Mental Illness: A Personal Narrative Analysis

The standard way of thinking about mental illness disorders has it that every person with the same diagnosis will have their own experience, that impacts the person's thinking, feelings, and mood causing them to not have the ability to interact with others or even function on a daily basis. Not just one event but multiple events tend to trigger the beginning of a mental disorder, Not only does it affect the person with the illness but family, friends, and community is also affected. When it comes to recovery early intervention and support is primal in improving the outcomes and a promising recovery. A very common mental illness that many experience is depression. Many may only have one episode in a lifetime but for others it's all that they
know. Depression isn't just the feeling of sadness while going through a rough patch, it's the loss of sleep, appetite, motivation, concentration and low self-esteem etc. Without a good treatment plan episodes may recur multiple times causing the severity of the illness to increase to the point of feeling helpless that they become suicidal. Facts show that one in five adults every year experience a mental illness. In discussions of mental illnesses, one controversial issue has been whether or not phone apps can help aid in the treatment process.
On the one hand, many argue that it will be convenient for the patient. On the other hand, others contend that it's a loss cause. Others even maintain that its primal that patients have the interaction with a therapist. My own view is that when someone has a mental illness such as depression it affects how you interact with others, their work ethic and the list goes on. I understand that we are in a technology era and it's hard for individuals nowadays to put down their electronic devices to have a conversation with someone, because the lack of motivation that comes along with depression what makes people think that they are going to want to go on their cell phones and use an app to help them sort out their issues. They are most likely wanting to be laying in their bed curled up in a ball and sleeping until they can not remember what day of the week it is. No better way to treat a mental illness is having the feeling of trust in someone like a therapist that they are going to help you get better and help you discover the person you used to be before you fell to your lowest of lows. While some believe that mental health apps will help in aiding the treatment of mental illnesses, the mental state of patients aren’t stable and the way they think and feel is not normal because of this the relationship between a patient and a therapist is crucial
so that they can understand a new way of thinking and feeling. Those that believe that mental health apps are not beneficial in aiding treatments concede that these apps give people false hope that patients will be cured with no human interaction. Many studies have shown that the therapeutic progress of a patient depends on the relationship between the patient and therapist. According to Galit Atlas, “ Psychological pain, including depression and anxiety, emerges largely in response to problematic human relations and traumatic history, and it is healed through a human relationship.” Galit Atlas is insisting that apps make patients feel that everything is under control and no interaction with another person is necessary, but because many illnesses like depression or anxiety deal with human relations it is important that patients have the face to face interaction with therapists to help rebuild how to interact with another individual in a more positive way than they knew before. Here many individuals would probably object that mental apps has not yet been discovered to be harmful but beneficial. These apps give patients an outside support system and not constrained by the confines of office hours, location, and therapist availability. Dror Ben-Zeev himself writes, “when individuals with schizophrenia used a treatment app we developed called Focus, the majority had fewer symptoms of psychosis and depression. The app sends questions to individuals about their clinical status daily, and based on their responses, offers support and guidance on everything from mood problems and medication use to coping with hallucinations.” Dror ben-Zeev’s point is that through research these apps help people with mental illnesses, maybe they aren’t for everyone but they are beneficial. David C. Mohr agrees when he writes, “ The thought challenger app uses cognitive behavioral techniques to challenge negative thinking.” Again David C. Mohr points out that these apps have important meaning and actually aid in helping the treatment of individuals. I think that Dror Ben-Zeev is mistaken because he overlooks the fact that people may just use these apps as an excuse to not go and see a therapist and end up receiving the wrong diagnosis resulting in the wrong treatment.
Matthew Hertenstein states, “In-person interaction is something we’ve benefited from for thousands of years as a species. Regulating our emotional lives via an app is a lot to ask of our stone age minds that perceive others’ emotions based on facial expression, voice, body language and touch.” I agree that human interaction is very important in treating those with mental illnesses, everyone would benefit from talking to a therapist because my experience of talking to someone confirms it. Although I disagree with much that those who think that mental health apps are beneficial, I fully endorse that the apps may help some but they aren’t for everyone. While it is true that mental health apps are beneficial to some patients based on studies, it does not necessarily follow the traditional way to treat people which has been proven effective for many decades
now.