Posts Tagged mental illness
Mental Illness Help: Stigma, Resources, and Advice
Posted by mental illness in Mental Illness Resources on January 5, 2012
What exactly is a mental illness? I asked myself this question seriously when my brother and mother were first diagnosed a few years ago with Bipolar I and SchizoAffective Disorder. Shortly after, I was forced to reflect on this question once more after my own diagnoses: Bipolar II.
A lot of times, the first ideas that come to mind for the average person of the mentally ill are various images of “crazy” they have acquired from movies such as, Shutter Island, Donnie Darko, Psycho, Girl Interrupted etc. These movies portray the mentally ill in such exaggerated ways that they create a horrible stigma for them.
The Medical Dictionary defines mental illness as, “Any of various disorders characterized chiefly by abnormal behavior or an inability to function socially, including diseases of the mind and personality and certain diseases of the brain. Also called mental disease, mental disorder.”
A definition I find more digestible is from the website of an organization called NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness, “Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Mental Illness – Mental Illness and Addiction, Are They the Same?
Posted by mental illness in Mental Illness Resources on January 5, 2012
While Mental Health Care has changed drastically since the 1970′s, it is to the Mental Health Care Recipients advantage for more in-depth drastic changes to happen.
In the 70′s, isolation rooms, and strait jackets were still very much used. As a matter of fact, a good shot of Thorazine was common practice. You might ask, just exactly what is Thorazine? In the Mental Health Field, or in medical terminology, it is a anti-psychotic medication. One that is used to calm the mental health patient. Or, if you are a family member of someone who suffers from a mental illness, you would simply say, “it would tranquilize an elephant”.
Mental Illness Similar to Addiction
Mental illness is just as devastating to a family as an addiction is. The difference between the two is, Mental Illness is not as easy to explain in some families as an addiction to drugs or alcohol would be. Society accepts the drunken behavior of an alcoholic far easier than it does the characteristics of the mentally ill. After all, it is easier to say, they have had one too many to drink vs. oh, they are in the middle of a conversation with Charles Bronson. Both however, immensely impact a family, and both share similar characteristics where treatment is concerned. Read the rest of this entry »
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What Critically Illness Coverage
Posted by mental illness in Insurance Mental Illness on January 5, 2012
Critical Illness Coverage is complimentary Life Insurance Polices that offer coverage for various diseases and chronic illnesses. The policies will often offer more in the line of treatment for strokes, cancer, and heart failures. If a person dies due to critical ills then the person will have the coverage his family needs to provide the patient with an adequate burial.
The comprehensive policies provide a list of ills that the policy will cover, making it easy for policyholders to understand their availabilities. To provide insight, I will offer a brief outline of the diseases and ills that most policies will cover. The policies will often cover Alzheimer’s disease, which is a degenerative permanent illness that targets the central nervous system, and often characterized by early senile mental weakening. The policies will also cover Aorta graft surgery, and other types of major surgeries. The plans will treat HIV, providing the patient contacted the disease from other sources outside of unsafe sex.
Furthermore, the policies will cover dementia (commonly known as a form of schizophrenia), and dismemberment. In addition, patients in the need of organ transplants are covered under most Critical Illness Policies. Third degree burns, “loss of independent existence,” kidney breakdowns, and many other illness are covered by Critical Illness Policies. While this is only a brief outline of the illness and diseases covered with most Critical Illness Plans, the outline giving should show that the plans often cover more than most health insurance polices. Read the rest of this entry »
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