MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES 2
MentalHealth Disparities
Mentalhealth is usually the wellspring of communication skills, resilience,learning as well as thinking of a person’s lifespan. In thisregard, if mental health problems are left untreated they may causedisability and desperation for families, communities as well asschools. There are disparities that exist in mental health whichoften revolve around cultural issues, in ability to speak theclients’ languages, bias, as well as mistrust of treatment(Schwitzer, & Rubin, 2015). In essence, it has been establishedthat mental health disparities stem from minorities historical andpresent day struggles with racism and discrimination this in anycase come with an overall effect of low social, political andeconomic status.
Geographicdifferences and residential patterns have contributed to health andmental health disparities where by neighborhoods with highconcentrations of poor people have high rates of homelessness, crime,unemployment as well as substance abuse. In addition there is alsolittle development opportunities of informal mechanisms of socialcontrol and high residential turnover. This has been regarded ascollective efficacy, in this regard these problems createunfavorable social conditions that cannot be controlled easily thuspeople are subjected to vulnerabilities and problems in living whichinclude mental disorders (Chowet al, 2003)
Mentaldisorders tend to affect one’s life in such a way that theirability to lead a normal life is distorted some of the symptoms ofmental illnesses include negative symptoms which involve poverty inspeech, blunted effect as well as diminished social drive,hallucinations and delusions are also symptoms of a mental illnessand finally disorganized behavior. These symptoms are not concreteand they could be interpreted in accordance to the individuals’circumstances which are based on cultural and demographic factors(Versola-Russo,2006). Nevertheless, symptoms of mental health problems differ in genders in such a way that men tend to demonstrate more negative symptomswhile women tend to display affective symptoms such as depression andirritability.
References
Versola-Russo,J. (2006). Cultural and demographic factors of schizophrenia.InternationalJournal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation,10(2),89-103.
Schwitzer,A. M., & Rubin, L. C. (2015). Diagnosis & Treatment PlanningSkills. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Chow,J. C. C., Jaffee, K., & Snowden, L. (2003). Racial/ethnicdisparities in the use of mental health services in poverty areas.AmericanJournal of Public Health,93(5),792-797.