Mental Illness in Prisons (Health, Medicine, Nursing Research Paper)

Mental Illness in Prisons
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Mental Illness in Prisons
Mental illness is a condition that can have many forms of presenting itself. According to (WHO 2019), it is characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts, perceptions, emotions, behavior, and relationships with others. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to mental illness. Genetics, environment, lifestyle choices like alcohol and drug abuse and traumatic life events can develop a mental health disorder. All these start as mental stress that can eventually interfere with basic brain functioning resulting in a condition.
There are various mental illness manifestations like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, and even dementia. Mental illness is prevalent in all social groups of people, with one out of every five people in the population being diagnosed with a mental illness. Because of how untreated mental illness can impair someone's thoughts and judgment, there are numerous criminal cases linked to mental illness.
It has been repeatedly reported that there is an association between some mental conditions and increases criminal behavior. For example, out of 100 murderers, 29% would have been diagnosed with psychosis, 21% with schizophrenia, 8% with affective disorders, while the remaining 35% goes to substance abuse (Florez, 2009). While there are mental conditions that their behavioral manifestation is primarily criminal offenses such as Paraphilia, Pyromania, and Kleptomania, it is not always that all mental disorders manifest in criminal behavior. This paper will focus on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and PTSD, affecting those who have been convicted and are serving their jail terms.
Schizophrenia
This is a severe mental disorder characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, and mood, sometimes language, sense of self, and behavior in the affected person. Sometimes, persons who have schizophrenia may have psychotic experiences, which include hallucinations and delusions. People experiencing hallucinations will report hearing, seeing, and feeling non-existent things. In contrast, those reporting delusions will experience false beliefs and strong suspicions even when presented with evidence to the contrary. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 20 million people worldwide have Schizophrenia (WHO, 2019). Some of these people are in prisons for having committed crimes due to their distorted thoughts. Others have developed the conditions behind bars.
(Morin, 2020) indicates that the American Psychological Association estimates that between 10 and 25% of inmates have a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia. These statistics are relatively high to be ignored, and some of the mental illnesses are relatively easily distinguishable from normal behavior. The most common symptoms of schizophrenia are usually hallucinations, delusions, self-neglect, abnormal behavior including mumbling to self or talking to imaginary people, incoherence, and disorganized speech. Disturbed emotions with a disconnect in body language and sometimes lack of empathy are also potential symptoms. When a person is suffering from schizophrenia and experiences such a psychotic break where they cannot distinguish their warped thoughts and feelings from reality, they can easily commit crimes. Sometimes as heinous crimes as murders. There have been numerous cases where the offenders claimed that they heard voices telling them to commit the crimes for which they are being tried.
In most cases, when a mental disorder is suspected during trial for a crime, the offender will be subjected to a psychiatric examination. Gonzalez states that if diagnosed with schizophrenia, the offender will most likely be confined to a psychiatric institution to serve their sentence while receiving treatment for the condition (Gonzalez et al., 2014). This gives a sense of hope because mental illness does not necessarily mean a person gets incarcerated. Many people have successfully gone through such programs and reformed and, with adherence to their drug therapy, making it possible to be integrated back into society. However, the vast majority are still either in regular prisons or the confinement of state institutions.
Schizophrenia does not have a well-defined cause. It is believed that a combination of genes and one's environmental factors and psychosocial factors can contribute to the disorder. In most cases, it begins in the years that a person is most impressionable regarding social and esteem factors, usually in late adolescence or early adulthood. Because it is highly disruptive to an individual, learning and even operating in typical work environments is quite difficult. Persons who have schizophrenia are easily subjected to stigma and social misunderstandings if it is not treated.
These social injustices are even worse in prisons for people suffering from the disorder. Many criminals in prison take pride in their crimes and wear them as a badge of honor even when they are essentially in prison to reform from these crimes. The majority of them consider people sentenced to serve time with an 'insanity' card attached to the sentencing as weak. These people are subjected to ridicule, bullying, beating, and even lose their lives in other inmates' hands (Edwards et al., 1994). Additionally, when untreated, these people continue to experience episodes that are not rooted in reality. Their minds are constantly under immense stress, sometimes being unable to grasp reality. Some suffer psychotic breaks and wish to remain in these states in rare cases, which they consider peaceful but can be quite dangerous because they will not have any restraint to acting on their distorted thoughts. These are often put in isolated confinements to limit any chance of them carrying out any harmful deeds. Treatment for schizophrenia includes drug regimens to normalize brain function and support from health workers, family, and community members as a whole. Persons suffering from this disorder, more than anything, wish to have an everyday life. Acceptance is key to their recovery and having everyday lives.
Bipolar disorder
This is a mental condition characterized by a person experiencing drastic changes in mood, energy levels, and regular activity, making day-to-day operations and productivity difficult, almost impossible. Studies carried out by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI, 2018) say that bipolar disorder affects over 10 million people in the United States or around 2.8% of the global population.
The two major experiences that people suffering from Bipolar disorder experience are intense and drastic mood changes and severe depressive episodes. These mood changes are intense and unlike normal mood changes that other people experience. During these episodes, a person may experience other symptoms like paranoia, severe anxiety and panic, delusions, hallucinations, and a psychotic break. It is important to note that bipolar disorder can also manifest in an elevated mood where one is quite friendly, talkative, and with great creativity. However, because it is part of the disorder's manifestation, it is usually not sustainable for long before low mood strikes.
Diagnosis of Bipolar disorder can sometimes happen later in a person's life because it is not always easy for people, even oneself, to know when the moods are normal or a disorder. A greater percentage of people succumb to the intense moods and emotions they experience whenever they have an episode. Most crimes of passion and intense anger ranges are often a result of people in the disorder's depths. Despite the disorder, people convicted of...