On mental disorder

Mental disorder is not the ordinary type of illness that could be left under the expertise of mental health professionals alone. The immediate family, friends, and the society are also involved in its proper treatment. Reaching out to those who are affected could reflect our love and concern for them. This could tell them that they are still part of our society, and not discriminated just because of the disorder. I agree with Tokasa Lane that the primary root of mental disorder treatment is the proper assessment of the disorder itself.

This is the first step, so this should be done properly. If this was done incorrectly, then all the following processes go in the wrong way. Proper assessment leads to the proper classification of the disorder – be that mood disorder, or eating disorder, or worse, psychotic disorder. The doctor who supervises the patient should be armed with the proper knowledge and training to treat the disorder. Lane should have added also discussions on the techniques or approaches of assessing the disorder properly and on the treatments that could be prescribed for the patient.

On the other hand, the argument of Alzaley Evans dealt more on the sequence of proper treatment. It is true that research should be the stronghold, but sometimes, actual scenarios possess different features other than those published in books from the past years. That is why the recommendation on keeping records of mental disorders in all establishments involved in the treatment of mental disorders is good. This would allow the mental health professionals to compare observed behavior to occurrences in the past.

This would facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of the disorder in a relatively shorter span of time. This would also expand the database on mental disorders of that establishment, as claimed by the author. This would then help in future research studies about mental disorders. The occurrence and the proper treatment of mental disorders depend on the availability and expertise of mental health professionals, the willingness of the affected individual to undergo tests, and the acceptance of the family and society of the disorder.