American Psychiatric Association

My uncle put his hand on my brother nappy hair and said “ he is possessed by something evil” My eyes quickly lifted up and looked at him for three seconds, then ran my eyes to my mother. Only to see her nod as she said, “I took him to many different churches, but no results I just d…” “He went to the doctor the other day and they believe he has some kind of mental illness. Remember?” I interpreted my mother. They both looked at me expressionless, than a smile drew on their face and my uncle…

Innocent lives are being taken away every year due to a mentally ill offender. Mental illness is a severe condition that interrupts the way a person think, feel, and mood. Most of the time criminals that are diagnosed with this disorder commit crimes knowingly. In addition to them knowing right from wrong. Therefore, mentally ill law offenders should be held accountable for their actions through treatment and punishment, but not execution. “In some cases, a murderer who is in prison for life…

Imagine walking down the street minding your own business. Looking at the clouds, paying attention to the different shapes of trees and listening to the sounds of birds communicating to each other. You notice something unrelated to nature that seems to follow you wherever you go; the stares from other people and the feeling of judgment. The reaction that your presence has on another person. You automatically create a deeper issue within yourself and of the reactions of others around you.…

I believe that deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill was a serious mistake. In order to draw this conclusion, I had to first understand what deinstitutionalization was and why we came to this decision as a country. In 1955 the number of patients in mental hospitals peaked to a striking 560,000 patients only a year after Thorazine, an antipsychotic drug was approved by the Food and Drug administration. Not even 10 years later, John F. Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health act to…

The wrench is a useful tool used for a variety of different tasks, like tightening nuts and bolts. Without it, nuts and bolts everywhere would be falling out of place, and people everywhere would go “nuts” trying to reassemble desks and reattach the tires onto their cars. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, people do in fact “go nuts,” and wrenches are indeed used, but not in the exact same ways. Randle McMurphy, the main character of this novel, frequently causes mishap in the…

The MI unit serves adults diagnosed with mental illnesses which most of the time, the adults are unable to live independently or without any sort of support. Some of the reasoning behind this is the sudden dangers that can arise from just missing a few meds, not connecting with the community, or the lack of initiative to take of themselves or their environment. The understanding and evaluating the actual need of the client can be difficult and frustrating for the case manager, the client, and…

The history of abnormal behavior was prominent in Western culture until Age of Enlightenment. The ancient Greece, people who behaved peculiarly were sent to sanctuaries dedicated to Aesculapius, the god of healing. Incurables were driven from the temple by stoning. A difference of humors, he thought, accounted for abnormal behavior. A sluggish person was believed to have a large amount of mucus. During, the Medieval Times supernatural causes, led to beliefs that abnormal behaviors were a sign…

Having an altered perception of the world, Ken Kesey created the captivating novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In his novel Kesey has constructed a world within a psychiatric ward, which becomes a microcosm of society. In this world the assumed deaf and dumb Chief Bromden, and other timid patients are heavily controlled by Nurse Ratched, an authority apart of the powerful and dehumanising combine. Through figurative language, foreshadowing and motifs readers are warned about the influence…

Ken Kesey, in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, emphasizes the abuse of psychiatry in the story and everyday life by contrasting society’s liberating interpretation of normal to Big Nurse’s captivating consideration of normal. In today’s society, the idea of a “normal person” forms when the population takes into consideration various characteristics that seem to be present in each individual while organizing the traits to form an identity that “must” apply to everyone around them.…

The Weight of Authority At the time at which Kesey was writing his novel, significant reform was going on in the treatment of the mentally ill in asylums. Many people were appalled at the conditions and abuse in mental hospitals. This abuse of patients along with the advent of certain antipsychotic drugs led to a strong push for deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey utilizes the control panel to symbolize the suffocation of patients individual…