Introduction
There are many groups of people social workers and psychologists have to work with to provide them with the required portion of help, understanding, and explanations. However, it is not very easy for even the most professional psychologist to work with particular people and realize what kind of support is necessary.
In this paper, I want to discuss the group of people I would not be eager to work with not because of some discontents or preferences but because of my personal understanding of the needs of such people and the problems that can take place. The current paper is devoted to such population as serious and chronic mentally ill people.
The analysis of the statistics, demographics, and other characteristics of mentally ill people, the evaluation of the circumstances this group of people differs from other people and the preparations for work will be offered to explain the challenges and threats of work with people, who suffer from serious or chronic mental illnesses.
Population Description
Mentally ill people are defined as those, who suffer from the diseases that can affect their brain. The World Health Organization informs that, in the whole world, one of four people usually has some mental disorders (either serious or chronic).
As for the numbers, they are impressive: 450 million people are mentally ill today. Unfortunately, these are the numbers that are officially stated. It is impossible to guess how many people with no ability to inform about their conditions are in the world. The citizens of 40% of countries do not have access to appropriate mental health programs. The question of mental health legislation is closed in more than 25% of the countries.
For example, in America, there are about 61.5 million people, who experience serious or chronic mental problems. In fact, the USA is one of the countries that are properly prepared for treating people with mental health problems. In the UAE, about 24% of students have mental problems. Still, the government of this country does not have enough experts to help people.
As an example, the Americans spend about $193.2 billion to treat serious and chronic mental illnesses, and the Arabs find it normal to spend about $10000 annually. Even more, many Arab people believe that mental illness is a kind of punishment sent by God. There are many parents, who ignore the symptoms of mental illness their children may have.
Many Arabs, Americans, and the representatives of other nations do not want to consider the fact that the first symptoms of mental illness can be observed at the early stages. People just admit that children behavior is hard to analyze. Their mood is hard to understand. Still, there is no place for depressions or other mental problems in a child’s mind. This mistake is made in all countries.
Reasons to Avoid Working with Mentally Ill People
The organization that aims at helping mentally ill people do not classify jobs in this sphere but find it more appropriate to use different jobs’ descriptions and avoid specifications and differentiation of the duties. It is hard to explain what kind of qualities a person should possess to be ready to work with such population.
I am a person with normal reactions to the events that are happening around. If there is something bad happens, I prefer to cry or demonstrate my anger. If something good is about to happen, I want to demonstrate my feelings and expectations. I understand what it means to be guilty. I have my ideas on how to cope with stress or inabilities to achieve the cherished dream. All these personal qualities may become a good basis for the explanation why I am not ready to work with serious or mentally ill people.
First, this population usually lives in the world of illusions and hallucinations. With all my intentions to give reasons and explanations, I am not ready to cooperate with people, who have confused thinking or cannot differentiate reality and delusion. Second, the necessity to control every second of communication under control causes much discomfort. I want to enjoy every minute of this life the only way I have.
There are many people, who may need my help, who want to have the answers to different questions, who are eager to find the point. I am ready to perform the kind of work that may have an evident result. Working with mentally ill people means working with air that can be controlled for a moment and lost in the next second.
Finally, I realize that mentally ill people are full of such symptoms like slowness, grief, difficult interpersonal relations, restricted emotions, lack of motivation, etc. It seems like a person stops understanding what is happening around. I am too emotional to observe such sufferings of people. Besides, I like to reproduce some traits of people I work or communicate with. I am afraid that the nature of mentally ill people can influence my personality and lead to the changes that cannot be understood.
Population Status
In the UAE, people with serious or chronic mental illnesses do not get a special treatment. They are not discriminated or separated from other groups of people. I can hardly hear about the organizations helping the chosen population cope with the challenges they face day by day. On the one hand, it is good to admit that mentally ill people do not undergo some differences.
On the other hand, it is terrible to understand that a number of mentally ill people can be found around, and no help can be offered. I want to believe that the status of this population can be changed the way it was done in the USA. This country and its government know that mentally ill people can be found everywhere, and it is a crucial duty to help such people by any possible means.
How to Get Prepared
The main feature of such illnesses is that usually there is no direct human fault to the problems. A number of causes turn out to be unknown. Still, the experts admit that there are several causes at the same time. It is hard to provide a mentally ill person with the necessary treatment because no particular cure has been invented yet.
On the one hand, it is possible to say that some medications can help to decrease the level of the disease’s severity. On the other hand, there is no cure that aims at helping people with such problems. To get prepared for working with this population, it is necessary to understand the truth about the variety of mental diseases and realize that personal attention, support, and understanding are probably the best cure that can be offered.
Responsibility
If a person decides to help a mentally ill person, it is necessary to comprehend the level of responsiveness. It is not enough to be theoretically prepared and recognize the symptoms as soon as possible. It is more important to know how to help or postpone sufferings many people have.
And the most crucial point for consideration is the necessity to analyze all internal and external factors in treating mentally ill people, consider the traits of a particular person, know the circumstances under which a person starts suffering, and only then try to help and improve the situation.