Evangelista, Katheline SOCOR 12 Tue 11:30-1:00

Prevailing Social Issue: Mental Illness

Mental illness is a disorder that is characterized by disturbances in a person's thought,

emotions, or behavior. Mental illness refers to a wide variety of disorders, ranging from those
that cause mild distress to those that impair a person's ability to function in daily life. Many have
tried to figure out the reasons for mental illnesses. All of these reasons have been looked at and
thought of for thousands of years. The biological perspective views mental illness as a bodily
process. Whereas the psychological perspectives think the role of a person's upbringing and
environment are causes for mental illnesses. Younger people also suffer from mental illnesses
the same way that adults do. 14 to 20 percent of individuals under the age of eighteen suffer from
a case of mental illness. Studies show that 9 to 13 percent of children between the ages of nine
and seventeen suffer from a serious emotional disturbances that disrupts the child's daily life.
Major depression is a severe disorder. Symptoms include withdraw from family and/or friends,
weight loss, sleeping problems, frequent crying, fleeing helpless, delusions, and hallucinations.
This disease is usually diagnosed during adolescence; parents may notice grades dropping, poor
self-image, troubled social relations, and suicidal acts. This disease may be fatal if the person
becomes suicidal. Adults are not the only ones that can have mental disorders. Children can have
mental disorders as well. Common mental disorders among children are behavior disorders like
ADHD, anxiety disorders, and depression. A lot of the mental disorders seen in children are the
same mental disorders seen in Adults. Another mental disorder that children can have is Autistic
Spectrum Disorder. Mental disorders in children can be treated in a couple of ways. Children
with a mental illness can be treated with medication and Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is a type
of mental health therapy. Most mental disorders that are seen in children can be carried into adult
hood.

References: https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-conditions
 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/symptoms-causes
Lim, Rizalde Matthew SOCOR 12 TUE 11:30-1:00

POLITICS

I sometimes think our notions of democracy in this country are screwed up. We
spend tons of time thinking about the election and covering it in the media but if at a
party someone gets too "political" or espouses a "cause" of some kind, we move to the
other side of the room. Why do we need permission to think seriously about politics?
Elections happen in seasons in Philippines. We stop what we are doing and think about
the politics. Political commercials are meant to intrude and interrupt. The expectation
seems to be that politics is not central to our lives. Instead, it is something that is
supposed to stay out of the way. We think of freedom this way — our lives are to be
unencumbered by government, taxes, civic entanglements.
Our politics tend to be framed by how institutions facilitate our personal
successes or rescue us from personal desperation. The whole vaguely Republican, pro-
business capitalist outlook contains the assumption that individual success is equivalent
to civic success. When we get our personal ambitions out of the way only then we look
around and see what else there is to do. When we notice our own personal surpluses
then it occurs to us to "give back." The whole vaguely Democratic social contract "social
safety-net" notion contains the converse assumption that personal calamity is some
indicator of civic responsibility. Individual setbacks lead us to wonder what program is in
place to soften our landing, what broader civic responsibility is there to help us in times
of extreme need, what social entitlement is triggered by our individual setback. Both of
these assumptions have led to massive income inequality and huge federal deficits. If
civic involvement isn’t built into our discourse and personal identity then it simply isn’t a
priority and our society reflects that pretty well right now.
Reference: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/philippines/politics.htm