Health Studies: Mental Illness, Policies, and Support Services Essay

This essay delves into the multifaceted realm of mental health, commencing with a comprehensive exploration of its definition and the factors that contribute to individual well-being. It then transitions into a detailed examination of various forms of mental illness, categorizing them and discussing contemporary treatment methods such as psychotherapy, medication, case management, and hospitalization, evaluating the efficacy of each. The essay further analyzes UK government policies and support services for individuals with mental illness, summarizing key policy areas from the 2010-2015 agenda and identifying functions of support services like SANE, MIND, and the Samaritans. The author emphasizes the importance of these resources in facilitating recovery and promoting mental health for all.

Running Head: HEALTH STUDIES
HEALTH STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1.Introduction.................................................................................................................2
2. Understand the meaning of mental health and related policies..................................2
2.1 Definitions............................................................................................................2
2.2 Contributing factors:............................................................................................2
3.Know about different forms of mental illness.............................................................3
3.1 Meaning of mental illness....................................................................................3
3.2 Categories:............................................................................................................3
3.3 Treatments:...........................................................................................................4
4. Know about government policies and support services for persons with mental
illness
4.1 Policy areas:.........................................................................................................5
4.2Support Services:..................................................................................................6
5. Conclusion..................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................8

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1.Introduction
This essay tends to argue about the mental illness of the individuals and also about the
various laws and regulations that are made by the Government in order to increase the
availability of the resources to all the affected people. The essay also highlights the various
contemporary treatment procedures that are available for the mental disorders. This essay
also defines the various contributing factors that help any person to have a proper mental
health.
2. Understand the meaning of mental health and related policies
2.1 Definitions
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is a state of well-
being where the individual realizes that whether they have the ability to cope up with the
normal stress of life and can make a contribution to his or her community by working
productively and efficiently (Galderisi et al. 2015). Mental health is also related to the
emotional and psychological well-being of an individual because the individual uses their
emotional and cognitive abilities in order to fulfil the regular demands in their everyday life.
The absence of mental illness is highlighted by the proper working of all the above
mentioned factors. In order to make the individual mentally sound thus, there are certain
policies and laws that have been undertaken by the Government.
2.2 Contributing factors:
The factors that contributes towards sound mental health of an individual includes a
feeling of safety, having stability in life and support from the environment. There are a

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number of social determinants that affect the mental health of an individual. There are a
number of risk factors that affect the mental state of an individual like the economic
constraints faced by an individual that limits the use of available resources for the better
mental health status (Allen et al. 2014). Thus, economic stability, is a very important factor
for the mental well-being of an individual. The other factors that are related to the mental
well-being of an individual includes the feeling of control which means that the person is able
to control all the aspects of his or her own life. The mental health of an individual is also
affected by the accessibility of the individual to various social networks around the
individual. Another most important aspect that affects the mental well-being of an individual
is the vertical and horizontal support that is gained from the friends and family (Zhang 2015).
The family time and the activities generate a sense of belongingness in the individual that
provides the required support among the individuals. The quality of relationships shared by
the individual helps in determining the status of the mental health in the individual (Offer
2013).
3.Know about different forms of mental illness
3.1 Meaning of mental illness
Mental illness is often referred to as mental health disabilities that in turn refer to a
wide range of health conditions that are directly or indirectly linked to mental health of an
individual. These disorders can even affect the mood, behaviour and thinking of any
individual. Mental illness is also related to the stress and problems faced by the individuals in
the social activity or the family activities (Psychiatry.org 2019).
3.2 Categories:
Mental health can be classified into generally acceptable categories like the mood
disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, feeding and eating

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disorders as well as substance-induced disorders. These generally accepted classification
includes a number of disorders like bipolar disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders,
schizophrenia, trauma and stress related disorder, gender dysphoria, and neurocognitive
disorders. The bipolar disorder is a situation where the people experience extreme mood
swings. It is mainly caused due to depression and stress or mania. The psychotic disorders
includes schizophrenia that is a significant mental illness that causes the individual to
experience an altered experience of reality. It affects the thoughts, behaviour, perceptions and
behaviour of the person at the school, college, and office or even at home
(Healthdirect.gov.au 2019).
3.3 Treatments:
The contemporary treatments that are used for the diagnosis of mental illness includes
psychotherapy, proper medication, management of case, hospitalisation, involvement of
support group, use of complementary and alternative medicine, and most importantly self-
help plans. The efficacy or effectiveness of these treatments depends on the stage of mental
disorder of the patient (Mental Health America 2019). Psychotherapy is the mental health
treatment that is being provided by a professional. It is usually the most effective way of
treatment when used in combination with medicines. There are a large number of medicines
that are prescribed by the physicians that involves antidepressants, antipsychotics or
stimulants that will help in improving the mental state of the patient (McGorry 2013). The
case management is done with the help of a case manager that will help in the coordinated
services of an individual like the assessment of the situation, planning the treatment process
and implementing the various strategies that are needed for the steady recovery of the patient.
Hospitalisation is often required when the mental status of the patient after the use of
medications has to be closely monitored. Complementary and alternative medicines or CAM
is a type of treatment that is not associated with the standard care (Szmukler and Rose 2013).

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The most important treatment of the mental health disorder is the self-help group where the
individual after addressing the situation or extent of the mental disorder can strategies that
will help in improving the mental health condition of the patient. This involves the support
from friends and family that will encourage the patient to participate in various social events
and thus, can generate a sense of belongingness among the patients. The patients can also
take part in various self-help groups that comprises of members who have experienced
similar events or have gone through the similar phases of mental illness in their life
(McSherry 2014).
4. Know about government policies and support services for persons with
mental illness
4.1 Policy areas:
The UK Government has made certain laws and regulations in order to increase
access to mental health services. There are certain laws that will increase the access to
psychological therapies that will help in increasing the mental health of the patients. The
healthcare professionals should be properly trained so that they can provide proper treatment
and diagnosis to all the patients (GOV.UK 2019). The individuals should be properly trained
so that they can mitigate the suicidal ideas that will help them to overcome the stages of
depression and insecurity. The rules also have increased provision and schemes for the
military personnel as they also go through a lot of traumatic experiences during their field
work. There are also some special schemes for the offenders who have committed certain
crimes or have been victimized to some mental stress (Dawson 2015). These laws are
designed as poor mental health is one of the largest reason for the disability in the UK.
Mental health is also associated with a number of other problems like poor physical health,
problems in education and in office. These laws also help to prioritize mental health by better

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access of the services to all the individuals irrespective of their education status or financial
status. The efficacy of the mental health is improved by changing the way in which the
success rate of the mental health is tracked by measuring the aspects that are more important
to the people. Reviewing the nursing staff who are involved in mental disorder treatment so
that they can properly train and diagnose the patients (Dennis and Monahan 2013).
4.2Support Services:
There are a number of support services that are involved in providing services to the
mental health patients. These services include SANE mental health charity, MIND Info Line,
Samaritans are to among the few. The patients should take help from the support group if the
problem is persistent or are long lasting or if the prescribed treatment of the general physician
by is not working. The support can also be provided to the patients by the community mental
health team, social community, crisis intervention or residential care. The community mental
health teams prefer to support people having mental disorders are living in the community
(Mind.org.uk 2019). This team may comprise of community nurse, psychologist, therapist,
counsellor, a social worker along with a community support worker. Residential care is also
another option for the treatment of the patient at their house. This offers much higher level of
support to the individual. The patient can also get the support from the family at the time of
treatment. However, in most of the situations crisis intervention is the most looked after
option for the treatment team whether the treatment is been given at home or at community
centre (Gostin and Sridhar 2014). Samaritan is one such crisis management team which is
designed to reduce the emotions of isolation and even disconnection that can lead to suicide.
SANE health organization is one of the support team that organize various campaigns to
reduce the stress of the mental health and supporting the individuals who are suicidal in their
attempts or can cause self-harm to them (sane.org.uk 2019). They also provide emotional
support to via text as well as at the time of self-harm and depression. MIND Info Line creates

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awareness about the type of mental health problems, about various medications and
alternative treatments and also the details of where to get the help for mental health problems.
They provide confidentiality about the patient and the problem they are facing, the phone
calls are charged at local rates and also the patients who are either visually impaired or are
deaf can also contact using the language line services (sane.org.uk 2019).
5. Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded from the essay that mental disorder is a serious health issue
and thus, there are several steps taken by the Government so that every individual
irrespective of the educational and economic constraints are able to get the proper mental
health treatment. The role of the various support groups are also defined in the essay as how
they conduct the treatment and counselling of the mental disorders.

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References
Allen, J., Balfour, R., Bell, R. and Marmot, M., 2014. Social determinants of mental
health. International review of psychiatry, 26(4), pp.392-407.
Dawson, J., 2015. A realistic approach to assessing mental health laws' compliance with the
UNCRPD. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 40, pp.70-79.
Dennis, D.L. and Monahan, J. eds., 2013. Coercion and aggressive community treatment: A
new frontier in mental health law. Springer Science & Business Media.
Galderisi, S., Heinz, A., Kastrup, M., Beezhold, J. and Sartorius, N., 2015. Toward a new
definition of mental health. World Psychiatry, 14(2), pp.231-233.
Gostin, L.O. and Sridhar, D., 2014. Global health and the law. New England Journal of
Medicine, 370(18), pp.1732-1740.
GOV.UK (2019). 2010 to 2015 government policy: mental health service reform. [online]
GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-
government-policy-mental-health-service-reform [Accessed 4 Jul. 2019].
Healthdirect.gov.au 2019. Types of mental illness. [online] Healthdirect.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/types-of-mental-illness [Accessed 4 Jul. 2019].

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http://www.sane.org.uk/ (2019). Home | SANE, mental health charity - emotional support,
research and campaigning. [online] c. Available at: http://www.sane.org.uk/ [Accessed 4 Jul.
2019].
McGorry, P., Bates, T. and Birchwood, M., 2013. Designing youth mental health services for
the 21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. The British Journal of
Psychiatry, 202(s54), pp.s30-s35.
McSherry, B., 2014. Mental health laws: where to from here. Monash UL Rev., 40, p.175.
Mental Health America (2019). Mental Health Treatments. [online] Mental Health America.
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Mind.org.uk 2019. Support services | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health
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Offer, S., 2013. Family time activities and adolescents' emotional well‐being. Journal of
Marriage and Family, 75(1), pp.26-41.
Psychiatry.org 2019. What Is Mental Illness?. [online] Psychiatry.org. Available at:
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness [Accessed 4 Jul. 2019].
Szmukler, G. and Rose, N., 2013. Risk assessment in mental health care: Values and
costs. Behavioral sciences & the law, 31(1), pp.125-140.
Zhang, S., Mellsop, G., Brink, J. and Wang, X., 2015. Involuntary admission and treatment of
patients with mental disorder. Neuroscience bulletin, 31(1), pp.99-112.