Introduction
Psychological disorders are of great concern to medical workers who want to understand their origins and long-term implications. Furthermore, healthcare professionals attempt to develop treatment methods that help patients overcome such illnesses and avoid risks to their health. This question has been chosen because psychological disorders can affect a significant number of people who can represent different cultures, races, ethnicities, or social classes. More importantly, they can significantly impair the social life of a person, his/her academic performance, professional life, and so forth. This is why this problem attracts close attention of policy-makers and governmental organizations. This paper is aimed at discussing this issue in greater detail. In particular, it is vital to focus on the reasons why this issue poses great challenges to different stakeholders. Additionally, one should discuss possible strategies for resolving these problems. These are the main issues that should be examined.
Psychological health problems and their impact
To appreciate the significance of this issue, one should first look at the statistical data. In particular, one can mention that approximately 25 per cent of adults living in the United States struggle with some mood disorder (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unpaged). Such illnesses can also be widespread among children and adolescents. As it has been said before, these individuals can represent different age groups, genders, social classes, and so forth (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unpaged). It is vital to note that mental illnesses lead to high costs. According to the estimates of researchers, the treatment of these disorders can cost approximately $ 300 billion per year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unpaged). More importantly, it is essential to remember that mental illnesses such as depression may result in 30,000 suicides in the country (Stern 541). Again, one should take into account that various populations can be exposed to this danger (Stern 541). This is one of the reasons why the risks of mental illnesses should not be disregarded.
Furthermore, a person who suffers from some mental disorder can pose a danger to other people, especially his/her relatives, co-workers, or fellow students. They can also be adversely affected by the behaviour of such a person. Therefore, the importance of this issue should not be underestimated by policy-makers who want to know how to contain the epidemic of mental illnesses in the United States.
Furthermore, psychological health problems can adversely influence many aspects of human life. For instance, the failure to treat attention deficit disorder on time can result in the poor academic performance of a student who will not be able to concentrate on his/her studies (Malmberg et al. 1486). In turn, the depression can result in the continuous absenteeism of an employee or the failure to cope with their workplace duties. Thus, psychological disorders can affect a wide range of behaviours, perceptions, and attitudes of an individual. More importantly, one can argue that the detrimental effects of mental health problems are very difficult to estimate or measure quantitatively. Nevertheless, this problem can have far-reaching implications for patients or their relatives.
The causes of mental illnesses
It is also essential to look at the origins of these phenomena. This most challenging problem is that mental illnesses may have various reasons, and it is not permissible for medical workers to make generalizations psychological disorders. Moreover, the exact mechanisms that underlie psychological disorders have not been ascertained empirically. For example, one can discuss such a disorder as depression because it can be explained by different factors such as relationship problems, workplace conflicts, emotional distress, or financial difficulties (Khalsa et al. 539).
Nevertheless, at the same time, this disorder can be attributed to biological mechanisms such as the lack of serotonin in the body or some chronic disease (Khalsa et al. 539). In turn, such a disease as schizophrenia may be attributed to genetic origins, the health problems of a mother during pregnancy, brain injuries, and so forth (Rigby and Alexander 52). At this point, this question is still examined by researchers (Rigby and Alexander 52). These examples illustrate the difficulties encountered by medical workers. Other mental health problems can also have various origins, and in many cases, healthcare researchers can only make conjectures about their leading causes (Rigby and Alexander 52). Therefore, one can say that it is challenging to develop the most effective treatment model that can best benefit a patient. These are the main aspects that can be identified. They are critical for understanding the nature of mental health problems in the United States as well as other countries.
Apart from that, medical workers should keep in mind that mental health problems may be challenging to diagnose. Sometimes, no test can show whether a person does have a specific psychological disorder. This is one of the main obstacles that therapists try to overcome. For example, the symptoms of the attention-deficit disorder may be exhibited by a significant number of people, especially during childhood (Malmberg et al. 1486). An individual should display the symptoms of this illness regularly to be diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder (Malmberg et al. 1486). This means that in very often, mental illnesses of individuals may go undetected.
In contrast, a person can be treated for a disease that he/she does not have. It should be taken into account that very often, medication can pose a significant threat the health of a person, for example, a person can become dependent on a particular type of drugs such as anti-depressants. These are the main pitfalls that should be avoided by practitioners who are responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of patients. Therapists should also remember relatives who can suffer from emotional distress.
On the whole, these examples suggest medical workers face several important difficulties. In particular, one can speak about the scope of this problem and its impact on various populations of the United States. Secondly, the underlying causes of mental problems cannot always be identified. Finally, medical workers may not be able to diagnose psychological disorders with high accuracy. This is why practitioners should be very careful while taking their decisions. These are the main challenges and pitfalls that medical workers should keep in mind when they interact with such patients. The wellbeing of the patients should be the top priority for researchers and psychologists, and this principle should guide their work.
Discussion of the goals
It is possible to identify some objectives that healthcare professionals should try to achieve at least in the long term. First of all, they should focus on screening procedures because, in this way, medical workers can better identify potential risks and mediate their impacts. This task is critical for minimizing a great number of threats to the life of an individual. Furthermore, it is essential to develop diagnostic criteria that can help practitioners evaluate the mental health of an individual. This objective is particularly important if one is speaking about such mental illnesses as attention-deficit disorder or depression. Again, this goal is critical for alleviating the long-term effects of psychological disorders. Finally, it is vital to develop methods that can enable a person to integrate oneself into the community and diminish the danger of after-effects. For example, they need to reconcile two different approaches, such as medication and psychotherapy. This is probably the most challenging question that should be resolved by healthcare professionals. These objectives can be attained provided that medical workers and biologists join their efforts. As has been noted before, the impacts of psychological illnesses can be challenging to measure, but they can shape the lives of many individuals and their families.
Conclusion
This discussion suggests that psychological health problems deserve the close attention of various stakeholders. One can argue that the most critical role can be played by medical workers, psychologists, parents, and teachers. Their cooperation can decrease the occurrence of psychological disorders or at least minimize their impact. As has been shown before, these disorders can be widespread among millions of people living in the United States. A complex set of strategies should be developed to address this problem. In particular, one should take into consideration the impacts of such illnesses, the complexity of their origins, and the effects of different treatment methods.
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011, Mental Illness Surveillance Among Adults in the United States. Web.
Khalsa, Shabad-Ratan, Kevin, McCarthy, Brian Sharpless, Marna Barrett and Jasques Barber. “Beliefs About The Causes Of Depression And Treatment Preferences.” Journal Of Clinical Psychology 67.6 (2011): 539-549. Print.
Malmberg, Kerstin, Tobias, Edbom, Hanna-Linn, Wargelius, and Jan-Olov, Larsson. Psychiatric Problems Associated With Subthreshold ADHD And Disruptive Behaviour Diagnoses In Teenagers.” Acta Paediatrica 100.11 (2011): 1468-1475.
Rigby, Paul, and James Alexander. “Understanding Schizophrenia.” Nursing Standard 22.28 (2008): 49-56. Print.
Stern, Theodore. Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry, New York: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2010. Print.