Facing Mental Illness Essay

The video On the Edge is used to sightsee a hypothetical story about two main characters, James and Olivia, who suffers from inefficiencies encountered in the care system. Although the video is based on a fictional story, the dilemmas presented are real because many Americans experience these problems. Individuals and families share the same predicament where loved ones suffer from mental illness. Throughout the video, we learn a lot especially on challenges that care system face and the corrective measures that may be taken at individual, community, and professional level. The discussion is triggered by the public concern to inefficient delivery of services.
The video unfolds the twisting situation that actually occurs in hospitals ERs, school campuses, courtrooms, jails, and streets on the city as thousands of Americans suffer from deadly mental sickness such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The dramatic scenes of the Fred Friendly seminar expose the personal, families, and medical practices that either boost or hinder the process of treatment and recovery. The effects of public policies on the treatment and recovery procedure are also exposed. In fact, the Minds of the edge portray the health system in American as the real definition of insanity.
The participation of the experts from various professional divide adds value to the issues discussed on health care. As they highlight reasons for their participation in the forum, several things are pointed out about the health care practice. As it clearly brought out, getting a quality and reliable health care system in America is a problem. The success of getting the quality care was attributed to either violent advocacy or connection to those who have been successful in assessing quality health care. The discussion highlights that indeed the proving care services can be improved in quality if proper practices and procedures are put into place. As one of the suggestions, the health providers are challenged to adopt best health care practices that are evidence-based. Embracing such a strategy may result to the ability to get feedback and measure actual outcomes that may in return be used to improve the system efficiency.
Through the intense discussion, specialists in law and health professions seriously criticize the quality of health care in America. In fact, it is deliberated that the parties expected to support and improve the care system are overburdened, and the need for a standard quality care is beyond any doubt.
Professional health practitioners were identified to be less accountable and committed to their profession ethics and expectations. This problem was associated to supervision variances that had transformed professionals in the health care sector to lack accountability at both individual and team commitment. The poor supervision practices had also corrupted the organization culture and deteriorated the application of best practices. The concept of expectation versus productivity was evaluated due to the variances on supervision strategies. Implementations of a good supervision strategy require investment in terms of resources and lack of workforce capacity and cash was indeed a major contribution to implementing the required strategy.
The most challenging issue occurs when the family of Olivia realizes that their daughter, Olivia, is suffering from a mental illness. This news comes as a terrifying nightmare as their daughter is a successful college student. I feel pity for Olivia as she struggles about her condition. As her lecturer elaborates her condition, she is desperate on where she may get help about her illness. Her parents are also afraid that their daughter may be thrown out of school. This condition is even serious when she is found walking in circles and muttering to herself. The inefficiency of the in the judicial and health system is brought out when it occurs that Olivia cannot be held against her will yet she is in danger while in the streets. For instance, while on the streets she risks being sexually harassed. During a court hearing, the Olivia’s attorney defends his client wish of not going to health facility as her parents wish. The health institution Olivia is supposed to attend are described as dangerous and pretty bad.
James on the other hand experiences hallucinations and delusion of a very terrifying belief and voices that plague him. This issue has been a disturbing him since he was a teenager. These voices have convinced him that he is a piece of garbage that cannot even get closer to other people without contaminating their souls. From the video, James struggles a lot especially on assessing medication. His suffering is further heightened by the death of his mother who was the source of his real support. It’s sarcastic that James is given a three weeks appointment to the hospital for a medical checkup yet he is mentally ill. This raises an issue on how the system actually work i.e. how does it really expect a mentally disoriented person to take medical appointments seriously? Another questionable approach to treatment comes up when the health practitioners fail to admit James on the ground that he is not a danger to himself and the society. To make matters worse, he was not given prescriptions but gets arrested for urinating in public.
In conclusion, it is beyond any reasonable doubt that concerns raised in the Minds on the Edge regarding health care are paramount and with great impact to the wellbeing of Americans. As the story of James and Olivia unveils, a picture is portrayed of how families and individuals struggle in their pursuit to receive health care. Furthermore, it is ironical that various bodies such as the judiciary which are expected to enhance health care are hindrance to its success. Although we may point fingers to the care system for being inefficient, it is important to note that its realization is influenced by many malpractices and incompetence in the society at large. Therefore, for America to fully implement a quality health care system that adapts best practices, everyone in the society has an active role to play.