Reflection on Mental Health, Social Media, and Challenges in HSW110

This report, stemming from the HSW110 course, presents a student's reflection on mental health, exploring the evolution of their personal views and attitudes towards individuals with mental illness. It examines the influence of social media on perceptions of mental health, highlighting the spread of information and its potential impact on shaping public opinion, including the role of media in raising awareness and countering stigma. The report also delves into the challenges faced when dealing with people with mental health issues, acknowledging the emotional, psychological, social, and economic difficulties. Furthermore, it outlines various theoretical approaches to understanding mental health and illness, including analytical, behavioral, cognitive, and social theories, and how these frameworks aid in the comprehension of mental health disorders. The student concludes by emphasizing the importance of care, empathy, and professional treatment for individuals experiencing mental health challenges.

REFLECTION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Question 1........................................................................................................................................1
Reflect on what factors have influenced, your opinion and attitude towards people.............1
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................2
To what extent has the social media affected your views about mental health......................2
QUESTION 3...................................................................................................................................3
Challenges faced while dealing with people having mental health issues.............................3
QUESTION 4...................................................................................................................................4
Theoretical Approaches to Mental Health & Illness..............................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
Online ....................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Mental health is problem that happens due to stress, anxiety, depression and
psychological trauma. HSW110 is course provided in Australia to provide people better
understanding of mental health issues. The aim of this report is to provide views on mental
illness, impact of media about this problem on people's thoughts. Apart from this it will cover
challenges faced during working with people with mental illness.
Question 1
Reflect on what factors have influenced, your opinion and attitude towards people.
Base on my prior on Mental health of people:
Before I started my course of HSW110, my understanding on mental health problem of
people was that, this problem range from worries that we all experience as a part of our everyday
life. I have learned that there are majority of people who face this problem and can get over them
or learn to survive with them (Corrigan, Druss & Perlick, 2014). It had been determined that,
symptoms of this problem have traditionally been segregated into groups name as either neurotic
or psychotic symptoms. Such problem is supposed to be treated only by doctor, rather than
personal weaknesses.
Apart from this, anxiety and depression can have an adverse effect person's ability to get
on with life. Those who get affected may see things that no one else see, hear voices, feel
unrealistic powerful into daily events. In my opinion, mental illness is a kind of disease that
affects the way an individual thinks, behaves, or feels. There are five types of mental illness that
I have learned are; Anxiety disorder, mood disorder, schizophrenia & psychotic disorder,
dementia, eating disorder. Its causes can be heredity, as many mental problems run in families,
and they may pass from parent to children. Biology is considered another cause of it i.e.
abnormal balance of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Also, psychological trauma,
which suffered as a child can cause mental problem. I was very negative towards people who has
this mental illness. I hated talking to them (Flanagan, Farina & Davidson, 2016).
After engaging into HSW1110 course, my knowledge on mental health:
The course enable me to find & critically evaluate social factors that boost mental health
and illness, affect the on-set and course of mental illness. Moreover, it made me understand
competing models that surrounding mental health issue in Australia. It also provided me a
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chance to explore how social practices & ideas contribute to the ways in which community,
families & individuals are influenced by mental illness. After this course, I have learned that my
attitude towards them was completely wrong. There are many people who don't understand
people's situations that they face due to this problem. Therefore, after engaging in this course I
understood people having mental health problem should be treated with care and love and have
been more empathetic towards them.
QUESTION 2
To what extent has the social media affected your views about mental health.
Recently, social media have changed the way people interact. We no longer wait for
newspaper updates. People are now using social sites to get latest news, or issues that are most
appealing to them (Lyndon, Crowe & Davis, 2016). Apart from this, it has proven its power in
encouraging people to take actions on an unnecessary issue. Social media is considered very
powerful tool to influence people thoughts, views and feeling. While reading news on social
media of people suffering from mental illness, I noticed that sometimes they do not provide full
information regarding its causes and symptoms. They spread a kind of fear through their stories
and pictures associated with mentally challenged people. I have noticed that they show disabled
people as an extraordinary or heroic individual because of their problem. It also made my views
negative regarding these types of mentally challenged people.
The media can play an important role in raising awareness, and countering stigma. As per
my opinion, I think that it can be a better force to change people's views towards those who face
mental illness. I held perception cultivated by my family with mental health problems but now I
am truly ashamed of my past views on people who suffer this problem. Based on a report by
Milly, named Before I had them myself, I feared people with mental health problems. This
article I read in which I found unsettling about the saying of mental health. Now I learned that,
fear always follow the unknown, the misunderstood and from experience fear has always
followed mental health. Therefore, the media can play a crucial role in representing mentally
challenged people in a way that could remove negative thoughts of people and promote the rights
of persons with this problem (Park, West & St, 2015).
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QUESTION 3
Challenges faced while dealing with people having mental health issues.
Working with people having mental issues face various challenges (Peterson, Skeem &
Zvonkovic, 2014). Carers may feel confused, overwhelmed, frightened, chaotic and physically as
well as emotionally drained. People who are distressed harm their bodies deliberately and most
usually in secret in order to deal with intense emotional pain. Sometimes, they cut or burn
themselves or injure in dangerous way (Seeman, 2015). I could have faced various
psychological, emotional, social and economic challenges. I have to play multiple role including
day to day care, supervising, medications, taking patient to hospital and many more. Mild
problems in person are common as they can be helped by way of talking and supporting them.
But the one who is suffering with severe problem goes through many circumstances.
It becomes difficult to communicate with them as they fail to share their feelings, their
problems and some experience hallucinations which affects their confidence to a great level. I
have to make them feel good by knowing that they are accepted in any type of condition they are
going through so that they feel free in sharing their problems and feelings with me. Mental issues
creates distance between people and loved ones. So it becomes important for me to let them
express their problems without interrupting in between.
Sometimes I find difficult to handle them, as they become anxious regularly. But talking
with them with special care and understanding their views makes them feel better. This helps me
in handling them easily (Shepherd, 2018). So to avoid such circumstances i have to develop
some strategies to cop up with them and their burden. Sometimes i find it very frustrating since
often as I have complete picture of the persons condition.
The main difficulties faced by the carers is to deal with reactions of a society and
navigating mental health system. Thus, caring for a person with mental illness means to live with
symptoms. Its very difficult as it cannot be diagnosed with blood tests, x rays or other medical
tools. To diagnose such illness they need health professionals that diagnose with the help of
psychometric tests. It becomes challenging in predicting about progress in individuals illness.
I found that treatment isn't a cure for such illness. I have to use various other options to cure
them and make them feel relaxed. I find out with many researches that medications,
psychological and alternate therapies will work best on these peoples. Thus, by studying this
course changed my views on mental health issues. I knew that I can easily handle them with lot
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of care and love. But it can be cured by professional doctors or psychiatrist. I can only take care
of them, but they need treatments. I can only make them ready to undergo such treatments.
QUESTION 4
Theoretical Approaches to Mental Health & Illness
In order to understand mental health and illness we need to identify theories used in
helping and understanding mental health problems (Vigo, Thornicroft & Atun, 2016). Thus,
following theories are used as are-
1. Analytical theories- this theory helps in understanding human growth, development and
learning. If motivation of human thought and behaviour have been wondered, these
theories provides useful insight into individuals and society. This theory divide
development into distinct stages in terms of behaviour. It is a systematic way of knowing
human beings' growth from babies to adults.
2. Behavioural theories- this theory is based on learning and idea that all behaviours are
acquired through conditioning. It helps the clients in learning new skills and behaviour.
According to this, behaviour can be studied in systematic and observable manner in
regardless of internal mental states.
3. Cognitive theories- it is a theory that helps in studying the mental process including
thinking of people (Ward, White & Druss, 2015). It also includes neuroscience,
philosophy and linguistics. It is an approach that attempts in explaining behaviour of a
human by understanding thought processes.
4. Social theories- it includes social topics to a wide range that includes behaviour of group,
social perception and leadership. It is important in noting that social psychology does not
mean to look at social influences. Social perception and interaction are also important.
These are analytical frameworks that are used in order to study and interpret social
media.
Mental health literacy refers to the knowledge of individuals about mental health disorders.
Thus, attitudes and beliefs are shaped by knowledge about people suffering from mental sickness
(HSW110 Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2018). The understanding and interpretation vary in
different cultures. It has been find that some healthcare professionals are necessary in order to
cure such illness. Thus, to avoid such problems I must try to get the consent of that person and
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should discuss their needs to professionals as soon as possible. I would have to talk with the
person suffering about what I am and what I want to do. I find in research that they might even
attempt suicide when they are overwhelmed. Thus, I will also have to have a carer's assessment if
I feel unsafe with that particular person.
CONCLUSION
Thus, from above assessment, it has been concluded that mental illness is a serious
problem and the one dealing with the person that is suffering from such illness has to face many
types of challenges. Furthermore, it also highlights on social media impacts that it has engaged
peoples mind totally by influencing their thoughts, views and feelings.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Corrigan, P. W., Druss, B. G., & Perlick, D. A. (2014). The impact of mental illness stigma on
seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public
Interest. 15(2). 37-70.
Flanagan, E., Farina, A., & Davidson, L. (2016). Does Stigma Towards Mental Illness Affect
Initial Perceptions of Peer Providers?. Psychiatric Quarterly. 87(1). 203-210.
Lyndon, A. E., Crowe, A. & Davis, K. B. (2016). College students’ stigmatization of people with
mental illness: familiarity, implicit person theory, and attribution. Journal of mental health,
1-5.
Park, G. R., West, A. G., & St, N. A. (2015). About Mental Illness.
Peterson, J. K., Skeem, J. & Zvonkovic, A. (2014). How often and how consistently do
symptoms directly precede criminal behavior among offenders with mental illness?. Law
and Human Behavior. 38(5). 439.
Seeman, N. (2015). Use data to challenge mental-health stigma: web surveys of attitudes towards
mental illness reveal the size of the problem--and offer a way to find fixes, says Neil
Seeman. Nature. 582(7582). 309-310.
Shepherd, S. M. (2018). Can a Connection to Culture Reduce Mental Illness Symptoms and Risk
for Future Violence?. Australian Psychologist.
Vigo, D., Thornicroft, G., & Atun, R. (2016). Estimating the true global burden of mental
illness. The Lancet Psychiatry. 3(2). 171-178.
Ward, M. C., White, D. T., & Druss, B. G. (2015). A meta-review of lifestyle interventions for
cardiovascular risk factors in the general medical population: Lessons for individuals with
serious mental illness. The Journal of clinical psychiatry.
Online
HSW110 Mental Health and Wellbeing. 2018. [Online]. Available on:
<https://www.usq.edu.au/course/specification/2018/HSW1110-S2-2018-ONC-
IPSCH.html>
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