Have you ever walked through a public shopping center and seen a grown man talking to himself or a grown woman throwing a temper tantrum? Everyone has witnessed an act of this kind at least once. We know that there is something mentally wrong and they can't help it, yet we still stare. How does that make that person feel? Many people don't know that a lot of people with mental illnesses don't realize their behavior unless they are treated differently. Why does society treat the mentally ill so differently? Doing research to help me answer this question enlightened me with many more aspects I had no idea ever existed. .
Mental health disorders strike millions of people; regardless of race, color, gender, age, and socioeconomic status; each year (UI Behavioral Health). Episodes of mental illnesses can come and go in periods throughout people's lives. Some people experience their illness only once and fully recover. For others, it recurs throughout their lives. There are non-psychotic illnesses, which are mild. Then there are psychotic illnesses, which is a condition caused by any one of a group of illnesses that are known or thought to affect the brain causing changes in thinking, emotion, and behavior (Mental Health Services). People experiencing an acute stage of a psychotic illness can lose touch with reality and their ability to make sense of thoughts, feelings, also external information is greatly affected. .
Society has come a long way in how we treat the mentally ill. The mentally ill were treated as animals. As little as 25 years ago, anyone who had odd behavior could be put in a mental institution. After institutionalized, they lost all contact with their family and the outside world. No parents wanted a "retarded" child nor did siblings want a "retarded" sister/brother. Upon interviewing the head RN for one of the largest mental health units in Rhode Island, I have a whole new outlook on the issue.
