Classmate Response Adriana (1)- Topic 4 DQ 1-Social Determinants Of Health And Health Equity
Respond to the classmate essay by:
1. sharing an insight and asking a probing question
2. offering and supporting an opinion please elaborate on one or two points from the classmate’s post.
3. validating an idea
4. making a suggestion
-Please use your own words and do not copy what she wrote
– Sources must be published within the last 5 years. It must be from 2017 and after and appropriate for the paper criteria and public health content.
– Please do not use blogs as references
-References should be in APA 7th ed.
-Add references to reference page
-Add the hyperlink/DOI for each reference in APA 7th edition format.
Thank you.
QUESTION- Topic 4 DQ 1
Diseases that disproportionately affect the poor are typically prioritized by governments and donors. Some people believe that disorders such as depression are problems of the middle class and the affluent, or represent a “medicalization of misery,” and, therefore, do not deserve a share of scarce resources. What is the evidence linking poverty with mental disorders? How might poverty interact with mental health?
Classmate ( Adriana) response Topic 4 DQ 1
More than half of the world’s population live in low- and middle-income countries, more than 80% of these suffer from mental disorders (Rathod et al., 2017). According to Rathod et al. (2017), individuals in the lowest socioeconomic status are eight times more likely to develop schizophrenia; additionally, 95% of employers in Poland said they would not hire someone with schizophrenia. This fact alone drastically reduces the chance and support that lower-income individuals must find and maintain meaningful income-generating employment, feeding into the negative cycle and possible complicating mental health issues.
Lund et al. (2011) state that the social causation hypothesis supports poverty increasing the risk of mental illness through varied heightened external stressors like social exclusion, reduced social capital, malnutrition, violence, and trauma. Additionally, according to the social drift hypothesis, those with mental illness are at increased risk of going into and remaining in poverty (Lund et al., 2011). The two pathways discussed appear to cause a negative cycle for those in poverty who have mental health issues or mental disorders. As poverty increases the risk of mental illness, it further decreases productivity, increases social stigma, and causes possible loss of employment and income. Besides relying on government funding and donors for services, addressing this issue can be alleviated by creating national mental health policies that outline mental health priorities and services. According to Merson et al. (2020), lower- and middle-income countries are less likely to have these types of policies in place. The WHO Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package of 2000-2005 provides a series of policy development and service planning for mental health policies (Merson et al., 2020).
Mental health consists of a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being and can change through every life stage (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). Mental illnesses can come and go through varying points in an individual’s life and are diagnosable disorders that affect an individual’s thoughts and actions (CDC, 2021). Individuals can have poor mental health without having a mental illness, and contrary, someone may experience a mental disorder but have varying
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, June 28). About mental health. https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
Lund, C., De Silva, M., Plagerson, S., Cooper, S., Chisholm, D., Das, J., Knapp, M., & Patel, V. (2011). Poverty and mental disorders: breaking the cycle in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet (London, England), 378(9801), 1502–1514. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60754-X
Merson, M. H., Black, R. E., & Mills, A. J. (Eds.). (2020). Global health: Diseases, programs, systems, and policies (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Rathod, S., Pinninti, N., Irfan, M., Gorczynski, P., Rathod, P., Gega, L., & Naeem, F. (2017). Mental health service provision in low- and middle-income countries. Health Services Insights, 10, 1–7.
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Solution
Poverty and Mental Health
Great discussion, Adriana. Mental disorders are usually characterized by abnormal thoughts, emotions, perceptions, behavior and relationships with others. They may include depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia, and developmental conditions, including autism (Waszkiewicz.,2020). I agree that over half of the world’s population live in low- and middle-income nations, and over 80 percent of these individuals have mental conditions. Poverty can characterize a higher population living in low- and middle-income countries. It increases the risk of mental health issues and may be a causal factor and a consequence of mental ill-health. I support your point that according to the social drift hypothesis, individuals with mental conditions are at an increased risk of getting into and remaining in poverty. Additionally, the social causation hypothesis recommends that adverse economic and social conditions of poverty such as financial stress, improved contact to violence, increased negative life activities like (negative income shocks, low based education, income and food insecurity and reduced resources to protect the individuals from consequences of adverse life events) increase the risk for mental conditions (Lund & Cois.,2018).
There is a great relationship between poverty and mental health disorders. Common mental conditions are approximately twice as recurrent among the poor as among the rich. For instance, depression as a mental disorder is 1.5 to 2 times more dominant among low-income groups of the population. Individuals experiencing hunger or encountering debts can have common mental conditions. It is a fact that mental health resources are rare, and the investment in mental health is < 1 percent of the health budget in numerous nations (Flaskerud.,2019). Therefore, most individuals with mental conditions lack evidence-based care, causing chronicity, suffering, and improved care costs. To reduce mental illnesses in these countries, the government can increase the funding and seek donors for care services.
References
Flaskerud, J. H. (2019). Global mental health initiatives. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 40(1), 79-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2018.1486928
Lund, C., & Cois, A. (2018). Simultaneous social causation and social drift: Longitudinal analysis of depression and poverty in South Africa. Journal of affective disorders, 229, 396-402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.12.050
Waszkiewicz, N. (2020). Mentally sick or not—(Bio) Markers of psychiatric disorders needed. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(8), 2375. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9082375