Research Paper

Mental Illness:

Reducing Mental Illness Through Education

On Earth over 400 million people are affected by mental illness. In the United States alone one in every five Americans suffers from mental illness. Mental illness is a health condition involving changes in behavior, emotion, or thinking. Mental illness is also associated with distress or an unstable environment. Although so many people in today’s world are affected by mental illness, some people still believe that mental illness is either not real or exaggerated. Too many people are affected by mental illness in today's modern world. In order to reduce the level of mental illness among adolescents implementation of this health course is imperative.

   Many adults, as well as children, are diagnosed with a  mental illness. Surveys show that one in four children under the age of sixteen do not think mental illness is a real thing. (Mental Disorders) Mental illness is real. Disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorder, depression are some of the more common mental illnesses. Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects people's ability to think and behave consistently more than 200,000 people in the US alone are affected per year. (Mental Illness) Depression is the persistent depression of mood and unwanting to do usually fun activities more than 3 million people in the US are affected per year. The first record we have of mental illness is in 400 B.C.E written about by Hippocrates. (Encyclopædia Britannica) Mental illness is a real disease that needs to be addressed by all. Mental illness needs to be diminished, the very fact that 400 million people on this planet are affected by this disease is a huge problem.

   Mental illness can lead to many terrible things, if not treated. In some cases, mental illness can lead to self-harm, suicide, as well as deprivation of self. The current suicide rate in the United States of America is higher than it has ever been before, more than forty thousand people in America of all ages committed suicide in the last year. The suicide budget costs the United States fifty-one billion dollars annually. (Federal Budget) That is too much for something that could be prevented by seeing a doctor or being in a stress-free environment. The United States as a whole spends around five hundred million dollars a year on mental illnesses and its health facilities. (Federal Budget) Mental illness is too prominent in what we consider a developed country. I strongly believe that if we can create less stressful environments, mental illness will decrease significantly.

As of right now, there is no current way to prevent mental illness, but studies have shown that if you receive routine medical care, and take good care of yourself, meaning you get good sleep, eat healthy, and try to exercise regularly, you have a better chance of avoiding a mental illness. All of these things are good to help prevent and lessen the threat of mental illness, but that alone is not enough. Many people cannot do these things on their own meaning they can not bring themselves to exercise or eat healthy. Doing positive things that keep you mentally and physically happy is very hard for some people.

My solution to decrease the risk of mental illness is to create courses in school systems that not only to educate children about mental illness but also helps them do the things that will help to avoid mental illness. To implement my idea into today’s school system, I will need lots of help from very different people. As a first step, I would try to find a teacher willing to teach this class, who also has vast knowledge on the subject of mental illness, and mental health. By talking with this individual I would explain my idea to them, and together we would work with the school systems to get a solid course and curriculum implanted into the school systems. This course would be a pass or fail course, with possible open forum conversations mostly driven by the students, with topics given by the teacher. Complications are likely to arise with this solution because many parents and even possibly teachers of today are not comfortable talking about mental illness because of the negative stigma around the subject. If complications such as parents complaining arise, I would suggest the school offer a seminar for parents educating them about the importance of being aware of mental illness and the importance of their child knowing about such things. By introducing the concept of mental illness to children at an early age, we will hopefully reduce mental illness in itself as well as have a more educated next generation on something that is truly a serious issue.

Mental illness is a prominent problem in today’s modern world despite what some may say. If we can reduce mental illness through all ages, by educating today's youth perhaps the world in itself will be a more tolerant and aware place. Education about mental illness it truly something I believe will help to change today's world making it a much more tolerant and even smarter place.

Works Cited

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