my parents. Kids my age did not really understand what

mental health was (I was in third grade). “Limited access to mental health care services and

underutilization are major factors in many places with high suicide rates” [ CITATION Joh20 \l 1033

]. When you do not give the same access for mental health that makes it difficult for them to get

the help they need. When someone is not able to get the help, they need it could ruin a person’s

family and life in general. This is because they are not able to fully understand what is going on

and what they can do to help themselves. In 2001 there was a program called Perfect Depression

Care Program that would help people for free that were eligible based off how mental health

surveys they would have to take prior. This made it easier for them to get in contact with health

services, this made suicide rates drop for nine consecutive quarts [ CITATION Joh20 \l 1033 ]. Just

these two sentences change the view of how mental health needs to be able to be considered a

vailed health issue. Knowing that something could be done about preventing something bad from

happening and not doing anything about it shows that some people just do not care. More like

that is what we might be thinking, but sometimes it is just because the professionals do not have

enough time in the day to help every single person. Some people never end up telling anyone

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anything and they just decide to take it into their own hands. They believe that the only way to

stop feeling a certain way is to end everything and commit suicide. Individuals might believe that

it is selfish and that they decided to take the easy way out. I have heard so many people say this

about suicide and that is an awful way to look at someone killing themselves. These people were

hurting inside and most likely hurting themselves. They just wanted to feel happy again and the

only way they thought that could happen is if they ended the life they were living.

Mental health needs to be considered a physical health issue because it effects people the

same way that any other health issue. Some people even say that mental illness is worse than

some physical health issues. It honestly just depends on what a person is suffering from and how

it is affecting them. It is difficult for people to truly understand what might be happening, which

might be considered even worse because they do not physically have a reason why this is

happening. Its all emotionally and how you deal with those emotions. If you notice or anyone

around, notices that something is off you should see a professional as soon as possible. If you are

depressed, wanting to be alone, feeling alone, having negative manic thoughts; these are all signs

of depression and possible other issues that were from external issues. The reason people do not

consider mental health to be an actual issue is because there is no evidence right in front of you.

Most of what these people are going through can be hidden under a fake smile. Therefore, it can

be so difficult for people to understand what mental health is because as a society we are told to

hide it and most people do not want to talk about mental health.

Honestly, do you remember when you were in school and they talked about suicide. They

did that once a year at the beginning of the school year that is it. Unless you are taking certain

classes that might deal with mental illness you will not regularly learn about it. Through out the

years mental health has been looked at and passed on and people would just say they are crazy or

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that they are just sad. Mental health must be looked at in a different light it needs to be talked

about regularly. When you talk about your own mental health you can release your emotions that

you might have been bottling up because you do not know why you are feeling a certain way. If

you are not able to talk to someone about what is going on, then writing everything down is one

of the major ways of coping.

The reason why I wanted to use this research question was because I have been through

the ringer with mental health of my own. I have also seen the people around me suffer from

mental health. Recently my stepmothers’ friend was becoming worried about her daughter

because she has been showing since of depression. One of the major signs was she came home

from work one afternoon and she was in the bathroom shaving her head. There was no prior talk

about cutting her hair she was just in the bathroom playing sad music shaving her head. She tried

to get her the help she needed but there was such a demand of mental health professionals she

was not going to be able to be seen for a decent amount of time. Not that much longer after

talking to someone and trying to find her help, her daughter tried to kill herself. Now since that

happened, she was able to be put into inpatient care because she is considered high risk. If she

was able to be seen in a timely manner, she might not have tried to commit suicide. At this point

in time this made her mom feel like her daughter’s care was determined on whether she tried to

end her life or not. She wanted to get her some help but was told basically your daughter is not

that bad yet, other people are more important. If we considered mental health to be an actual

physical health problem this might not have happened because there could be more inpatient care

and outpatient care options for people. I can support this because when I was younger, I was in

therapy and I had to change my therapist because of her making fun of my weight. It took my

dad months to find me someone that was close enough to us and was able to see me two to four

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times a month. For most people this might not seem like a lot but think about it like this you

work with patients 8 hours of the day that is 8 people a day if the appointments are an hour each.

That is only 56 people a week, depending on how you schedule your time. When there are

millions of people that have mental illnesses that need to be seen or treated. Having mental

health be considered a physical health issue might make it easier to find access to mental health

professionals because there will be more offices and building that are able to help people with

mental illness. If you think about mental health as a whole people need to be seen on a timely

manner meaning with in a week of contacting someone about reserving services. I believe it

should be a conversation on the phone for 15 minutes to get basics about what is going on, so

they know they someone is there to listen to them. The next step would be getting that first long

appointment set up so you can go in depth about what is going on.

All this information that I have found shows how important it is to have mental health be

considered a physical health illness. It will help so many people in the long run. Making sure that

we take time to talk about our emotions and get help if we need it, even just having someone to

talk to in general is good to have. Making it easier to access mental health professionals will

make a huge different with so many different groups of people. The conclusion that I have made

is that mental health is something that needs to be talked about and be considered a health issue

because it effects people in so many ways. Understanding that many people go through hard

times and mental health is not just someone being sad or just unhappy.

Works Cited
Campbell, Niall. Does Mental Health Affect and Impinge on Family Relationships? 2020.

Grant, Marcella. The Impact of Mental Illness on our Day to Day Life! 4 September 2019.

Johnson, Kaprea F. and Dana L Brookover. "Counselors' Role in Decreasing Suicide in Mental Health
Professional Shortage Areas in the." (2020): 170-186.

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Leeb, Rebecca T. Support for Transition from Adolescent to Adult Health Care Among Adolescents With
and Without Mental, Behavioral, and Developement Disorders - United States 2016-2017.
August 2020.

Lewis, Judd L. "Mental Health Should Be Treated on Par with Physical Health." (2000): 1-3.

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