What is a disability? A disability is physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, (Equality Act 2010). It is estimated that 26.2 percent of people 18 and older will be diagnosed with a mental disorder every year (Mental Disorders in America, 2015). Mental disorders, as defined by the National Associations for the Mentally Ill, are “disorders [that] can profoundly disrupt a persons thinking, feeling, moods, ability to relate to others and capacity for coping with the demands of life,” (Thompson, 2007). In the beginning, mental illnesses were thought to be the evil-doings of spirits. There was even a surgery that consisted of drilling a hole
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These thoughts ranged from the concept that mental illnesses were God taking away the mind with no cure available, to it being a gift from God that needed no cure. The supernatural explanations of mental illnesses faded in the early 1700s, and they started labeling the mentally ill as lunatics and were viewed as wild animals. It wasn’t until the twentieth century, when psychiatry and psychotherapy advancements were made, that people came to know mental illnesses as what they are today (Thompson, 2007). Even with all the facts that we have proving the existence of mental illnesses, still there are those who doubt it. Mental illnesses are just as real as physical aliments; in fact, they should be viewed together because they are initiated in the brain, making them a physical function. “We have also learned some very important facts about these illnesses, and if I can just encapsulate them briefly, it’s that these are real illnesses of a real organ-the brain. Just like coronary artery disease is a disease of a real organ the heart,” (Roleff & Egendorf, …show more content…
You look for treatments to get better. “If you have heart disease, you would get not only medications, but also rehabilitations, dietary counseling, stress reductions. So it is with a mental illness,” (Roleff & Egendorf, 2000). Both physical and mental illnesses have similarities in their treatment process. One example being they require therapy. The goal of physical therapy is to “provide services that help restore function, improve mobility and relieve pain,”(Mayo School of Health Sciences, 2013). In February of 2007, my dad was in a car wreck. For weeks he went to physical therapy to fix his neck and back. The therapy consisted of electroshock therapy and strength and conditioning exercises. The goal of psychotherapy is “to help you know yourself better, alleviate emotional pain or confusion, asset you in developing a more complete understanding of your psychological issues, establish more effect coping mechanisms and foster a more accurate understanding of your past and what you want for your future,” (Cloke, 2015). There were two diagrams of the lower brain that showed that after a person with an animal phobia went through cognitive behavioral therapy, spots of new activity that represent activations of the prefrontal cortex were activated and suppressing some of the fear circuitry (Roleff & Egendorf, 2000). Something else they both have in common is that they can require the use of pharmaceuticals. People will use
These thoughts ranged from the concept that mental illnesses were God taking away the mind with no cure available, to it being a gift from God that needed no cure. The supernatural explanations of mental illnesses faded in the early 1700s, and they started labeling the mentally ill as lunatics and were viewed as wild animals. It wasn’t until the twentieth century, when psychiatry and psychotherapy advancements were made, that people came to know mental illnesses as what they are today (Thompson, 2007). Even with all the facts that we have proving the existence of mental illnesses, still there are those who doubt it. Mental illnesses are just as real as physical aliments; in fact, they should be viewed together because they are initiated in the brain, making them a physical function. “We have also learned some very important facts about these illnesses, and if I can just encapsulate them briefly, it’s that these are real illnesses of a real organ-the brain. Just like coronary artery disease is a disease of a real organ the heart,” (Roleff & Egendorf, …show more content…
You look for treatments to get better. “If you have heart disease, you would get not only medications, but also rehabilitations, dietary counseling, stress reductions. So it is with a mental illness,” (Roleff & Egendorf, 2000). Both physical and mental illnesses have similarities in their treatment process. One example being they require therapy. The goal of physical therapy is to “provide services that help restore function, improve mobility and relieve pain,”(Mayo School of Health Sciences, 2013). In February of 2007, my dad was in a car wreck. For weeks he went to physical therapy to fix his neck and back. The therapy consisted of electroshock therapy and strength and conditioning exercises. The goal of psychotherapy is “to help you know yourself better, alleviate emotional pain or confusion, asset you in developing a more complete understanding of your psychological issues, establish more effect coping mechanisms and foster a more accurate understanding of your past and what you want for your future,” (Cloke, 2015). There were two diagrams of the lower brain that showed that after a person with an animal phobia went through cognitive behavioral therapy, spots of new activity that represent activations of the prefrontal cortex were activated and suppressing some of the fear circuitry (Roleff & Egendorf, 2000). Something else they both have in common is that they can require the use of pharmaceuticals. People will use