Improving Mental Health of Elderly Population in the US

Running head: HEALTH SYSTEM
Health system
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction:
Mental health has always been a topic of interest for the researcher. The complexity of
the mental disease and its treatment procedures make it an excellent topic of choice. Far more
than any other disease, mental health diseases are subjected to negative judgments and
stigmatization by society. Good mental health is integral part of human health and wellbeing
(Peritogiannis et al., 2017). Mental health includes emotional, psychological and social
wellbeing, which affects the process of thinking and behavior. Research has identified that social
environment and personal situation poorly affect the mental wellbeing of the individual.
Therefore, the mental illness contributes to 14% of the global disease (Eisendrath et al., 2014).
There are social determinants of the mental health that influence the prevalence of mental health
disease. These include lifestyle, stress, social exclusion, unemployment, working conditions,
food insecurity (Han et al., 2016). The common mental health disorders include bipolar disorder,
major depressive disorder, Dementia, schizophrenia, panic disorders, major phobias, obsessive-
compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (Keaton, McCann, & Giles, 2017). The
prevalence of these diseases are observed in any stage of life irrespective of age and gender but
mostly observed among the older population. Therefore, it is essential that the actions should be
taken for changing the infrastructure of the health care services in order to improve population
mental health and thereby reducing the risk of mental disorders associated with social
determinants. This paper will illustrate a plan involving the area of concern, description of the
plan, and analysis of the population, how change improves outcomes and affordability, ethical
concerns that arise from the proposed changes.
Area of concern:

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The area I will be discussing in this part is mental health of the elderly population since
the prevalence of mental health issue in the elderly population of US is higher as compared to
other countries. Mental health is defined as a state of wellbeing in which every individual
realizes his or her own potential for coping with the normal stress of life. Although the mental
health illness can be observed in any stage of life, it is more common in the aging population
(Yoon, Coburn & Spence, 2018). Older adults, those aged 60 years or above have important
contribution in society as a crucial member of family, volunteer and as active participants in the
workplace. While other countries have good mental health and wellbeing, an older adult is at risk
of developing the mental disorder, neurological disorder or substance use problem. The World
health organization has suggested that the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder is mood
disorder, which has affected about 21 million adults in United States, included major depressive
disorder, dysthymic disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder (Ho et al., 2018). Out of 1 in 5
adults in the US experience mental illness in given year. Approximately 1 in 25 adults in The US
experienced mental illness in given year that substantially interferes with the life activities
(Wang et al., 2016). 6.9% of adults in the US experienced at least one episode of major
depressive disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders and specific phobias (Ho et al., 2018).
Amongst 20.2 million adults in the U.S, approximately 50% of the individuals
experienced mental illness due to substance abuse (Ho et al., 2018). Therefore, in my opinion,
the older population is at major risk of mental health illness that affected their daily activities and
social life. Mental health of the elderly population attracted my attention because it is a crucial
issue that can be reduced with proper treatment and raising awareness. According to Wynaden et
al. (2016), mental health has a huge impact on the physical health. An older individual with
chronic pain, heart diseases or mobility issues experienced higher depression as compared to

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healthy individuals. They have a tendency to isolate themselves from social interactions and they
preferred to live in loneliness. The older individual are also vulnerable to abuse, which includes
physical, verbal, psychological, financial, loss of dignity and respect (Fredriksen-Goldsen et al.,
2014). Social stigma is another key risk factor that maximizes mental health issues. A
considerate number of individuals think that people with psychiatric disabilities living in society
lower values due to lack of their mental stability. These thoughts and beliefs are implanted
within individuals due to lack of awareness and religion beliefs. According to de Koning et al.
(2018), self-esteem suffers which in turn lowers the confidence of the elderly patient. The elderly
patient suffer more from social and self-stigma because with growing age, they lose their ability
to work activity and therefore, they lose their dignity, values, tend to feel worthless (Beekman,
2016). Although progress in mental health services are fast compared to other and mid economic
countries, lack of awareness and priorities contributed to the occurrence of mental illness (Ros et
al., 2016). Barriers include existing public health priorities, which influences the funding, lack of
proper delivery of mental health care in a primary care setting, lack of mental health perspective
in a healthcare setting and fewer numbers of trained health professionals in nursing. Serious
mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year (Rebok et al., 2018).
Moreover, the higher cost associated with the diagnosis, treatment of health care system such as
medications, physician visits, psychotherapy session, and hospitalization and so on are also
major concern. The economic burden also arises due to mobility, mortality, care seeking in
workplaces and early retirements due to mental health issues (Montgomery et al., 2018).
Proposed changes for improving mental health:
Mental health is a major concern worldwide and requires attention from health care
professionals and governing bodies so that every individual has better mental health (Hart &