Mental Health Issues and Legislative Guidance

This essay elaborates on mental health conditions and the legislative guidance or policies that provide support to individuals affected by those conditions. It discusses the classification of mental health conditions, common mental health disorders, and the legislative and policy guidance for dementia. Find study material, solved assignments, and essays on mental health issues at Desklib.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1
Mental health issues
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction- Mental health refers to the absence of mental disorders or the presence
of psychological wellbeing that allows a person to manifest a state o functioning that is
characterised by satisfactory levels of behavioural and/or emotional adjustments (Zeanah
2018). The World Health Organisation defines mental health as the perceived self-efficacy,
subjective well-being, competence, autonomy, inter-generational need, and self-actualization
of one's knowledgeable and expressive potential, amid others (WHO 2018). In addition, it is
also mentioned that the wellbeing of a person is often associated with the process of
realisation of self-capabilities, which in turn allows them to cope with the stressors faced in
life, thus increasing their productive work and contributing significantly to their community.
This essay will elaborate on mental health conditions and the legislative guidance or policies
that provides support to individuals affected by those conditions.
Mental disorders- The burden of mental illnesses continues to progress with
noteworthy effects on the health and chief human rights, social and financial consequences
across all nations of the world. Some of the common features of mental health conditions
include remitting or relapsing symptoms, or single episodes of illness that are commonly
diagnosed by mental health professionals (Walker, McGee and Druss 2015). Several theorists
define mental disorders as the manifestation of a combination of how an individual feels,
behaves, thinks, or perceives. This in turn may be allied with specific functions or regions of
their brain. Religious and cultural beliefs, in addition to social standards must always be
taken into consideration at the time of diagnosis of mental disorders (Weber and Pargament
2014). With the aim of classifying a mental condition as a disorder, the signs and symptoms
must be able to cause a dysfunction in the affected person. In addition, the DSM categories
also define mental disorders as a state of psychological pattern or syndrome that increase the
likelihood of death or result in a noteworthy loss of autonomy of the patients. However,
normal responses manifested by several people that encompass sadness due to death of a

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loved person, are not categorised as mental disorders. In addition, the definition of mental
illnesses in the DSM is preceded with statements that elaborate on the fact that the term often
lacks a reliable effective definition that can be used to denote all situations marked by
abnormal mental health condition.
Classification of mental health conditions- Mental disorder classification is also
known as psychiatric taxonomy or psychiatric nosology and represents a chief aspect of
mental health profession and/or psychiatry, thus providing assistance in the diagnosis of
people who have been affected (Polanczyk et al. 2015). Currently, there exists two popular
and established classification systems for mental health conditions namely, (i) chapter 5 of
International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), and (ii) DSM-5 or Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Jacob and Patel 2014). Both the aforementioned
classification systems contain an exhaustive description of a range of categories of mental
disorders that are thought to be dissimilar types, and have purposely congregated their codes
in new revisions, to make the manuals broadly comparable. The Chinese Classification of
Mental Disorders and Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual are rarely used for the purpose.
The WHO elaborates on the fact that there lies a strong argument regarding the conditions
that must be incorporated under the idea of mental disorders (WHO 2018). Classification
based on ICD-10 is based on the fact that it considers mental disorder not as an exact term
and categorises mental health conditions into key groups that are given below:
i. F0: Organic, along with symptomatic, mental disorders
ii. F1: Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance abuse
iii. F2: Schizophrenia, delusional and schizotypal disorders
iv. F3: Mood and/or affective disorders
v. F4: Stress-related, neurotic and somatoform disorders

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vi. F5: Behavioural syndromes allied with physical factors and physiological
disturbances
vii. F6: Disorders of behaviour and personality in adult individuals
viii. F7: Mental retardation
ix. F8: Disorders related to psychological development
x. F9: Emotional and behavioural disorders with childhood or adolescent onset (First
et al. 2015)
xi. Unspecified mental disorders
Likewise, the DSM-V classification was formulated in 2013, as an update to the already
existing DSM-IV classification system. The five axes that were present in DSM-IV include
the following:
i. Axis I: Clinical disorders (except mental retardation and personality disorders)
ii. Axis II: Mental retardation and personality disorders
iii. Axis III: General clinical conditions associated to mental disorder
iv. Axis IV: Environmental and psychosocial problems like lack of social support
v. Axis V: Global assessment of functioning that includes evaluation of social,
psychological, and job-associated functions (First 2014)
However, several changes have been made in the aforementioned categories in the recent
classification. This classification system has been classified into three sections, with the use
of Roman numerals for designating each section.
Common mental health conditions- The table given below provides a list of common
mental disorders among different age groups:
Age group Mental disorders
Elderly Depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar

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syndrome, eating disorders, dementia
Adults Obsessive compulsive disorder, depression,
panic disorder, schizophrenia, generalised
anxiety disorder, PTSD, social anxiety
disorders
Adolescents Anxiety disorders, depression, Attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
eating disorder, schizophrenia, substance
abuse, borderline personality disorder,
delusional disorder
Children Anxiety disorders, eating disorders,
elimination disorders, tic disorders, ADHD,
autism spectrum disorders, disruptive
behaviour disorders, specific phobias
Table 1- List of common mental illnesses
Legislative and policy guidance- Dementia is an umbrella term that refers to mental
disorders that are found to result in a gradual decrease in the capability of a person to
remember and think, thus creating an impact on the activities of daily living (Livingston et
al. 2017). Some common signs and symptoms of the condition include emotional difficulties,
problems with langue, and a reduction in motivation, that largely impacts the mental
functioning of the affected people. As per global estimates, roughly 46 million individuals
were affected with the mental disorder in 2015, with as much as 10% of people developing
the condition at some point of their lifespan (Vos et al. 2016). In addition, the condition also
resulted in death of more than 1.7 million people in 2013 (Kassebaum et al. 2017). There are
a plethora of strategies for management of dementia such as, medications, pain, eating

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difficulties, alternative medicine, dietary modifications, palliative care approaches, and
psychological therapies. However, caring for a person affected with dementia is often
stressful and challenging. This calls for the need of utilising support from the healthcare
legislation and policies that address plans, decision and action, in relation to accomplishment
of particular disorder related goals. Recent evidences state that there are an estimated 850000
people in the UK, affected with dementia and the number is anticipated to double by 2040
(Gov.uk 2012).
The National Dementia Strategy 2009 named ‘Living well with dementia’, was
published in the year 2009. This strategy defined three important ambitions to enhance the
wellbeing and quality of life for dementia patients and their carers. The three major themes
addressed by this strategy are namely, (i) increasing dementia awareness, and eradicating the
stigma that is associated with the mental health condition, (ii) improving diagnosis rates for
dementia patients, and (iii) increasing the availability of services for patients and carers
(Gov.uk 2009). ‘Dementia 2012: A national challenge’ was launched in March 2012, with the
aim of delivering major enhancements in dementia care. The policy focused on development
of dementia friendly communities by increasing public awareness, improving hospital care,
enhancing care standards, improving diagnosis, and increasing the funding for dementia care
related research (Gov.uk 2012).
In addition, the “Dementia Discovery Fund” worth $100 million had been proclaimed
in 2015, with the solitary purpose of funding dementia related investigation, by encompassing
grants from the government, major pharmaceutical companies and the Alzheimer’s Research
UK (Dementia Discovery Fund 2018). In addition, the Alzheimer’s Society and Public Health
England also worked together to launch a campaign for recruiting an estimated million
“Dementia Friends”, in order to effectively identify the signs and symptoms of dementia,
besides supporting the patients. Furthermore, in May 2013, efforts had been taken by the

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NHS England in order to bring about an improvement in the dementia diagnosis rates. An
ambition was set up by the policy that by the year 2015, almost two thirds of individuals
affected with dementia would be identified and delivered high-quality care services and
necessary support, with an investment of roughly £90 million. In addition, dementia has also
been included by the NHS England as one of the major CQUIN schemes, which in turn
incentivised the healthcare providers to deliver superior quality care service, while promoting
care strategy innovations (England.nhs.uk 2013). This was concomitant with an enhancement
in the diagnosis rates of dementia across major hospitals in the nation.
Conclusion- To conclude, taking into account the perspectives of holism or positive
psychology, mental health also encompasses the capability of an individual to enjoy life,
while striving to maintain a steady balance between psychological resilience and life
activities. Also referred to as psychiatric illness or mental illness, mental disorders are an
umbrella term that are characterised by presence of a mental or behavioural pattern that
results in significant impairment or distress to the personal functioning of the patients. While
presence of a broad definition helps in addressing personality disorder, mental retardation,
mental illness, and substance abuse, the inclusion generally differs by nation and is a debated
issue. Dementia is a major mental health condition prevalent among older adults and can be
addressed effectively by taking into consideration the different policies and legislation that
have been framed by the UK government.

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References
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