Mental Health
Though one may not notice or see it, one in five people in the U.S. suffer from a mental illness, and 17% of young people have some type of mental disorder. Most common among them are depression and anxiety; they often go hand in hand. When mental disorders get severe, some consider or attempt suicide. In fact, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. It is the 3rd leading cause for people ages 10-14, and the 2nd for people ages 15-24. People often resort to drastic action because of lack of treatment. Because mental illnesses are invisible, they don’t often get as much affirmation for being legitimate as physical disorders or injuries, but with such horrifying statistics, they should be paid more attention to. Some people have the opinion when presented with a mental illness patient that they are faking it, wanting attention, or making excuses, but these mental disorders are caused by literal imbalances of chemicals in the brain. Take depression for example; in a study done at Harvard, the hippocampus (a part of the brain that processes long-term memory), was 9-13% smaller in depressed women than that of those who were not. I want to portray the importance and validity of mental illnesses in my photographs. I want to show that although the cannot be seen, they are no less legitimate than physical ailments. One way I want to try to achieve this is by showing things that cause mental disorders on the outside of the body. In the past, uneffective and rather gruesome methods were used to treat mental illnesses; some date back roughly 7,000 years. Today, other treatments have evolved, but many are coping mechanisms rather than lasting cures. The reality is that mentally ill people can’t “just get over it.” They have to work everyday to push through their mental blockages. Works Cited Harvard Health Publishing. “What Causes Depression?” Harvard Health Blog, www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-causes-depression. “A History of Mental Illness Treatment.” Concordia University, St. Paul Online, 14 Oct. 2016, online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/history-of-mental-illness-treatment. “Mental Illness.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml. “NAMI.” NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers. “Prevalence.” LGBT | Youth.gov, youth.gov/youth-topics/youth-mental-health/prevalance-mental-health-disorders-among-youth.
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