Hospitalizing Mentally Ill People Against

¶ … Hospitalizing mentally ill people against their will is a touchy subject. On the one hand, those who are sworn to protect society have the obligation to do that, and removing people from society is sometimes necessary because these people pose a serious danger to others. On the other hand, some argue that this is a violation of the rights of individuals, because they are being restrained against their will. Ethically and morally, though, restraining these people and hospitalizing them is the right thing to do. They have problems that are affecting society as a whole. While they cannot help these problems, they also do not have the right to inflict them on society. Criminals are restrained and housed against their will because their actions are harming other people, and the same must be true of mentally ill people because of the danger that they pose to themselves and others. Of course, there are varying degrees of mental illness and impairment from that illness, which brings human (and fallible) judgment into the issue.

Pg 1, Topic 2: Based on the scenarios, John and Amy do not quality for actual mental illness. They appear to have phobias. While these affect small parts of their lives, they do not significantly impact their lives or the lives of others. Through therapy, both John and Amy could learn to address these phobias and conquer them. Why don't they? There can be all kinds of reasons for that. Most likely, however, they don't bother to correct their phobias because they don't see them as something that needs correction. In other words, the phobias are not severe enough to intrude on their lives, so they don't see why they should have to be corrected. They may not even realize that something needs correcting. Not everyone likes cotton candy, and there are many women who won't walk down dark alleys, so John and Amy most likely see their small issues as being pretty normal. There is also still a stigma to therapy in the eyes of many people, so this could be part of the reason that John and Amy avoid correcting their problems.

Pg 2, Topic 1: A therapist or a psychologist does not have to subscribe to one particular theory to treat patients effectively. The best psychologists are familiar with all of the main, credible theories, and they understand how these theories work. Then, they use the theory that they believe will best help the patient. Sometimes, the theories are used in combination with one another, or parts of different theories are used to make up the whole of a treatment plan. In addition, a good psychologist should also see when conventional theories are not working, and be willing to go outside the box for a particular patient who needs help. When a psychologist is able (and willing) to use a lot of different approaches, he or she will have the best chance of actually treating - and possibly curing - a patient who would otherwise not be able to be helped based on only one type of theory or style of approach. People who need therapy or treatment may have similar problem, but they are still all different. The way that they are treated can strongly affect whether treatment is successful.