Understanding Mental Illness

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Understanding Mental Illness

• By
• Loraine Petersen

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Can you identify mental illness just by looking
at someone?
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What is mental illness?

• Mental illnesses are medical conditions that
  disrupt a persons thinking, feeling, mood,
  ability to relate to others, and daily
  functioning. These conditions often result in a
  diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary
  demands of life. -National Alliance on Mental
  Illness
• It is estimated that 1 in 4 adults experiences a
  mental health disorder in a given year and that 1
  in 10 children have a serious mental or emotional
  disorder.

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TRUE OR FALSE?

• Mental illnesses are more common for minority
  individuals living in poverty
• FALSE
• Although mental illness affects people from all
  different walks of life, impoverished minority
  members have less access to quality healthcare,
  and less opportunity for effective treatment.
  New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

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TRUE OR FALSE

• More than 90 of completed suicides are committed
  by individuals with a diagnosable mental disorder
  
• TRUE
• Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in
  America and the third leading cause for persons
  aged 10-24. - National Institute of Mental Health
  http//www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/harmsway.cfm

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TRUE OR FALSE

• According to criminal justice databased, mentally
  ill individuals are more prone to random and
  unpredictable acts of violence that those without
  diagnosed disorders
• FALSE

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FACT SHEET

• Mentally ill individuals parallel their
  mainstream counterparts in that most acts of
  violence are committed by men towards females
  with whom they have some sort of intimate
  relationship (the same is in the general
  population)
• Individuals with mental illness are more likely
  to be the victims of violent crime rather than
  the perpetrators
• The majority of symptoms of mental illness DO NOT
  lead to random acts of violence. For those
  individuals that have committed violent acts,
  positive psychotic symptoms such as
  hallucinations and delusions were reported and
  observed.
• Rates of violence were significantly higher for
  those mentally ill individuals that also have a
  co-occurring substance abuse disorder, the same
  is in the general population
• - Archives of General Psychiatry A national
  study of violent behavior in persons with
  schizophrenia

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SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

• Adults
• Long lasting sadness or irritability
• Extreme highs and lows in mood
• Social withdrawal
• Increasing inability to cope with daily problems
  and activities

• Children
• Changes in school performance
• Excessive worrying or anxiety
• Hyperactivity
• Persistent nightmares

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Treatment centers in Pima County

• SAMHC www.samhc.com [phone] Crisis
  intervention and evaluation services for adults
  experiencing symptoms of mental disorders.
• CODAC Behavioral Health Services, Inc.
  www.codac.org [phone] Ongoing outpatient
  treatment for adults and children
• COPE Community Services, Inc. www.copebhs.com
  [phone]. Ongoing outpatient treatment for
  adults and their families, if needed.
• SEABHS www.seabhs.org. Treatment for adults and
  children.

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