Mental illness has always been one of the more controversial aspects of health and healthcare research. For a very long time, ancient peoples thought that mental illnesses were the products of demonic possessions, angry gods, or even witches. Even after they were understood to have actual health problems, the mentally ill were often times just shoved into an asylum and institutionalized; they rarely received any therapeutic care, unless you count electric shocks or bloodletting as "therapeutic". It wasn't until the Civil War that the general public started showing great interest in mental care--soldiers were coming home with what we now know as PTSD. Now, obviously, we know much more about mental illness than we did in the 19th century. We've named many more disorders, and have developed therapeutic techniques and pharmaceuticals to help treat them.
As our knowledge of these diseases progressed, as did the number of those diagnosed. Of those diagnosed, over half have started taking medication--either coupled with talk therapy or instead of it. A question that many have been asking is: why are more people getting diagnosed with mental disorders? Could it be that our knowledge is progressing, and therefore we know more about the symptoms of these diseases, or could it be something more? There has been some research that suggests something more. Societal changes, as well as environmental, could have an impact on our mental health as a whole. This notable and sudden increase in the diagnosis of mental illnesses can possibly be ascribed to changes in our way of lives, such as occupations, environment, and technology.
Mental illness has definitely been a controversial topic. Your progression through history of mental illness was very easy to follow. The questions were placed very well to show that although more medications are being taken, mental illness is still not completely understood.
ReplyDeleteI am really interested to see what conclusions you come to in your essay. I find this topic very interesting. I do think that there is a definite shift to an increase in the diagnosis of mental illnesses as well as an in increase in the prescription of medication as well.
ReplyDeleteGabe, based on the email that you sent me earlier this weekend, I'm assuming that you might have made a topic switch. Given, I'm not going to comment on this introduction, as it might be moot feedback, but I'd be happy to look over your new introduction at any point if you'd like to run it by me.
ReplyDeleteWe can talk tomorrow during class!