Final Project Proposal

My project proposal to my peers of this class will capture the ideas that we have explored, and will optimistically move people into action.  My focus in this proposal is to explore mental health as a major contributor to human dignity, and add it to the final project. 

My background on mental health is that I have worked at Western Psychiatric institute for more than one year, I have been volunteering at the children’s institute, and I am currently in my psychiatric and behavioral health class and clinical.  Therefore, I have experience and a foundation of knowledge to investigate the content and depth of mental health as a supplier to human dignity.  This is something I want to know more about, and this is the format to do it, and to be able to educate people about what I have been learning. 

I believe everyone is born with human dignity, even people with mental and behavioral health problems.  People with these problems might not be able to control their thoughts or behaviors, but they are human first, and must be respected and helped.  Furthermore, fifty percent of all people will experience a mental disorder at some point across their lifetime.  It is also the second leading cause of disability in the America.  Having a mental disorder is even more common than having cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.  We cannot judge people with mental disorders because in the end we might be developing a mental disorder as well. I want to change the stigma of the psychiatric and behavioral health disorders. 

My vision for this project is to educate and inform the public about this major problem in America.  Someone will know someone who will have a mental disorder.  How will that person react?  Will they recognize that person as the human they were or the problem that they will become?  We should not have to make a choice.  We lose are own self-worth by humiliation and stereotyping these diseases and people.  They are you and me, and I feel that a large proportion of Americans refuse to realize this. Finally, I desperately want to tell everyone I meet that this could be your father, your sister, your cousin, and even you. 

People with mental disorders are some of the most neglected people in the world. In many communities, mental illness is not considered a real medical condition, but viewed as a weakness of character or as a punishment for immoral behavior. Even when people with mental disorders are recognized as having a medical condition, the treatment they receive is often less than humane. Human rights violations against people with mental disorders occur in communities throughout the world: in mental health institutions, hospitals, and in the wider community. 

The widespread stigma of mental illness, which prevails in countries as disparate as China, India, Kenya, Romania, Egypt, and the USA, marks individuals with severe psychiatric disorders as virtually non-human. None of the world's major religions, no matter how strong is its message of support on behalf of the most marginal and vulnerable sufferers has been able to break this cycle of misery. Nor have modern anti-stigma campaigns and mental health laws. Globalised cultural changes have brought about important reductions in the discrimination, fear, and isolation surrounding depression and anxiety disorders in many countries, and this is no small improvement that holds practical relevance for global mental health in general. Yet the moral conditions for people with psychosis, dementia, and mental disability remain horrendous most everywhere.

The key goals I have for this project proposal are equal citizenship and social inclusion.  Equal citizenship means being able to exercise the same rights as everyone else.  Social inclusion is having the same opportunities as everyone else to have choice in their daily lives, to be independent and participate fully in their communities.  

Furthermore, things that can be done to reduce the stigma and promote education advertisements supported by posters and postcards are distributed in places on campus. The intent is that, as mental illness becomes demystified, young people will better understand the early signs of mental illness and feel able to get help for themselves or their friends.

The media are essential players in any movement for change, as they have an important role in determining public attitudes to mental illness.  Myths and misconceptions about schizophrenia are continually reinforced by stereotypical and often destructive media images — for example, people with schizophrenia are almost exclusively depicted as violent, and inaccurately and quite pervasively characterised as having a “split personality”. Programs are now in place to encourage the media to report mental illnesses such as schizophrenia responsibly. In Australia, the Federal Government has taken a lead through its Mindframe National Media Strategy, which has supported several positive initiatives, including a media kit on responsible reporting for journalists, “ResponseAbility” education resources for journalism students, and expansion of the SANE Stigma-Watch program.

In an era when it is rightly acknowledged that it is better for people with schizophrenia to be treated, wherever possible, in the community, we, as a society, have a clear responsibility to reduce the stigma they face. The sad reality is that, for most people with schizophrenia, living in the community does not mean being part of the community.

I plan to create a presentation at either scholarship day or another forum to present this inform to a large population of a community.  I want to you use various resources, statistics and experiences to cause great audient impact.  Additionally, I think an advertisement campaign about mental health around the campus might cause some a great impact; random facts about behavioural disorders to help reduce the stigma and inform the public.