Discrimination against Mental Illness

Discrimination Against Those with Mental Health Disorders

By: Kayna Kloster

What is Mental Health?

https://www.drjimtaylor.com/4.0/mental-health-should-be-a-priority-in-sports/

Mental Health is...

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being influencing how we think, feel, and act. It helps us handle stress, influences how we relate to others, and choices we make. Trauma, Genetics, or other Etiology can cause deviantion from the norm mental well-being. This does not make anyone abnormal.

https://www.amsa.org/mental-health-crisis-during-covid-19/

Prevalence of Mental Health Disorders

DATa

Nearly 1 in 5 adults live with a mental illness in the US (29.6%)

25.8% of Females compared to 15.8% of males are diagnosed per year with a mental health disorder. It is highly prevalent in those 18-25, with 30.6% https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness

60%

do not receive care

How is it viewed in society?

Taboo and highly Stigmatized. Those with mental illness are broken, dangerous, crazy, incompetent. They are to blame for their mental illness. News - Nurse's Crash Leading to 6 deaths. - "Having a reckless disregard for life.'

Issues Faced

Employment Housing Health Care Criminal Justice Program

Impacts on Mental Health from Discrimination

Low Social Capital Increased Stress Shame Worsened Mental Health Physical Health Deteriorates

https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/mental-health-unequal-world-lets-ask-what-happened-not-whats-wrong

New Story Examples

Unsheltered...

COVID-19 and Mental Health

"In Sacramento County, the Department of Public Health says it worked with almost 12,000 kids with mental health-related concerns between 2021 and 2022" Despite this there is mental health professional shortages. "For the 2019-2020 school year, there were almost 6,300 students allotted to one social worker, 1,300 students allotted to one school psychologist, and almost 700 students allotted to one school counselor. "

"Utah has one of the highest per capita rates of mental illness" Demand for Affordable Housing far exceeds the Supply - camping. Hopeful Huntsman Mental Health Institute will help amongst other organizaitons Source - Utah Stories

How Can We Change This?

Mental Health Experts work with Police

Mental Health Check-ins at School

Due to increased concern (76%) from schools throughout the US, the U.S. Surgeon General brought awareness and more open conversations on children mental health. Many schools have implemented 5 minute social-emotional discussion with students to discuss feelings and connect to services before it gets worse.

Public Safety Initiative Crisis Intervention Specialists to attend with Police on a mental health call. Decrease in Arrests.

May - Mental Health Awareness Month

Have tough conversations Raise Awareness Advocate for Mental Health Work towards better accessibility to care, housing, education and other services.

https://catalyst.phrma.org/reflecting-on-mental-health-awareness-month

What Can You Do?

Impact of Awareness

Examine local communities for mental health services Self-reflect on personal bias, attitudes or beliefs on mental illness. Have a positive, and understanding conversation with someone who has a mental health disoder. Recognize these individuals need empowerment, not discrimination.

Increase one's understanding of mental health and disorders Lower the Stigma Increase access to proper care Provide affordable housing, proper education and a fair justice system

(Optional) ViDEO

References

Thanks!

Allen, M. (2022, September 14). Active minds hosts suicide & mental health awareness event on campus. SJUHawkNews. https://www.sjuhawknews.com/active-minds-hosts-suicide-mental-health-awareness-event-on-campus/ American Psychiatric Association (2020). Stigma, prejudice and discrimination against peoplewith mental illness. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discriminationChatterjee, R. (2022, September 2) . As school starts, teachers add a mental-health check-in to their lesson plans. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/09/02/1120077364/with-kids-back-in-school-educators-brace-to-help-with-ongoing-mental-health-trou Etactics (2021). 30 Disheartening Statistics on Mental Health Stigma. https://etactics.com/blog/statistics-on-mental-health-stigma Goldberg, N., & Solis, N. (2022, September 2). Nurse charged with killing 6 might have lost consciousness, suffered mental collapse before crash. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-30/nurse-charged-with-killing-six-in-windsor-hills-crash-may-have-had-lapse-in-consciousness-at-time-of-accidentGomez, A.M. (2022, September 22). Metro to pair mental health experts with transit police and staff in new public safety initiative. Dcist. https://dcist.com/story/22/09/22/dc-metro-hires-mental-health-experts/ Loeb, H. (2022, April 25). Mental health matters: There's no better time to talk about your mental health. Caller Times. https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2022/04/25/may-mental-health-awareness-month-heres-why-matters/7379784001/ Markosian, R. (2022, September 16). The unsheltered with mental disorders in utah. Utah Stories. https://utahstories.com/2022/09/the-unsheltered-with-mental-disorders-in-utah/National Alliance on Mental Illness (2020). The many forms of mental illness discrimination. https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/March-2020/The-Many-Forms-of-Mental-Illness-Discrimination National Institute of Mental Health. (2022). Mental illness. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness Prabha, S. (2022, September 22). As sacramento schools try to address the mental health crisis, vulnerable students suffer. Capradio. https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/09/22/as-sacramento-schools-try-to-address-the-mental-health-crisis-vulnerable-students-suffer/ TEDxTalk (2016, May 2). Surviving with mental illness: Eric Walton [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZZoCm-nME Turner, N. (2022, April 6). We need to think beyond police in mental health crisis. Vera. https://www.vera.org/news/we-need-to-think-beyond-police-in-mental-health-crises Webber, M., Corker, E., Hamilton. S., Weeks.C., Pinfold.V., Rose.D.,... Henderson, C. (2014). Discrimination against people with severe mental illness and their access to social capital: Findings from the viewpoint survey. Epidemiological Psychiatric Science, 23(2), 155-165. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6998171/Zastrow, C., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.