Summary of my Learning on Mental Illness

Throughout this blog post I will be discussing a summary of my learning on the specific group that I focussed on throughout this semester, as well as my learning from other groups, what I would still like to learn and lastly my overall learning of material in relation to other courses.

Over the course of this semester I have expanded my knowledge about mental illnesses that I did not know prior to taking this class and working on the blog posts each week. I have learned the Anishnaabek perspective in regards to how they perceived mental illness in the pre contact era and how it differed significantly from the European perspective in that specific period. I have also had the opportunity to research current issues that many people face today when living with a mental illness such as a lack of appropriate services for those in the prison system and the adverse impact of various cuts to income support programs. From doing our group presentation on mental illness I realized that there are many social problems that effect this vulnerable population and they have to deal with it in their day to day lives. As well, I came across a statistic that definitely surprised me, that “one in five people in Ontario will experience a mental illness at some point in his or her lifetime” (Canadian Mental Health Association, n.d.).

Not only did I learn about living with mental illness in Canada but I had the opportunity to absorb new information and understand current issues that affect other marginalized and vulnerable populations from posting comments on my fellow peer’s blog posts. From reading blogs from other groups, I discovered that there are many issues and social policies affecting gay men in regards to blood donation, immigrants entering into Canada's work force, women in regards to abortion which seems to be a social issue rather than a personal decision, people engaged in prostitution as an ongoing social issue, and first nations people experiencing elder abuse.

On the topic of mental illnesses, I would still like to further my learning on Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When doing research on mental health, I came across the article ‘Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Severe Mental Illness’ and read some interesting points I wish I could have discussed more in a blog and searched for more articles on. Although I did not have the opportunity to spend much time on the topic, I did develop some knowledge on this issue. People with serve mental illness can have a range of destructive and damaging effects caused by trauma. The article goes on to talk about how persons with trauma backgrounds often have more severe signs paired with addictions and access more expensive psychiatric services (Mueser, et al., 1998).

By taking this course it has provided me with the information and knowledge needed to be better understand the concepts, theories, and perspectives. It also helped me with understanding what was going on in my other classes including my second year courses, which I was struggling with at the beginning of the semester.

In conclusion I feel that this course has provided me with an introduction and solid foundation for the many social issues and policies that I will be learning more about over the next few years in the BSW program.

Kristen

 

References

Canadian Mental Health Association. (n.d.). Stigma and Mental Illness. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/fact_sheets.asp?cID=2795

Mueser, K., Goodman, L., Trumbetta, S., Rosenberg, S., Osher, F., Vidaver, R., Auciello, P., & Foy, D. (1998). Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in severe mental illness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66 (3), 493-499.

Picture one retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.google.ca/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbnid=HJRxxpP1fRSCsM:&imgrefurl=http://www.upnbc.org/archives.html&docid=iLyQ5kbC0zCMqM&imgurl=http://www.upnbc.org/images/1in5.jpg&w=540&h=360&ei=G56-UJHtNoae2QW0ioHwBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=383&vpy=161&dur=5805&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=106&ty=96&sig=107326891021269593138&page=3&tbnh=147&tbnw=223&start=50&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:65,s:0,i:284

Picture two retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.google.ca/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbnid=Z3WYJWCh_Ati-M:&imgrefurl=http://www.mymentalhealth.ca/Learn/TypesofMentalIllness/Schizophrenia/tabid/864/Default.aspx&docid=vS1x5VwdaGH5tM&imgurl=http://www.mymentalhealth.ca/Portals/mymh/1in5logo.gif&w=164&h=74&ei=G56-UJHtNoae2QW0ioHwBQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=401&sig=107326891021269593138&page=1&tbnh=59&tbnw=131&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0,i:120&tx=66&ty=40