Why do people discriminate against black people having mental illnesses?
People discriminate against ALL people with mental illness. Not just blacks. Since black people are already an ethic group (race is not scientific) who are discriminated upon regularly, adding mental illness on top of that is deplorable. Studies show blacks do not have as good of access to mental health treatment than whites, and are often racially profiled by the mental health system itself. There is much stigma surrounding mental illness today still, although society is much more understanding and aware of it now compared to 20 years ago. The solution is to educate the public, and to stand up for equality for all mental health sufferers.
Do we discriminate against sick or ill people?
Yes, most of us kinda do that.I have seen many people kidding with a mentally disabled person who has got very little sense of what he is behaving like,its like a entertainment for them.Normal people are usually very proud of their well being & they tend to be less moral in dealing with the mentally disabled.The solution lies in nothing else but self-realization. The Gods have created every living being for a purpose. We don't need to criticize them in any way.
Do you think involuntary commitment should be eliminated?
Think of these five things: 1. Violent or suicidal ideation is the only thing for which a person can be locked up for something they are only THINKING OF DOING rather than something they HAVE DONE. It is not legal to lock up someone for considering committing a crime, unless it is deemed "mental illness", then it suddenly becomes legal. (And suicide isn't even a crime anymore) 2. People have to suffer long-term and permanent consequences after being committed involuntarily. They will always have great difficulty getting life insurance and health insurance, can never serve in the military, may have to surrender their pilot's license if they fly, and will permanently lose their second amendment rights to own a gun. Even if the depression was situational, and they have been completely stable for 20 years, these consequences still follow them. They are treated like felons. 3. Involuntary commitment is sometimes used as a way to get insurance companies to pay for treatment they would otherwise deny if the admission were voluntary. Is it right to have to damage a person's life as a way to force insurance companies to pay for treatment? 4. People often suffer job discrimination when they receive psychiatric treatment. Sometimes their career is ruined or they are even driven from their job. 5. What right do we have to tell people what to do with their own bodies and lives? Should we be permitted to drug someone into submission?
How can we end the stigma of mental illness?
There are no hard and fast methods to reducing mental health stigma, but to start, I’d advise discarding psychiatry’s biomedical model of mental illness until psychiatry can actually, reliably point to testable neurological origins.Falsely attributing all mental illnesses to chemical imbalances does nothing to alleviate stigma, though most people wish for it. In the case of conflating mental illnesses with biological illnesses like cancer, people that stigmatize chronic physical illnesses often end up doing the same to mentally ill people in response.I see this happen all the time when people try to dismiss my viewpoints on the basis of my BPD diagnosis. They think they’re doing me some sort of favor by pitying me and my “defective” brain, when, in reality, my brain is structurally normal according to a fairly recent MRI scan.I’d also advise scrutinizing people’s environments more deeply before immediately jumping to labeling them with medical terms.I think mental health advocates’ attempts to legitimize mental illness in the absence of adverse life circumstances have ultimately backfired, in my opinion. It seems like every single negative human emotion is being pathologized as a symptom rather than a perfectly normal response to adversity.I don’t have a personality disorder because my brain is broken, though that may be the case for some others that share my diagnosis. My personality disorder is a post-traumatic stress response, and it frustrates me when people think they’re reducing stigma by ignoring very real circumstances like rape, violence, poverty, child abuse, or all of society’s current systems of oppression.Then again, getting certain individuals to give a shit about said societal ills is going to be astronomically difficult. Again, there are no easy solutions.
Do you feel that it's fair to deny patients internet at psychiatric hospitals?
It is a totally barbaric practice that has its origins in discrimination against mental illness.In today's society it almost teeters on a human rights issue.Phone connectivity and internet is such a positibe tool for so many people with mental health issues it has been demonstrated it is counterproductive to take it away.Private psychiatric institutions have always allowed phones in Australia and some even provided free WiFi. Our public health system is now allowing patients to keep their phones because the effects of the discrimination made things so much worse.Isolating people with mental health issues is the worst thing you can do to them and Australia's stats on mobile phone use for psychiatric patients bears that out.If you have cancer, asthma, diabetes or if are having a baby do you get cut off from the world!? Why should you if you have a mental health condition?The stats are patient health improve with phone and Internet access.What ever thinking that leads one to think psychiatric illness means people should be given less rights, as evidenced to their detriment, needs to be heavily scrutinised.Neuro ward patients don't get that level of discrimination, despite it being the same organ being treated.It would be easier for the US to get over it prejudices and go with what works. It wouldmake psych units work far smoother for both the staff and patients. I accept that's not how the US rolls.
Whenever I drink I have suicidal thoughts?
Well basiclly whenever I drink excessively/moderately I have strong impulsive suicidal thoughts and it's been getting worse as time pases, I tend to ponder on why I haven't got a job and nobody gives me a chance at one, why I don't have things other people do.. why I'm in trouble with the law, why I failed at most of my career life, discrimination in general against me; rendering me to feel useless and helpless in the world. Usually this occurs when nobody is around, when I'm alone and drinking. I believe nobody would really care if I'm dead or alive besides my family which is the only thing holding me back. I barely get outside anymore I don't see the point in trying when nobody will even give you a go at life just makes me really pissed off. Usually I don't think about it to much until I'm intoxicated then the tendencies begin, possibly for the last year. I usually just get angry at nothing and I haven't slept normally for months, maybe 2-5 hours max a night, I haven't told anyone about this until now. Have I got mental health issues or a disorder or is this just from drinking, I've been researching a little and I thought I might have a serotonin deficiency, apparently prozac is a good temporarily solution but I don't really want drugs to be honest. I will not go into to much details and burden you with nonsense.