tasnimbblog - Tumblr blog

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Revision 3

~This essay had a large topic with a lot of information that could have been executed better. It was hard leaving room for both my opinion and the facts. I could have executed this so much better, but hey..still I rise right lol. ~

I’ve always wanted to research the question, “Is drug and alcohol abuse linked to addiction, and is it caused by your free will?”. I say free will because we can infer that there is nothing in this world that compels you to destroy your body with drugs and alcohol. Nothing in your body has an addiction to these substances until you let them enter your bloodstream, thus creating a loop of addiction which is extremely hard to recover from. In this essay, I will be explaining my point of view as to why and how Drug and Alcohol abuse is scarring on families and malicious; detailing how one starts to become addicted, and other topics outlining the consequences of these substances, and how to help break an addiction.

First, we need to thoroughly define “drug addiction”. Drug addiction is described by Drugabuse.gov site as, “Addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences”. It’s quite easy to say that drug abuse is completely voluntary, no one is forcing you to take these harmful substances, but we must look beneath the surface to find why people are switching to drugs and alcohol instead of something safe and healthy. In my opinion, and the opinion of the people, drug use could always be the next step into someone's road in addiction. For example, if you’re addicted to opiates and you consistently receive painkillers from your doctor, and you consistently take more than you should to get that high, your doctor is going to figure this out and he’s going to cut you off completely. Leaving you in a pile of withdrawal with your only option of switching to something much stronger to increase your tolerance; such as heroin or something like meth.

This type of gateway exchange has also been dubbed “The Opioid Epidemic”. Characterized by the site known as addictioncenter.com, “The opioid epidemic specifically refers to the growing number of deaths and hospitalizations from opioids, including prescriptions, illicit drugs, and analogs. In recent years, death rates from these drugs have ramped up to over 40,000 a year, or 115 a day, across the US. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, largely due to the opioid epidemic.”

The drug known as Morphine is specifically the cause of this insane conflict of hurtful drug abuse, and it has only gotten worse over the years. At the beginning of the essay, I said that it’s too easy to say drug abuse is completely voluntary, there are actually many steps that go into someone falling into depravity. Even though these are grown adults becoming addicted to these opiates, I feel like it is necessary to say that Big Pharma and doctors also need to be held accountable in what they are supplying to their patients. To make this more personal, I have prescribed this anxiety medication for relaxation, but my psychiatrist felt the need to take me off it weeks early because she knew that the drug was easily able for people to get addicted to, she knew the risks and looked out for me.

Drug abuse is honestly a sticky slope because addiction is scientifically described as a chronic illness, something that needs to be rectified and something that needs therapy and rehab. Rehab is something I feel like should be the number one facility that needs to be perfected in America, it should not be frowned upon if someone wants to get help, they should be praised for being brave and acknowledging that they have a serious illness and issue. This segues me into the issue of blatant alcoholism and its addictive properties. Although alcohol abuse is technically not illegal (you can be cut off from bars), the moment you step into a vehicle and get behind the wheel is the moment it all goes downhill. As simplified by the author Camille Renzoni of the article called “What Makes Alcohol Addictive” from the site therecoveryvillage.com, “Physical addiction to alcohol is caused by the chemical response in the brain to alcohol. Studies show that alcohol interacts with receptors in the brain called gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors.” Psychological addiction is caused by using the substance to cope with an issue, however, this fabricates the problem of suddenly being dependent on the substance which can prove to be horrifying for some families. On the subject of community and families, drugs and alcohol abuse has been proven to tear families apart and break apart emotional bonds. The site Drugrehab.com defines drug and alcohol abuse for families as debilitating and detrimental. “Research shows that families affected by alcoholism are more likely to have low levels of emotional bonding, expressiveness, and independence. Couples that include at least one alcoholic have more negative interactions than couples that aren’t affected by alcoholism, according to research from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions.” I think this makes a lot of sense because, even in the fictional world of movies and tv shows, this correlates to the real world through the fact that seeing your loved one(s) going through something like this is very despairing, and you can only think to blame yourself as to why you weren’t there for them in their time of need.

I think a good start to recovery and to breaking addiction, is to have an intervention. As movie cliche as that sounds, interventions have been proven to be very helpful and eye-opening for the sufferer. It really makes them see all the emotional damage that they are causing to their loved ones and I think it really expedites their road to salvation. For example, in the docuseries “Intervention”, the main purpose was to showcase the destructive nature of drug and alcohol addiction and the overall effectiveness of their interventions. It gave the families an open forum to just put out everything in the open, and for the accused to eventually seek help. However, there was a catch, the abuser had two choices, to go seek help, or to sever all ties they had to their family. This really strikes deep with me because I feel like, no matter how addicted I was to something, I would never, in any case, sever all contact I had with my family, the intervention in itself would have put me on the right track to seek rehab.

All in all, I think Drug and Alcohol abuse is such a serious topic for some people to discuss because I feel like it's something that usually doesn’t get brought up in a social setting. It’s usually the elephant in the room, especially when you know someone that suffers from drug abuse and or alcohol abuse, its extremely hard to urge them to get help because, in most times, it’s difficult for them to stop using and or drinking due to the demon that is addiction.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Essay 3 - Original

All in all, I think Drug and Alcohol abuse is such a serious topic for some people to discuss because I feel like, it's something that usually doesn’t get brought up in a social setting. It’s usually the elephant in the room, especially when you know someone that suffers from drug abuse and or alcohol abuse, its extremely hard to urge them to get help because, in most times, it’s difficult for them to stop using and or drinking due to the demon that is addiction.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Journal 3

~This journal was useful for myself. I was able to think about the comments I got on revision 2 and write some kind of game plan. ~

I enjoyed revision one a lot. Even though it proved to be harder than expected, the prompt left a lot to room for the writer to take this story wherever he/she wanted. It taught me to make connections between subjects that you usually would not think relate. It encouraged me to think beyond what was right in front of me. Making these connections require a deeper level of thinking which means the connection has to be very well thought out and articulated clearly. Although I was unable to accomplish the clarity that I wanted, I learned exactly what needed to be done for me to achieve my goal. In the second revision, I chose a narrative essay that made it a little harder to pull research that complimented the goal of my essay. Although both essays required fact, it had to be presented in a very different way for revision 2; it was a much more scholarly essay. All ideas had to circle back to create a well written essay. In this revision, I would like to choose the right type of essay that will leave me room to add research that would add to the readers knowledge on the topic. I would like to take the mistakes I made on both revisions. I would need to improve upon the cohesiveness of all the material and making sure my argument comes full circle. Since we need more sources than usual, I know lots of focus will need to go into this revision.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Resource Guide

~ This assignment was very useful. Talking to someone who is a pretty young successful doctor was very motivating and laid a path for me. I learned what I need to do to get into medical school outside of school. After this assignment was completed, I read it and truly thoroughly enjoyed this work. ~

TERMS

Balance -

keep or put (something) in a steady position so that it does not fall

With the career that I plan to have in the future, a surgeon, I need to learn how to balance the abundance of work. Being able to even get the chance to work in a hospital requires so many years of schooling, and many college students are unable to stay with it. Staying with that path of education for that long requires lots of focus and being able to manage all your responsibilities.

Guidance -

advice or information aimed at resolving a problem or difficulty, especially as given by someone in authority

To succeed in being a doctor, you learn from observing those who have come before you. Reading all the information is pertinent, but being able to see techniques and procedures being done is very different. Being able to receive guidance from higher ups is the best form of learning in this field.

Passion-

strong and barely controllable emotion

Many people go their whole life just going through the motions, but I do not want to wake up every morning not excited about what I am waking up to. I want to love my job and never feel as if I wasted more than two decades of my life in schooling.

Standards -

a level of quality or attainment

When trying to be a doctor, anything that is not top notch is just not enough. You are responsible for someone's life, no matter how small the task. Every little task needs to be done with full attention and with proper procedure. I do not like to do anything if it isn't right, so I would feel inclined to make sure everything is spot on.

Will

a deliberate or fixed desire or intention.

To be able to finish schooling to be a doctor, it takes will. It is easy to see everyone out of school, living their life, while you are still learning. Many people who start off with the goal of becoming a surgeon opt out for jobs that require less in the medical field. Staying on track and focused really is a commitment.

PUBLICATION

Doctor-Patient Communication: A Review of the Literature Organization

This publication is about how doctors can successfully interact with their patients and clearly relay information to them. Being able to keep patients and their family calm in the midst of receiving not so great news is very hard. On top of trying to give patients information about their health, health professionals know medical terms that need to be broken down into layman terms for those who did not attend a decade worth of graduate schooling. It is an easy skill to overlook, but it truly holds a lot of weight on making a good doctor.

BOOK

The Intern Blues: The Timeless Classic About the Making of a Doctor

This book is about interns’ account of their day of day life over the course of a year. This is a good read for a prospective doctor because it gives the real accounts of how your life might look in a few years. The interns document everything from in detail, so it is easy to imagine yourself in their shoes. The interns are in the place I hope to be soon, so I have much to gain from their accounts.

ORGANIZATION

American Medical Student Association

This group is committed to representing concerns from physicians in training. I can benefit from this by hearing what my future can hold.

GROUP

The United Nations is a worldwide organization that is committed to achieve international cooperation. They send out doctors and any type of medical help that is needed in impoverished places. I plan on becoming a doctor because many of my cousins in African suffer from illnesses that can easily be cured with modern medicine, but they do not have access to it. I plan to use my medical degree to go back to Nigeria to work in a hospital. There are many issues with corruption in Nigeria, even when it comes to healthcare, and I would like to try to do something to remedy that.

INTERVIEW

I interviewed my orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Anthony Festa. I tore my ACL and fractured my patella my senior year of high school and he performed my reconstruction. From the interview, I learned that he is the youngest doctor in his private practice. Not only does he work in his office, but he is also the head team physician for Seton Hall University. He attended undergrad school at Boston College, medical school at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, residency at Tufts University Affiliated Orthopedic Residency, and his fellowship at San Diego Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine Program. He achieved all this “through persistence”. In college, he dove into research and every program available forward him in his career. Dr. Festa said to “take advantage of the resources around you. That does not only mean your professors, but your classmates and advisors. Reaching out to someone like me, like you did, is a great way to decide if this life is for you”. He spoke on his enjoyment of being able to wake up and do what he loves, and about how he doesn't regret all the work he had to put in to get to where he is. For his age, middle 40”s, he is beyond accomplished and now has three kids.

I chose him because I was able to see his enthusiasm in what he does every time I visit his office. He is a perfect role model with passion, and hard work. He talks about what his life is like travelling with the college team and managing his time with his children while taking on surgeries, directing a residency program, and teaching techniques to residents and attendings from all over the country. He said “when you see it as just a job, it is going to feel like work. You need to find a way where what you are doing brings joy to you as much as it does to your patients”. That quote stuck with me because it is too easy to be focused on yourself, and what type of day you are having and let that affect how you converse with others. When your entire career deals with working with others, it is smart to keep that quote in the back of your head.

GOAL

My goals in life to become a physician. I would more specifically like to become a surgeon. After I spend some time working in a hospital, I would like to spend two years working in Nigeria. From there, I hope to work with an organization like Doctors Without Borders working around the world. I do not remember what exactly drew me to this field. I started my childhood screaming that I wanted to be a pilot engineer, while my sister would be the pilot of the plane. Along the way of growing up, I changed to wanting to be a doctor and never gave that dream up. I do give some credit to my family in Nigeria. I would hear about their issues and see my mother collecting hospital supplies to send back home to them. I just do not think anyone should have to deal with having supplies sent from overseas to have any form of good medical care. I would like to be able to try to make a change.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Revision 2

~This revision really opened my eyes. It required a completely different set of skills from the first revision. I also truly realized how many “mistakes” can be in what someone considered a completed piece of work. Because this essay is about my life, it was hard to decide what events were important to add and how much in depth does the reader need to know for the essay to be complete. I did learn how the sources you add should complement the statement you are trying to relate it to. ~

My parents came to America from Nigeria in the late 1990s. When they came, my father was a diplomat and my mother did not need to work. My sister was born in February of 2000, and I was born in November of 2001. As a toddler, I loved her from what I was told. When she would have a stomach ache, I would cry over her pain. We attended a very strict Catholic school from Abbott to kindergarten. When my mother would pick us up from school, we knew our schedule. As soon as we came into the house it was uniforms off, and homework was to be done while my mother cooked. We would eat when we were done and then shower. We had our allotted television time, and we knew better than to try to get extra time in. After we would read or study, then go to bed. This was every day. My mom tended to us as my father went to work in New York and come back in the evenings until he left. My mom, blindsided with this, suddenly needed to find a job to care for us. Lucky for her, unlike most African girls, she went to university and had the necessary degrees to get a decent job in America. She started working as a registered nurse in a hospital. She now had to wake up get us ready for school, get ready for work, and drop us off at a babysitter who would keep us until it was time to take us to school. Hospitals are very unpredictable, so my mom would sometimes get pulled into emergency cases and be unable to pick us up from school on time, so our babysitters would have to come and get us. My mom was forced to juggle all these things, while still having to pay all the bills.

When my sister graduated from kindergarten, she moved to a new school. My mother enrolled her in a small new private school. Not too long into the school year, my mom was called into the office to discuss my sister’s behavior; she had somehow started a food fight at lunch. Like something straight out of a movie, she somehow managed to get a cafeteria full of usually well-behaved kids to join in on her actions. When this incident occurred, my dad came back to America for a visit, and he attended the meeting with the principal of the school. Knowing how my parents are, I can only imagine the beating my sister received at the time. Despite my sister’s bad behavior, she was an honor roll student until she reached middle school.

My mother very clearly did everything she could to provide us with things, necessary or not, for us to fit in. My sister, unsatisfied with what we had, stole two iPod Touches in school, and they were both from her friends. After stealing them, she went around the school flaunting that she had just recently got one. It didn't take long for the teachers to figure it out, and my mom was called back into the office, and this time without my father. At this point, he had been long gone and there was no indication that he had any intention of returning. Next, she put her classmate in a chokehold until he turned red, and received a suspension for that. After, she ran away from home and went to the friend whose IPod she stole.

I started to distance myself from her because I didn’t wanna be associated with any of that type of behavior. My grades never slipped, I was never in trouble, and always did what I was told. She was always the perfect example of everything not to do, but something changed in high school. She became an honors roll student again, and stopped getting in trouble at school. This was when we started actually talking to each other and we became friends as well as sisters.

In the first year of college, she went from saying “I have to be a surgeon” to “I’m going to change my major”. The day she told me she was going to change her major was when I knew things were going left. By the end of the first semester, her GPA was below 2.0 and she was having to retake the same classes in the second semester. My mom had no clue she was doing so bad because my sister was finding ways to make her situation sound better than it was. With her school being over 20,000 dollars in yearly tuition, my mom was struggling more than ever to stay afloat. During the second semester, my sister lost her scholarship and my mom had to stop paying her tuition. They would constantly argue over my sister’s whereabouts and how she was doing in school. My mom, who was very overprotective, would track my sister’s bank accounts and create stories as to what my sister was up to. Not that my mom was wrong, but she would scream at my sister for being out till the early hours of the morning. My mom would say that only prostitutes had any business being out at that hour. My sister decided that moving out of the house was her best option. She had no steady income and no way of being able to pay off her debt with her school. Within the spring semester, my father had gotten in contact with us and sent my sister money for school. She used that money to find a house to move into instead of paying off her debt so she could be able to go back to school. Her school would not allow her to go back unless some part of the money owed to them was paid off and with no job, my sister had no way of doing what needed to be done for her education to continue.

Studies show that “children who live with single parents or stepparents during adolescence receive less encouragement and less help with schoolwork than children who live with both natural parents, and parental involvement has positive effects on children's school achievement (1)”, but it would be disrespectful to my mother and all she has done to say that. My mom was more proactive and involved than most of my friend’s parents who lived together. I try my hardest to look at things from her perspective, but all I see is arguments that have a simple solution being blown out of proportion. She never needed to move out as a way to get my mother off her back, she could have just been doing the right thing. Being an American teenager to an African single parent is very hard, but she always just needed to adapt.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Essay 2 - Original

"No, no sit down. You and your sister need to sit down for this."

Usually, my mother just tells Anan and I whatever she has to. No build up, no drama, just out it. But this past summer, it was different. I didn't know what to expect. My mind dashed to my cousin in Nigeria who was recently diagnosed with total organ failure, but my mom said the words "Your father...".

Half-empty, blurred memories flooded my head. The first moments I spent with my father was not until I was already six years old when we visited Nigeria. Despite this being the start of our late relationship, I did not mind; I was finally spending quality time that each child deserves with their father. I was hoping he would teach me how to ride a bike or how to dance to cultural music, or even how to be a good Muslim. I was hoping he would be my dad. I didn't, however, get to have that, but my naive mind was opened to the possibility.

After this trip, I came back to America, eager to hear my dad's voice through the phone, but the only voice I heard was an automated message informing me that the number was disconnected.

My mom continued, "He wants to get in touch with you guys.".

Usman Alhassan Belel, a man who believed girls were not worth the trouble of raising, suddenly wanted to be a part of my life. In Nigeria, a large percentage of young females were trained to be "house girls" and no better was expected from me. When I heard the news, I was confused but hopeful to once again have a father even though it has been ten years.

Through my conversations with him this past summer, I learned that while he was absent from my life, he had eight more children.

Every day, I look into the mirror and see a reflection of my father whom I resemble greatly. From elementary school, I had the pressure of someone praying on my downfall looming within me. In high school, I joined soccer and track and field, quickly becoming a year-round varsity athlete. In soccer, my confidence dictates how I approach a ball, how my opponent perceives me, and how my actions are carried out. I apply these lessons to my father. I am confident in my choices, the way I carry myself, and most importantly, in myself to create and fulfill all my aspirations.

Anan, my older sister approached life in a different way. She has started food fights, choked her classmates, stolen from her friends, and left the house.

Not too long ago, I got a text from my sister that read “Miminio, can you do me a favor?”

I knew that she would never use my childhood nickname and text me so formally unless something was very wrong. I then received a paragraph after about how she was struggling to live in New York and needed money for rent. I thought back to when she decided to leave the house and could not feel anything but extreme pity for her. My family is very prideful. No one ever asks for help, but regardless, I was not going to give her the money that I worked all summer.

In the beginning of July, my nineteen year old sister packed all her belongings and moved into a house in New York with her friends. Her reasons for leaving started months before with one comment from my mother. My mother told her “ I did not send you to college to go and learn how to prostitute.” It does sound extreme, but when I asked my mother what she meant she explained it how prostitutes go out every night and my sister was never on campus every night, not that she was calling my sister a prostitute. This one comment was the explanation my sister used when other family members asked her why she was leaving home with no job, and no money to return back to school. Everyone had the same questions for her such as, How are you going to pay your rent?, or How are you going to live in New York if you do not know how you are going to pay for school this year?

In the midst of all the strained relationships in my sister, I bit my tongue throughout it all only for my sister to cut me off once she left the house. Once she moved out, she would call my mother everyday as though she did not give her a three day warning that she was leaving the house, as if she did not write a letter to the school claiming she was brutally abused, as though she did not lie to her school that she was forced to move out of the house, as though she did not claim that the only support she ever got in life came from the friends she moved in with.

The larger part of my family in Nigeria would pray day and night for her to come back to her senses. My grandma did nothing but cry from halfway across the world. My mother once told Anan, “The last thing you will do is kill my mother, but she is the only reason why you will ever be able to come back into my house.”

Now that I am hundreds of miles away from my mom, she is always paranoid about what I am doing, and I can say nothing to salve her qualms. She has good reason to be. There is absolutely nothing I can do to show her I will not end up doing what Anan did because she was fine, until she wasn't. The only thing I was told before leaving home for college was not to dare try what my sister did. I now have to try my utmost to be perfect in a completely new environment. College is a place where you are bound to make a mistake or two, but I have no leeway. My sister's actions have unjustly affected my whole college experience.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Journal 2

~ I was excited to choose the person that I did for resource guide. I knew I had to focus on narrowing my audience for this essay to make it easier for me to write. ~

I feel as though I thought revising my writing would be easy because writing is not my strong suit, but because in my head it was a finished product, it was hard to deconstruct it. Having a large, very broad topic made it harder to talk about very specific things and write about everything someone would need to know about the basics of my topic. I think working on my past essays will really help me when it comes to writing new essays because it teaches me to really try to zero in on my audience and choose a clear narrow topic. In the future, I think it will only get harder because I will keep finding more issues with my past writing as I get more comfortable with editing my work. I do believe that editing is real work. When writing an essay, you can write almost anything about a topic, relevant or not. The harder part is trying to decide what is truly pertinent information regarding your topic, and deciding if a reader will benefit from that piece of information.

For my research guide, I plan to interview my orthopedic doctor. I plan on going to medical school and becoming a surgeon, so he would be the perfect person to see what I have to do to get to where I would like to be in life. Last year, I tore my ACL and he was my surgeon. I talk to him often enough for him to give me true insight. He also has children and he is considerably young compared to the other doctors in his office. He is doing everything I would like to do in the future.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Revision 1

~This essay required for us to step out of our own bodies and completely change our target audience. Altering the essay to speak to eight year olds did not sound like a daunting task, but a lot of thought had to go into this essay regarding what information is pertinent information and how much is too much. I also had to constantly ask myself what does an eight year old in this society know. Luckily, my topic allowed for a lot of room for a lot of added ideas. ~

Mental Health and the Black Community

Mental health is quite literally the state of your brain and how it is affecting your whole body. It is a measure of all the chemicals that are essential for your brain to work correctly. Although it would not seem like it, the brain is made up of millions of little particles, called cells, that are important in every single word you say. You do not automatically know the answer to a question when a teacher asks the class; all parts of your brain work together to help you pull out that one piece of information from your brain. It is necessary for every movement, thought, and interaction throughout the day.

When the chemicals in your brain do not exist in the perfect ratios needed to make , it creates a whole lot of problems. Chemical imbalances means that there are either too much or too little of a certain chemical, which help transmit signals within the brain. Some mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression are caused by these imbalances.

Mental illness is a collection of all the conditions that affect your mood, behavior, and thoughts. These illnesses can range from eating disorders to anxiety, but with all of these illnesses, treating them is different with every person. It is not like a common cold where the same cough syrup can cure everyone. Doctors prescribe different medications and forms of therapy for every patient.

Also, just because you are getting help does not mean that it will help. Think of how chefs perfect recipes.

First, they gather all their ingredients needed for their creation. Doctors do the same by asking questions to gather all the information needed to make an informed decision on what it is a patient has. Chefs then go on to add each ingredient in specific amounts. Doctors can prescribe medications in different amounts to each patient. These medications vary very much from patient to patient. The same patient might even need that medication in a different strength if what the doctor first told them to take does not affect them positively. This brings us to the next step. When a chef taste their creation, and decided that something is off, they can restart the whole recipe or keep adding ingredients until it is perfect. With a mental illness, doctors can try a mix of different medications and different forms of treatment until the patient feels that there is a positive change in their life.

There is no real cure to mental illnesses. Any person who is diagnosed, has to live with it for the rest of their life. They can find coping mechanisms and find new treatment options, but it is forever a battle. There is so much that humans still do not know about the brain. Because everyone is different, it is hard to assume how a certain treatment option will affect someone. Having an illness such as depression, where most of the treatment options include taking some kind of medication, can feel as it is holding you back from many things in life. Because it is caused by chemical imbalances, the medications are made from a number of different ingredients that are meant to reverse these imbalances. The same way that the imbalances affect the body in many severe ways, trying to fix it with manufactured chemicals will also cause changes. Many users of antidepressant medication still feel all the symptoms, but it is almost as if it is turned down. Most medications do not fix the illness, but muffle its effects, as if you hold your hand to a speaker to cover the noise coming out. It is still there, just quieter.

Talking about mental health is seen as unimportant in many black communities. Your parents and school have probably not spoke to you guys about, but it is very important because having a mental illness can alter the course of your life.

As you grow up, you become more aware of your surroundings and the effect that everything has on you. As someone who has dealt with mental health before, I too felt apprehensive about seeking help when I was younger. Fundamentally, this all stemmed from the common quotes such as“just pray on it” or “that’s just the devil talking”. When parents, family members, or trusted loved ones say things like this, it can make you feel as they do not care. It is partially not their fault. They are only saying to you what they were taught to be seen as normal. This can leave you feeling like you have no one to turn to. That mentality can form a cycle of despair, which is why it is more important than ever to correctly treat mental illnesses. Now is a better time than ever, and this generation is luckier than most. The attitude that having a mental illness is just weak and not a real issue is almost nonexistent now. All kinds of people all over the world are having open conversations about mental illnesses and their treatment. The brain is not an exact science and it is harder than most things to study. Scientist and doctors learn new things everyday about the brain that can help to future develop new and better forms of treatment.

In the article, African American Mental Health by the National Alliance on Mental Health, it states that “approximately 30% of African American adults with mental illness receive treatment each year, compared to the U.S. average of 43%”. This is simply because, compared to other racial demographics, black people are discouraged from seeking help, as their peers will see them as weak or godless.

Continuously, black people are constantly being misdiagnosed from having a mental illness when they do seek help. This is from the visious discrimination and racism that is still vibrant within the health industry. It stems from America’s racially charged history, which put all black people at an unfair disadvantage in almost anything in life.

Another aspect of this stigma is birthed from the extreme spirituality of the black community. Older generations of black people were conditioned to always rely on God to save them from their troubles, before they were even allowed to think of getting help. From the book Researching Black Communities: A Methodological Guide, “A formal surgeon general noted a lack of evidence on outcomes of care for African Americans receiving mental health treatment” ( Snowden-225). This further proves the racism when it comes to healthcare for blacks in America. This wouldn’t be such a dire issue if it didn’t bleed into the newer generations of black people. We have the help, technology, and support that the other generations didn’t have the luxury to have. In this instance, it makes sense that older black adults turned to God, because religion was their only escape. It is truly not their fault that they were taught to always pull it together and act as though all is right in the world

When I was younger dealing with abnormal adolescent issues, my parents would say over and over, “let God do the work” or “therapists are for white people”. Now that I’m older and have sought help, I’m grateful that I had support from my family and friends, they are relieved to see me seeing the brighter side to life. However, other young black women and men do not have the same support system as I.

Some additional steps that should be taken within the community is that we as a collective need to come together and realize that we suffer from illnesses that cannot be taken away in a snap by God, or by praying, or by anything other than sitting down and talking through our problems with a professional. I personally have no idea why seeking help is such a rarity within our community, it’s effectively killing our women and men in dangerous ways. I view this issue as almost never getting resolved. An attribute as to why as in the media, we see countless white males shooting up schools, deeming them as “crazy and troubled”. I don’t think the older generations of the black community would want to be “viewed” in that type of light, so they see young black women and men struggling mentally and end up rejecting them. It’s a very wretched but valid correlation, we’re too proud of a race to admit that as a collective, we are plagued by mental illness by at least 20% more than any other race, stated by ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America).

In conclusion, the black community has a very significant issue that needs to be rectified. We could easily take the steps to de-stigmatize mental illness in African Americans if we just stopped holding onto our collective pride as a race as being strong willed and resolved, and look at the facts screaming in our faces.

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Essay 1 - Original

Mental Health and the Black Community

When it comes to mental health in the black community, there is a destructive stigma. A stigma that makes young black women and men feel insecure and scared to seek help. As someone who has dealt with mental health before, I too felt apprehensive about seeking help when I was younger. Fundamentally, this all stemmed from the common quotes within the black community, “just pray on it” or, “that’s just the devil talking”. These dismissive quotes usually promote teenagers and adults to feel even worse as though they have no one to turn to, and then eventually internalize a cycle of despair. In the article, African American Mental Health by the National Alliance on Mental Health, it states that “approximately 30% of African American adults with mental illness receive treatment each year, compared to the U.S. average of 43%”. This is simply because, compared to other racial demographics, black people are discouraged from seeking help, as their peers will see them as weak or godless.

Continuously, black people are avidly misdiagnosed from having a mental illness when they do seek help. This is consequently from the vicious discrimination and racism that is still vibrant within the health industry. Another substantial aspect of this stigma is birthed from the extreme spirituality of the black community. Older generations of black people were conditioned to always rely on God to save them from their troubles, before they were even allowed to think of getting help. From the book Researching Black Communities: A Methodological Guide, “A formal surgeon general noted a lack of evidence on outcomes of care for African Americans receiving mental health treatment” ( Snowden-225). Thus further proving the blatant racism when it comes to healthcare for blacks in America. This wouldn’t be such a chaotic issue if it didn’t bleed into the newer generations of black people. We have the help, technology, and support that the other generations didn’t have the luxury to have. In this instance, it makes sense that older black adults would dispirit and demoralize a younger black person in need of help.

To corroborate this stigma, when I was younger dealing with abnormal adolescent issues, my parents would say over and over, “let God do the work” or “therapists are for white people”. Now that I’m older and have sought help, I’m grateful that I had support from my family and friends, they are relieved to see me seeing the brighter side to life.. A great inspiration for the community comes from the actress Taraji P. Henson, she has created a foundation based entirely on the mental wellbeing of the black community. She states in the preface of her foundation “I named the organization after my father because of his complete and unconditional love for me; his unabashed, unashamed ability to tell the truth, even if it hurts; and his strength to push through his own battles with mental health issues.” The black community is blessed to have someone like Taraji P. Henson fight for their mental health in the medical community, and our own socioeconomic community.

Some additional steps that should be taken within the community is that we as a collective need to come together and realize that we suffer from illnesses that cannot be taken away in a snap by God, or by praying, or by anything other than sitting down and talking through our problems with a professional. I personally have no idea why seeking help is such an odd commodity within our community, it’s effectively killing our women and men in dangerous ways. I view this issue as almost never getting resolved. An attribute as to why as in the media, we see countless white males shooting up schools, deeming them as “crazy and troubled”. I don’t think the older generations of the black community would want to be “viewed” in that type of light, so they see young black women and men struggling mentally and end up rejecting them. It’s a very wretched but valid correlation, we’re too proud of a race to admit that as a collective, we are plagued by mental illness by at least 20% more than any other race, stated by ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America).

0 notes

tasnimbblog · 5 years ago

Text

Journal 1

~When we were assigned this journal, it was closer to the beginning of the semester. I was still super confident about 105 because I thought 104 ended really well. ~

I would not say that I have a specific type of writer. I always try to fulfill the requirements for the assignments, give as many relevant facts as possible, while also trying to tie it to real life situations. In middle school, I was taught a very structured five paragraph essay with a very detailed outline. With this format, I was able to basically take full sentences from my outline and basically put the exact same sentence in my essays. When I got to high school, despite me taking a writing class, I did not learn a lot of essay writing skills. When I got the chance to take an AP writing class, I learned the required structure needed to earn high points on the exam. It was very much facts based which is different to how I need to write now. The essays that are required of me now do have, and should have factual evidence, but also needs more to make it complete. I have had trouble with forming a good conclusion that successfully ties all the information in my essays together and structure. I would like to be able to work on having a very well tied together essay with nothing but pertinent information in the essay. With the resource guide, I would like to learn to write to connect ideas that you would not expect but make them mesh into a well thought out thesis statement. In high school, I learned of someone connecting their Spotify playlist to their drive to become a doctor. I want to be able to make connections like that, which can elevate my level of writing. Just being more comfortable with writing is truly my goal, because I do not feel that I am at the level I should be at.

1 note · View note