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Sarah Proulx

Professor Moore

ENGL. 1301.08

02 April 2017

The Progression of Mental Illness

In todays age the percentage of adolescence containing psychiatric disorders have

dramatically increased. Majority of society believes this is due to sociocultural aspects and some

suggest that this high diagnosis rate might be due to adolescence learning to cope with the illness

rather than treat the illness. Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 1318 (21.4%) experiences a

severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 815, the estimate is

13% (NAMI, par.1). Mental illnesses in adolescents have grown over time from a variety of

reasons. Some causes for the increase in mental illnesses in adolescence are sociocultural

aspects, present technology and the variety of treatment methods that are being used.

One of the earliest causes for mental illness in adolescence is immediate sociocultural

aspects through personal interactions. One of the most common interaction amongst humans are

familial interactions. The family system is an integral part of adolescents social, emotional

and behavioral well-being (Liermann, par.1). Family can make a major impact on peoples

lives whether it is good or bad. Adolescence can have varied home/family lives, they can have

close-knit families who are very involved in their lives, or the opposite having families who

distance themselves. During adolescence teenagers are experiencing a large amount of changes

whether they be physical, hormonal or in their surroundings deeming this a crucial period in a

persons mental development. strong family connectedness can be a protective factor that

promotes youth functioning. However, when youth experience negative family dynamics, such
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as poor communication, anger, and distrust, they can experience problems in family

functioning (Liermann, par.1). Close-knit families may exert high expectations on the

teenager which may impose large amounts of stress and anxiety which may lead to problems.

Families who are distant may find the teenager to be exhibiting disruptive behaviors or isolative

behaviors detreating or alternating their mental state. Whether the adolescence family are close

or distant, teenagers can still develop mental disorders due to their interactions.

Technology is an ever-growing industry that has become increasingly more involved in

the average day to day life. Technology has allowed for several tasks that was once tedious to

become easier for the average person. Though it has had a positive impact on society its addition

to day-to-day tasks has created an almost codependence on devices such as cell phones which

have given rise to industries such as social media. Social media was initially intended for

interactions amongst new and old friends but it inadvertently increased bullying of teens.

Bullying used to be a schoolyard type of thing that mainly happened outside the home-life, but

technology and social media has introduced the ability for bullying to follow the person to their

home and to follow them everywhere the individual goes. This has led to a large increase in

adolescent depression, anxiety, and antisocial behaviors due to the possibility of being ridiculed

both online or in person. Technology has allowed humans to bring both the best and worst out of

people. In fact, texting using a cell phone is teens preferred choice of technology when

communicating with friends, and cell phone calling is the second favorite choice

(Agosto,par.2). Now with all the technology people have, teens the most are using it more than

communicating in person which is making it more dangerous. It is making is easier for bullies to

follow the teens home even when they are not there in person.
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There are a variety of treatment methods that are being used to help people with mental

illnesses. The treatments that are given to the patience sometimes helps for the time being but it

the long run can destroy their body. There is also a method of treatment that people do to

themselves and that is self- medicating, which in no means is good for the persons body at all. A

group of people did a study that showed, Many patients with severe mental illness (SMI), such

as those with persistent psychoses and chronic psychiatric illnesses, are not motivated to seek

treatment, or fail to adhere to treatment programs (Mulder, par.1). Those who have psychiatric

illnesses and needs help usually do not want help or sometimes think that they do not need help.

Many things can happen when trying to force treatment methods such as medication to help them

upon a person. When people with mental illnesses go into a psychiatric hospital depending what

they are there for the average time staying is about a week. During that week, they are

monitoring the person so they know what kind of medication they need and what dosage. The

person then leaves and seems better but over time taking the same medication with the same

dosage every day the person is going to become immune to it where it will not have any effect on

them. Then the cycle repeats they go back in over and over to get a greater dosage or more

medication added onto the list. There can be little to no motivation from the patience when it

comes to medication. Little motivation: the patient has little motivation for treatment. There

can be strong passive or even active resistance towards treatment, causing moderate treatment

problems (Mulder, Par.7). No one wants to be on medication because with the medication also

comes with side effects depending on what they are taking. Depending on what they are taking

they can feel tired all the time, numb to their feelings and a big one for most people who are on a

lot of medication is they can gain weight. So even though medication can help for the time being

it does not last forever and can have major impacts on your body in the long run. The other kind
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of medicating which is the worse of them all is self-medicating. Many people with mental

illnesses think they have nowhere to turn to and decide to self-medicate which can lead to drugs

or even suicide. The first response by most families to many illnesses in their children has been

found to be the use of non-prescribed drugs (Eldalo, Par.1). In many adolescent, the first thing

they turn to is self-medicating. Besides being afraid to go to adults about what is going on they

also have peer pressure by other adolescents who will give them drugs. So even though giving

mentally ill people medication might seem like the easiest path to take it is not the healthiest nor

has the most helpful in the long run.

Sociocultural aspects, present technology and a variety of treatment methods are all

causes of adolescent mental illnesses. Sociocultural aspects such as family is a big part of a teens

life that they must deal with and do not really have any control over. Present technology is

another factor of teen mental illnesses that can have limitations on it but cannot be fully

controlled. A variety of treatment methods that are used on mentally ill patients can be beneficial

for short-term treatment but can pose problems for a long-term treatment in an adolescent.

Adolescence with mental health issues have rapidly increased within several years so much so

that modern treatment cannot suffice with the evolving world around us. By targeting the new

triggers that spawn these issues in todays youth we can hope to one day find a cure for the

illness rather than just a treatment.

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Works Cited

Mulder, Cornelis, et al. "The Motivation Paradox: Higher Psychosocial Problem Levels in Severely

Mentally Ill Patients Are Associated with Less Motivation for Treatment." Social Psychiatry &

Psychiatric Epidemiology, vol. 49, no. 4, Apr. 2014, pp. 541-548. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1007/s00127-013-0779-7.

Eldalo, Ahmed S. "Saudi Parent's Attitude and Practice about Self-Medicating Their Children." Archives

of Pharmacy Practice, vol. 4, no. 2, Apr-Jun2013, pp. 57-62. EBSCOhost, doi:10.4103/2045-

080X.112985.

Liermann, Katie and Christine Norton. "Enhancing Family Communication: Examining the Impact of a

Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Struggling Teens and Parents." Contemporary Family

Therapy: An International Journal, vol. 38, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 14-22. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1007/s10591-015-9371-5.

Agosto, Denise E., et al. "Relationships and Social Rules: Teens' Social Network and Other ICT

Selection Practices." Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology,

vol. 63, no. 6, June 2012, pp. 1108-1124. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/asi.22612.

"NAMI." NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.

<http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers>.