Psychiatric diagnoses are categorized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th. Edition (DSM-V). The manual is published by the American Psychiatric Association and covers all mental health disorders for both children and adults. It also lists known causes of these disorders, statistics in terms of gender, age at onset, and prognosis as well as some research concerning the optimal treatment approaches. In Canada, “one in five people experiences a mental health problem or illness and it affects almost everyone in some way” (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2013). That is more than 6.7 million people. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (2015) “The economic burden of mental illness in Canada is
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“Social work is defined as professional intervention to address situations of personal distress and crisis by shaping and changing the social environment in which people live. Community development is defined as the employment of community structures to address social needs and empower groups of people” (Mendes, 2008, p.3). While intervention on the micro and mezzo level are essential, addressing the structural issues within the larger society on a macro level is just as important. There are many underlying social issues and problems that influence mental health risks within a population. There are health risks that can be identified as well as social processes within which they occur. These will be catalogued into divisions of social, cultural, political and historical processes. A holistic diagnostic of our mental health care system needs to occur and we need to experience an overhaul. Anderssen (2015) states that a role needs to …show more content…
Even psychiatrists have turned to a more Western biomedical approach to mental illness. According to Davis (2013), “a 2005 survey found that only 11 percent of US psychiatrists provided psychotherapy to all of their patients, this driven by the medical model but also by the unwillingness of insurance companies to fund longer counselling sessions – with medications then being the default option” (chapter 1, p. 6). This certainly leaves family physicians with prescribing medication as their only option given that there can be a 1-4 year waiting list for
“Social work is defined as professional intervention to address situations of personal distress and crisis by shaping and changing the social environment in which people live. Community development is defined as the employment of community structures to address social needs and empower groups of people” (Mendes, 2008, p.3). While intervention on the micro and mezzo level are essential, addressing the structural issues within the larger society on a macro level is just as important. There are many underlying social issues and problems that influence mental health risks within a population. There are health risks that can be identified as well as social processes within which they occur. These will be catalogued into divisions of social, cultural, political and historical processes. A holistic diagnostic of our mental health care system needs to occur and we need to experience an overhaul. Anderssen (2015) states that a role needs to …show more content…
Even psychiatrists have turned to a more Western biomedical approach to mental illness. According to Davis (2013), “a 2005 survey found that only 11 percent of US psychiatrists provided psychotherapy to all of their patients, this driven by the medical model but also by the unwillingness of insurance companies to fund longer counselling sessions – with medications then being the default option” (chapter 1, p. 6). This certainly leaves family physicians with prescribing medication as their only option given that there can be a 1-4 year waiting list for