Introduction
The world has become unbearable for human existence due to the increased living conditions affecting all individuals worldwide, regardless of age or financial status. Economic inflation is causing more harm than good as most individuals struggle to provide basic needs for their families. Individuals lose their jobs instantly since most employers cannot sustain the increased cost of living, which affects business production and sustainability. The job market has depreciated over the past years as most companies shift from manual labor to automation to cut production costs. Consequently, most individuals experience increased stress since life has become unbearable to them and their families. The increased stress level constitutes mental disorders that increase stress levels. Most individuals resort to criminal offenses to provide for their families. Some common crimes include burglary, theft, robbery, drug trafficking, and violence. As a result, most individuals live in distress while others lose their loved ones due to increased crimes worldwide. On the other hand, mental illnesses and disorders such as psychopathy are not caused by stress or depression but by neurobiological and genetic factors. Therefore, mental disorders, especially psychopathy, should be given immediate medical attention and appropriately mitigated.
Mental health has been a significant concern over recent years as approximately one-half of the population experience problems with their mental health over a lifetime. Mental health involves the state of success in cognitive function performance, constituting fulfilling relationships, productive activities, and the ability to cope with adversity and adapt to change. Furthermore, mental health is indispensable to interpersonal or family relationships, personal well-being, and society or community contribution. On the other hand, mental disorders contradict the effectiveness of mental health due to their prevalence worldwide. Mental health disorders are conditions characterized by alterations associated with impaired functioning and distress that spawn human problems. Examples of mentally caused issues include pain, disability, and death. Similarly, mental disorders result in comprehensive mental health conditions affecting an individual’s thinking capacity, mood, and behavior. Some of the common mental disorders include anxiety disorder, depression, eating disorders, Schizophrenia, and addictive behaviors.
The prevalence of mental health has been on the rise as it is estimated by the world health organization that one out of every eight individuals suffers from a mental disorder. Most mental illnesses are highly associated with functioning impairment and distress. Approximately nine hundred and seventy million people in the globe live with mental disorders as depression and anxiety become the most prevalent. The number of individuals with depressive disorders and anxiety rose exponentially in 2020 due to the distress of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number still rises to date due to a lack of adequate and effective mental health care. In addition, most mentally ill patients experience discrimination, stigma, and human rights violations. These patients get stressed to neglect their well-being and health as they avoid seeking medical attention in public health institutions.
Subsequently, mental illness is expected in the United States, with an estimated more than one individual out of five living with mental disorders. Equivalently, fifty-seven million adults exhibited signs of mild and severe mental illness as of 2021. As a result, mental illness is categorized into any mental illness (AMI) and severe mental illness (SMI). Any mental illness consists of behavioral, mental, or emotional disorders. On the other hand, serious mental illness entails conditions that result from severe functional impairment interfering with or limiting an individual from significant life activities such as studying or working. In 2021, the prevalence of mental illness among Americans was 22.8 percent in adults. Similarly, the prevalence of AMI in females was 27.2 percent higher than in males registering 18.1 percent.
Similarly, young adults aged eighteen to twenty-five exhibited AMI’s highest prevalence of 33.7 percent, while adults from 26-49 years recorded 28.1 percent (Gustavson et al., 2018). Individuals aged fifty and above had a prevalence of 15.0 percent. Lastly, regarding ethnic groups, the AMI prevalence was reported to be high in adults with two or more races, with an approximation of 39.4 percent. The Alaska Native or American Indian followed suit, with a prevalence of 26.6 percent in adults. The lowest prevalence was recorded among Asian adults, with a score of 16.4 percent.
On the other hand, severe mental illness in the United States followed suit. In 2021, adults over eighteen experienced a 5.5 percent prevalence as females recorded the highest percentage of 7.0 while their male counterparts had a prevalence of 4.0 percent. The young adults had a prevalence of 11.4 percent, followed by 7.1 percent from adults aged 26-49. Older people had the lowest score of 2.5 percent. The American Indian had a prevalence of severe mental illness with a percentage of 9.3. Individuals with more than two races recorded 8.2 percent, while Asian adults recorded the lowest prevalence in SMI with a percentage of 2.8.
Several factors, including childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma, cause mental health problems. Once an individual experiences abuse, for instance, assault, they tend to be extremely frightened and lack total trust even in their friends and relatives. As a result, most abused or neglected individuals exhibit behavioral change, isolating themselves from the rest of their family members and friends, constituting mental illness. Loneliness is another factor that causes mental illness, especially in adults. Loneliness is highly linked to increased stress levels or low levels of self-esteem, where an individual feels isolated or discriminated against by other members. As a result, most lonely individuals lose interest in things they love resulting in depression, a mental disorder. The third cause of mental illness is poverty, social disadvantage, or debt. Financial instability due to lack of money always triggers panic and anxiety in most individuals (Cuijpers, 2019). The fear of losing their homes or families results in sleepless nights hence mental disorders. Bereavement is another factor that constitutes mental illness, as losing loved ones tends to be unbearable to most individuals, especially couples, as living without their significant other tears their hearts apart, constituting mental illness. Some individuals might start hallucinating with the dead person worsening their condition.
Severe long-term health conditions such as chronic diseases constitute mental illness. Chronic ailments such as cancer tend to be life-threatening and money-consuming. Cancer symptoms tend to be severe, including hair shading, weight loss, and skin color change. As a result, most cancer patients experience stigma and discrimination resulting in isolation. Cancer treatments are expensive, constituting financial constraints and increasing stress, anxiety, and panic. Mental illnesses can also be caused by physical occurrences, such as tragic accidents that leave a patient with a severe head injury constituting a mental disorder. Moreover, neurological conditions such as epilepsy significantly impact an individual’s mood and behavior. Lastly, drug addiction causes mental illness since abusing drugs such as cannabis sativa increases the development of a psychotic disorder. Many a time, drug abusers tend to be highly susceptible to self-harm or suicidal attempts, which cause detrimental effects such as death.
Mental disorders often impair judgment since increased striatum dopamine constitutes problems regarding the brain’s integration of information from the cortex. The disorders often have an onset in an individual’s early life, contributing sustainability to the global disease burden. Consequently, mental disorders often impede the ability of young individuals to complete age-relevant tasks within significant developmental periods. Some common examples of mental disorders include Schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, anxiety, psychopathy, eating disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and affective disorders. Different mental disorders exhibit varied symptoms that require a unique and special type of treatment. Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder, including the abnormal interpretation of reality.
Psychopathy is a syndrome characterized by a mental disorder with antisocial, manipulative, impulsive, and callous traits. A lack of empathy, deficient emotional response, and poor behavioral controls marks the neuropsychiatric disorder. The prevalence of these character traits without immediate medical attention promotes criminal behavior and antisocial deviance. Psychopaths are commonly described as individuals with mental health conditions. These individuals are commonly responsible for an excessive proportion of criminal offenses painting an image that is heartless, cold, and inhumane. However, despite the strange nature of psychopaths, most of them love their spouses, parents, pets, and children. Others always perceive psychopaths as affable, charming, loving, and easygoing. However, they experience difficulties loving and trusting the rest of the world, explaining their bizarre nature. As a result, their manipulative, conning, and interpersonal style tends to affect their work, life, and relationships distinctively.
Subsequently, psychopathy tends to be developmental as persistent traits become apparent before age ten. Crucial genetic risk factors also predict the traits. Therefore, neurocognitive peculiarities often expropriate the psychopath’s moral sensibility development. Consequently, failure to mitigate psychopathy challenges constitutes intractable behavioral issues of conduct disorder in youth and adult criminal psychopaths. Psychopathy is a character that an individual inherits from their lineage and is passed on from one generation to the other through genes. Apart from neurobiological and genetic factors, environmental factors such as divorce, separation, behavior dissatisfaction, and the death of loved ones exacerbate and influence psychopathic behaviors (Johnson, 2019). Additionally, psychopaths are often categorized as sad individuals due to the emotional pain they experience, making them angry and aggressive. Psychopaths are like ordinary people who desire to be loved and cared for. However, they often lose control of their actions, affecting those around them. As a result, most psychopaths tend to be saddened all the time.
Most psychopaths tend to have endured traumatic experiences throughout their lifetime. Most lack parental guidance and attention, come from chaotic families, and experience parental substance abuse, poor relationships, antisocial behavior, adverse neighborhoods, and divorce. Therefore, some psychopaths feel imprisoned by their etiological determination, making them believe they are more disadvantaged than ordinary people. The increased stigmatization rate makes them feel inferior to others, hence hiding their true nature. The inability to learn from experiences results in repetitive frustrating, negative, and depressing confrontations, including trouble with the justice system. Violent psychopaths are another category of psychopathy where these individuals reach their limits. Most violent psychopaths exhibit characteristics of loneliness, isolation, and emotional pain. As a result, their sadness and suffering increase, making their crime rate more peculiar. The increased irritability later constitutes borderline personality disorder and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder increasing the risk of reactive aggression. Violent psychopaths also are at high risk of self-destruction. Most of these individuals end up targeting their aggression toward themselves. Psychopathic patients often die violently immediately after being discharged from forensic psychiatric treatments.
Treatment
The treatment of mental disorders and psychiatric conditions differ significantly. However, the most prevalent treatment in both psychopathy and mental illness is cognitive behavioral therapy. Psychopath treatments vary from one symptom to another. The most common treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The theory focuses on the relationship between feelings, thoughts, and behaviors (Bieling et al., 2022). The therapy is designed to break down connections that trigger harmful actions by creating new connections that have positive outcomes. As a result, most patients exhibit positive results of improved function ability and quality of life. The treatment is also effective in mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and alcohol and drug use problem. CBT is based on core principles, including psychological problems engineered by unhelpful and faulty thinking capacities. Secondly, the therapy includes individuals suffering from psychological problems learning better ways of coping with their issues and becoming more effective. Lastly, cognitive behavioral therapy is based on problems with learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.
Subsequently, cognitive behavioral therapy involves teaching psychopaths and patients with mental issues to recognize their thinking distortions creating problems and evaluating them in reality. Another CBT practice includes teaching patients problem-solving skills to help them cope with difficult situations. The third mechanism is helping patients better understand their behaviors and, lastly, learning to develop self-confidence in an individual’s abilities. Some strategies used in the therapies to ensure effective success include teaching patients to relax their bodies and calm their minds. Secondly, patients are taught to face their fears rather than avoid them. Lastly, patients are equipped with role-playing mechanisms to prepare for potential problematic interactions. For violent psychopaths, neural systems such as the amygdala and hypothalamus can be utilized to mitigate aggression (Blair, 2018). Additionally, these systems respond to all anger elicitors, including frustration, threat, and retaliation of social provocations. Other treatments for psychopaths include antipsychotics and mood stabilizers.
For mental disorders, apart from CBT, patients can be given medication which is often utilized to manage symptoms. The most common medication is antidepressants for depression, personality disorders, and anxiety (Solmi et al., 2020). Antipsychotics are the second category of mental disorders that treat Schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, restoring the brain’s chemical balance. Depressants are used to help individuals stay calm, while anxiolytics are used to treat anxiety. Hospitalization is another mitigation measure for mental illness to facilitate close monitoring of patients. Additionally, hospitalization allows for the accurate diagnosis of mental illness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia and psychopathy require immediate medical attention and appropriate mitigation measures. Common mental illnesses include anxiety disorders, depression, and bipolar disorders. Most mental illnesses, including psychopathy, are caused by adverse childhood experiences, financial constraints due to lack of money, and bereavement. As a result, most of these individuals abuse drugs and commit criminal offenses. Psychopaths are also mental health patients with bizarre character traits. They lack empathy and are constantly angry. Most of them become violent ad aggressive. However, there are treatment measures for both mental illness and psychopathy. The most common treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy.
Reference
Bieling, P. J., McCabe, R. E., & Antony, M. M. (2022). Cognitive-behavioral therapy in groups. Guilford publications.
Blair, R. J. R. (2018). Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1744), 20170155.
Cuijpers, P. (2019). Targets and outcomes of psychotherapies for mental disorders: an overview. World Psychiatry, 18(3), 276-285.
Gustavson, K., Knudsen, A. K., Nesvåg, R., Knudsen, G. P., Vollset, S. E., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2018). Prevalence and stability of mental disorders among young adults: findings from a longitudinal study. BMC psychiatry, 18, 1-15.
Johnson, S. A. (2019). Understanding the violent personality: antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, & sociopathy explored. Forensic Research & Criminology International Journal, 7(2), 76-88.
Solmi, M., Fornaro, M., Ostinelli, E. G., Zangani, C., Croatto, G., Monaco, F., … & Correll, C. U. (2020). Safety of 80 antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti‐attention‐deficit/hyperactivity medications and mood stabilizers in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders: a large scale systematic meta‐review of 78 adverse effects. World Psychiatry, 19(2), 214-232.
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