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People Diagnosed with Mental Conditions

HCA 430 Special Populations

Instructor: Steve Knowland

Tamra Armstrong

July 31, 2017

In the United State of America, there are an assorted number types of vulnerable populations. They are separated into three groups which are physical, social, and psychological. The group in the vulnerable population I will discuss are people with mental conditions. When a person is diagnosed with a mental condition, they are many times arranged as disturbed, unstable, or even uncontrolled individual. There are many mental health conditions, and there are a few I will name: Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Bipolar Disorder, and Obsessive compulsive disorder.

Mental health conditions do not differentiate between an individual’s race, age, cultures, or ethnicity. There was a study that was conducted in 2010 that found approximately 5% of American adults that were diagnosed with a severe mental health condition (Burkholder, 2014). A lot of these patients will go untreated due to race, culture, or ethnicity challenges. Many do not believe in seeking medical treatment as you may seem weak by family members or peers. While others, won’t seek treatment due to finances because some insurance carriers do not cover the expenses. As a minority when discussing mental conditions with family or friends you are will automatically be labeled as that “crazy” person who cannot get their life together.

In many cases, women are found to be more susceptible to mental health conditions than men. From the age of 18 years or older women were more likely to have severe mental conditions than men. Women were 3.1% more likely to have mental health condition diagnosis than men (SAMHSA, 2014). Mental health conditions are detectable in teens and individuals before the age of 24. It is because women have to deal with more stressful circumstances on a daily basis, then men.

Women live lives that are so stressful which can affect theirs overall health. Women give birth, nurture, raise, and take care of their families never actually devoting time to themselves. They become so in grossed with everyone around them and never pay attention to themselves until it is too late. Women are great at covering up, coping, and discounting what is felt because we are told that we are just too emotional. If we could only take our advice and seek the help and know that we cannot do everything. How can you take care of entire family if you cannot take care of yourself?

The federal and state legislative are actively coming up with ways to deal with mental health conditions. Communities should be working together with advocates to design programs to help the public take part in working to understand the issues. I would like to see in my community people taking an active role in getting to know your neighbors. My coming together in a public forum we can start to see what the needs are in our community. Then we can start to work with the youth and mentor on some the ills that exist in our communities. We can tackle some of the issues behind mental health concerns that can cause a person to escape their problems by abusing drugs and alcohol. In the town, I live in a lot of mentally ill people are homeless. We use to have a behavioral health clinic, but it shut down to the funding being taken away. I would like to see it return and provide the social workers as outreach to get the people off the street and into treatment.

The behavioral health clinic would be accessible to all within the community. This clinic would primarily service patients that may be challenged with dealing with depression, substance abuse, and other mental conditions. We would hire a staff that is knowledgeable in how to identify what mental health issue the person may be suffering from. If a patient shows up in

crisis, we will navigate the situation and if necessary move the patient on to another facility for further evaluation. We would have to provide a safe and calm environment for our patients and employees. It should be staffed with employees that can evaluate all age groups. We would also work with the community to provide programs that foster healthy mental attitudes. On site counselors and physicians would be necessary on a daily basis. We also would also have to partner with a service that provides back up services when the facility is closed. Many times a patient in crisis will not present themselves during business hours, but they would be provided with guidance on where to go for further assistance.

The clinic would be set up to provide services to patients on an outpatient basis with physicians to provide counseling for long term care. The patient would have to evaluated to find out their needs so a course of treatment can be customized to improve their lives. We would be able to see if the patient required individual or group treatment. Our primary goal would be to diagnosis, stabilize, and treat the patient.

Reference:

Burkholder, D. M., & Nash, N. B. (2013). Special populations in health care. San Diego, CA:

Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Mentalhealthamerica.net/issues

https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions

https://www.samhsa.gov/disorde