Sandy Hom
Ms. Shelly Long
English 12 H Poverty and the Onset of Psychosis Ever since the start of human settlements, different socioeconomic statuses have coexisted in every civilisation and society as humans struggle to survive in this world. Poverty is a universal theme that is found in every society that are comprised of people from different socioeconomic statuses. Often times, those from the lower levels of the social pyramid are constantly challenged by economic difficulties, which also pose negative impact on their mental health. Mary Turner from The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing represents a person who is shouldering the burdens of socioeconomic depression. The character, who grew up in an abusive household, left home …show more content…
The symptoms include the following, which are all expressed by Mary Turner; delusions, hallucinations, impaired communication, negative emotional responses and inability to function normally(mayoclinic.org). Throughout the book, she constantly expresses negative emotional responses that are parallel to the traits of schizophrenia. She suffers from intense anxiety and depression due to her isolation from her husband and her neighbours at the foreign land. Her dysfunctional relationship with her husband offered her support. As her mental disintegration worsened, her language function and cognitive abilities deteriorated progressively, as seen by her withdrawal from reality and submergence into her …show more content…
“3.7% hildren in families with income less than 200% of the federal poverty threshold were diagnosed with ADHD compared with 1.9% of children in families with incomes at 200% or more of the poverty threshold”(www.cdc.gov). Furthermore, based on an experiment conducted by the American Medical Association, “children living in poverty were more likely than nonpoor children to have a psychiatric disorder (22% vs 15%)” which makes the data to be “consistent with a relationship between poverty and mental illness”(jama.jamanetwork.com) Stressful life events that are associated with poverty can trigger depressive responses. Mary who is challenged by the indecent living conditions of Africa, constantly experiences anxiety, stress and paranoia. The struggles from the hard living conditions that came along with low socio-economic status and the negative emotional responses create an unhealthy and pessimistic tone for Mary’s household. The negativity set the stage for a dysfunctional family environment. “[Mary] needed to think of Dick, the man to whom she was irrevocably married, as a person on his own account, a success from his own efforts” (Lessing PG NUMBER). However, “when she saw him weak and goal-less, and pitiful” under the burden
Ms. Shelly Long
English 12 H Poverty and the Onset of Psychosis Ever since the start of human settlements, different socioeconomic statuses have coexisted in every civilisation and society as humans struggle to survive in this world. Poverty is a universal theme that is found in every society that are comprised of people from different socioeconomic statuses. Often times, those from the lower levels of the social pyramid are constantly challenged by economic difficulties, which also pose negative impact on their mental health. Mary Turner from The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing represents a person who is shouldering the burdens of socioeconomic depression. The character, who grew up in an abusive household, left home …show more content…
The symptoms include the following, which are all expressed by Mary Turner; delusions, hallucinations, impaired communication, negative emotional responses and inability to function normally(mayoclinic.org). Throughout the book, she constantly expresses negative emotional responses that are parallel to the traits of schizophrenia. She suffers from intense anxiety and depression due to her isolation from her husband and her neighbours at the foreign land. Her dysfunctional relationship with her husband offered her support. As her mental disintegration worsened, her language function and cognitive abilities deteriorated progressively, as seen by her withdrawal from reality and submergence into her …show more content…
“3.7% hildren in families with income less than 200% of the federal poverty threshold were diagnosed with ADHD compared with 1.9% of children in families with incomes at 200% or more of the poverty threshold”(www.cdc.gov). Furthermore, based on an experiment conducted by the American Medical Association, “children living in poverty were more likely than nonpoor children to have a psychiatric disorder (22% vs 15%)” which makes the data to be “consistent with a relationship between poverty and mental illness”(jama.jamanetwork.com) Stressful life events that are associated with poverty can trigger depressive responses. Mary who is challenged by the indecent living conditions of Africa, constantly experiences anxiety, stress and paranoia. The struggles from the hard living conditions that came along with low socio-economic status and the negative emotional responses create an unhealthy and pessimistic tone for Mary’s household. The negativity set the stage for a dysfunctional family environment. “[Mary] needed to think of Dick, the man to whom she was irrevocably married, as a person on his own account, a success from his own efforts” (Lessing PG NUMBER). However, “when she saw him weak and goal-less, and pitiful” under the burden