Mental Illness Awareness
By Matt McCusker
Thesis Statement
Individuals with mental illnesses should not be thought of as dependent, unable to accomplish everyday tasks, and should not receive unnecessary medical treatment. The public must be educated about the mental illnesses in order to understand how serious each illness is.
Sources
- "IU study: 'Backbone' of mental illness stigma common in 16 countries studied." Mental Health Weekly Digest. By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Mental Health Weekly Digest.
- "A history of treatment for mental illness." The Washington Post. National Institutes of Health.
- "Postpartum depression: One mom's mission becomes a movement." CNN Wire. Kelly Wallace.
- "A Solution That Now Looks Crazy." The New York Times. Richard A. Friedman, M.D.
- "Girl Scouts Engage in the Fight Against Mental Illness Stigma with Mental Health Awareness Patch." Mental Health Weekly Digest. By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Mental Health Weekly Digest.
Position
- "IU study: 'Backbone' of mental illness stigma common in 16 countries studied." The article's position is to reveal that a lot of countries are prejudice when it comes to mental health. The stereotypes of people with mental illnesses negatively affect their lives. "a common 'backbone' of prejudice exists that unfairly paints people with conditions such as
- "A history of treatment for mental illness." The article's position is that of how much the treatment for mental illness has changed throughout the 19-20th centuries. "Patients are presumed incapable of making decisions." "Decision-making authority shifts from doctors to judges."
- "Postpartum depression: One mom's mission becomes a movement." This article's position is to want every mother to be aware of intrusive thoughts. The mother in the article has had intrusive thoughts after her son's birth, for example, she thought about smothering her son. The mother created a blog that ended up helping other mothers having intrusive thoughts.
- "A Solution That Now Looks Crazy." The article's position is to compare the past with the present. It show's how our previous attempt to solve mental health problems doesn't seem right anymore. "The egregious error was the failure to provide treatment to patients after they left the hospital.
- "Girl Scouts Engage in the Fight Against Mental Illness Stigma with Mental Health Awareness Patch." The article's position is to aware people what the problems are with mental health and what people are doing to help and spread awareness. "For our service project, we will create a library for special needs children" and, "Girl scouts are actively fighting to create change."
Analysis
- "IU study: 'Backbone' of mental illness stigma common in 16 countries studied." The facts from this article support my thesis by explaining that prejudice against mental health is a problem in many countries. People should learn about mental health before putting it down as if it isn't a problem.
- "A history of treatment for mental illness." This article's facts support my thesis by showing how many times we keep trying to fix mental illness law wise. As much as we change the laws, it seems like nothing is helping.
- "Postpartum depression: One mom's mission becomes a movement." The mother's blog, she raised awareness and showed that many mothers are not alone which helped their self esteem against the stereotypes.
- "A Solution That Now Looks Crazy" The people who created the solution that destroyed the "Mental Illness Treatment System" were a lot more prejudice than we are now. Being prejudice doesn't help anyone with mental diseases because it just destroys their chances of living in this world.
- "Girl Scouts Engage in the Fight Against Mental Illness Stigma with Mental Health Awareness Patch." The Girl Scouts are actively fighting to create change for the mentally ill. They are helping reduce the stigma and improving the lives of individuals who battle with mental illnesses.