Implicitly estimating the cost of mental illness in Australia: a standard-of-living approach

Background Estimating the costs of mental illness provides useful policy and managerial information to improve the quality of life of people living with a mental illness and their families. Objective This paper estimates the costs of mental health in Australia using the standard-of-living approach. Methods The cost of mental illness was estimated implicitly using a standard of living approach. We analyse data from 16 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) using 209,871 observations. Unobserved heterogeneity was mitigated using an extended random-effects estimator. Results The equivalised disposable income of people with mental illness, measured by a self-reported mental health condition, needs to be 50% higher to achieve a similar living standard as those without a mental illness. The cost estimates vary considerably with measures of mental illness and standard of living. An alternative measure of mental illness using the first quintile of the SF-36 mental health score distribution resulted in an increase of estimated costs to 80% equivalised disposable income. Conclusion People with mental illness need to increase equivalised disposable income, which includes existing financial supports, by 50%-80% to achieve a similar level of financial satisfaction as those without a mental illness. The cost estimate can be substantially higher if the overall life satisfaction is used to proxy for standard of living

Mental Illness and the Demand for Alcohol, Cocaine and Cigarettes

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect that mental illness has on the demand for addictive goods. Mental illness could affect the level of consumption of addictive goods and could affect the price elasticities of addictive goods. Demand theory suggests that mental illness would affect consumption if mental illness affected marginal utility. In addition, mental illness would affect the price elasticity if mental illness affected the rate at which marginal utility diminishes. The empirical models allow for endogeneity between mental illness and addictive consumption since prior research suggests such a relationship. The results show that individuals with a history of mental illness are 25 percent more likely to consume alcohol, 69 percent more likely to consume cocaine and 94 percent more likely to consume cigarettes. Individuals with a history of mental illness are responsive to price although the price elasticites differ somewhat from whose without mental illness. These results provide an added justification for higher taxes and other supply reduction activities since they show that these policies are effective with this high participation group. The results also suggest that an additional method of reducing the consumption of addictive goods is to subsidize the treatment of mental illness.

The Effects of Social Media Use on the Perceptions of Mental Illness Among College Students

This study examined individuals’ use of and perceptions of social media networking sites (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) on their perceptions of mental illness. Previous studies have consistently found that media, by means of TV shows, movies, and news reports, depict distorted views of the mentally ill. Previous studies have also consistently found that these media depictions are related to increased stigma of mental illness and the mentally ill. This current study goes a step further by examining the role of social media networking sites on individual’s perceptions, since they are newer and more widely used forms of social media today. This study aimed to answer the research question, “does the use of social media networking sites, and the negative posts on them, perpetuate the stigma of mental illness?” Data was collected using a survey asking participants about their social media use, perceptions of, and attitudes about mental illness, as well as posts they have seen on social media about mental illness. Participants were 183 undergraduate college students at Butler University. The majority of the sample were female, upper-class, Liberal Arts and Sciences students. Using regression analyses, the results of this study showed no significant relationship between social media and mental illness perceptions as hypothesized. Social media use was found to be positively correlated with social media views, and additional analyses indicated that the more one uses social media, the more often they see posts regarding mental illness, as well as see posts involving mass shootings. Gender was found to have a significant relationship with mental illness perceptions. This finding indicated that males, on average, reported higher scores on the mental illness perceptions index, indicating that they hold more stigmatizing views of mental illness in comparison to females

Mental illness action taken in workplace

It is approximately 450 million people have been analysed with mental illness around the world, where mental illness, substance abuse and neurological diseases contribute to 13% of the worldwide disease burden. The World Health Organization (WHO) gauge that 1 in 4 individuals experience mental illness at a few points in their life. That means almost 25% of the population has a mental illness. According to Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam Depression, on normal, accounts for 4.3% of the by and large burden of cobalt disease, which is one of the biggest causes of morbidity. Mental illness or also been called as mental health disorders, it is a wide scope of emotional well-being problem of scatters that impact your personality, considering and conduct. Tension issue, dietary issues, addictive practices, discouragement and schizophrenia which are the instances of dysfunctional behaviour

Mic Check? Mic Check! Amplifying Our Voices

Content Warning: discrimination, suicidal ideation, violence When I write about mental illness, I use the terms: disability, identity, and relationship. However, no word captures what mental illness means to me. Mental illness is somehow both a part of me and a separate, intangible entity. Every day is an exhausting struggle to live with and understand it, and during my first year of graduate school, I experienced covert ableism. This harm caused a long and tedious recovery process on top of ongoing unlearning and healing. Through recovery, I adopted the practice of “embracing the whole” of emotions, feelings, symptoms, and triggers. I questioned the concept of “professionalism” emphasized in my assistantship, which often included dehumanizing emotions. However, I will not expend additional emotional labor to educate those who committed ableist actions. Instead, I will write in depth about my mental illness experiences to relate to folx who have a mental illness. Through this article, I hope that folx with mental illness can empower themselves to embrace the whole of their emotions and the authenticity of their experiences, honoring their own bravery and vulnerability

Nursing Students’ Perception of the Stigma of Mental Illness

Background: Mental health disorders are highly prevalent in the U.S. Nursing students’ perceptions regarding the stigma of mental illness will impact the quality of care delivered and the patients’ outcomes. Method: Data was collected from 64 sophomore students. Five open ended questions were distributed to the students during the first class. All the surveys were collected by a volunteer student and were placed in the instructor’s mailbox in a sealed envelope. Results: The results revealed three categories: students ‘perceptions of the causes of mental illness stigmatization, their own perception of mental illness, and their perception on how to break the cycle of stigmatization of mental illness. Conclusion: Nursing students provided insightful perceptions regarding the causes of the stigma and possible interventions. Collaborative efforts to break the stigma of mental illness include: education, acceptance, increasing awareness, and better portrayal in the media

Mental Illness as a Barrier to Marriage Among Mothers With Out-of-Wedlock Births

This study explores how mental illness shapes transitions to marriage among unwed mothers using augmented data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. We estimate proportional hazard models to assess the effects of mental illness on the likelihood of marriage over a five year period following a non-marital birth. Diagnosed mental illness was obtained from the survey respondents' prenatal medical records. We find that mothers with mental illness were about two thirds as likely as mothers without mental illness to marry, even after controlling for demographic characteristics, and that human capital, relationship quality, partner selection, and substance abuse explain only a small proportion of the effect of mental illness on marriage.

Exploring women’s perspectives of living with mental illness, stigma, and receiving community services

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) (2015), one in five individuals will experience mental illness personally, which means that all Canadians will be indirectly (or directly) influenced by mental illness at some point in their life. Unfortunately, due to historical trends and negative stereotypes mental illness has become heavily stigmatized (Camp, Finlay, and Lyons, 2002; Chernomas, Clarke, and Chisholm, 2000; Link, Struening, Neese-Todd, Asmussen, and Phelan, 2001; Sands, 2009; Szeto, Luong & Dobson, 2013). Although many studies have assessed the relationship between mental illness and stigma, little research has included a gender lens when exploring these topics. Therefore, the primary research objective of the current study is to explore women’s perspectives of living with mental illness, stigma, and receiving community services. In total, five women from the Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge area participated in the study. Similar to the literature, results found that the women experienced feelings of loneliness and sadness due to their mental illness diagnosis and the stigma they experienced from friends, family, and service staff. Some women talked about being relieved to have a label or diagnosis for their illness, however, the majority of their narratives suggested that living with a mental illness is difficult due to the internal and external stigma they experience. Findings from this study have implications for contributing to the field of social work, improving service delivery within various healthcare facilities, and future research