Mental illness is a broad attitudinal object that is of interest to me. Mental illness describes a wide range of mental health conditions affecting people’s moods, how they think and behave. The most common mental illnesses today include dementia, bipolar, anxiety disorders, Autism, and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Heiberg et al., 2020 p, 442). The actual causes of mental illness include genes and family history, life expectancy, toxic substance exposure during pregnancy, and brain’s chemical imbalance (Heiberg et al., 2020 p, 442). However, society has stereotyped views about mental health and its effects on people. For instance, some people in society believe that mental illness is associated with violent actions. Others have an attitude that mentally ill people are comical. Similarly, people in society believe that mental illness is not curable, results from poor parenting and that individuals with mental illness are dangerous and unpredictable. This project investigates people’s attitudes toward mental illness. Mental illness triggers; Read more
Age is a factor that has a strong positive relationship with mental illness. Studies show that young adults aged 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 have the highest prevalence of mental illness compared to the middle-aged and the elderly population. Approximately 15 percent of adults aged 60 and above have a mental illness (WHO, 2017 para 3). This is contrary to the myths and stereotypes firmly held by the young adults especially those aged 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 is that mental illness is common among individuals who are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s years. In other words, the attitude of most individuals aged 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 predicts that mental illness is a disease for people who are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s years. Some researchers argue that the symptoms of personality disorders worsened with age and there is enough evidence to support the claim. This means that the symptoms of mental illness are severe among those aged 65 and older (WHO, 2017 para 4). The mental illnesses with a higher prevalence among seniors include anxiety disorders and schizophrenia. Mental illness triggers