Prompted Post #9: Recognizing Significance

Mental health is a current day issue that our society has not fully accepted yet. There are still stigmas out
there that judge the people who are affected by them. Some people believe that mental illnesses are just made up problems and that people who suffer from them are weak. However, this is not the case at all.

Mental Illnesses are medical conditions that disrupts a persons thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to function normally. To cope with these illnesses, affected people can go to a Psychiatrist to talk about their problems. Once the Psychiatrist identifies the problem, he/she can prescribe medication to the person to help them cope with the illness.

 I found an article about mental illness and the importance of the Psychiatry in treating them.  1 in 4 people are living with a mental illness. Since their aren't identified cures for most of these illnesses, Psychiatrists are their only hope in living a semi-normal life. The article talks about the changes to the DSM-5, this past December. For those of you who don't know, the DSM-5 is the newest version of the 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual', which is the guide for diagnosing a mental illness. The mental illnesses are sorted into categories based on their type. Then underneath are the symptoms and criteria that a patient affected by the illness would have, and how many are needed to be present in order to be diagnosed. This manual is a helpful tool and guideline for Psychiatrists.

One of the changes that the DSM-5 has had in the past year includes changes to the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia, mood, and anxiety disorders. A new categorization of 'substance use-disorders' was made separate from substance related disorders. Plus the age of diagnosing ADHD was increased to before age 12.However, he biggest change that occurred was the the diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders (like depression and substance use) have been relaxed so that more individuals will be qualified for this and can get the necessary treatment. They talked about how this two issues are rising and that some people done show all of the symptoms like they thought before.

The only issue will loosening the criteria is the issue of over-diagnosing. We don't want to spend unnecessary money on people who aren't in need of the treatment. Psychiatrists will keep a close eye on this but they believe that this change will benefit many people.

Without Psychiatrists or the DSM-5, 25% of people in the United States would not know what is wrong with them, and would have no way of coping with their problems. This is the most significant part of psychology and our society benefits greatly from it.

Sources:
George, Tony P. "Psychiatry 2013 and DSM-5." Psychiatric Times. UBM Media, LCC, 19 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.