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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Anxiety Disorders

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Anxiety Disorders Imagine being so afraid of something that it changes how you live your life? That is called a phobia. Phobias are part of a group of mental illnesses called anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders include many different illnesses as well. The treatment for these illnesses is very different today than it was during the 1950’s. These disorders have been demonstrated in the media many times throughout history. Anxiety disorders have many frightening symptoms, were treated in many ways, and can be seen in characters from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.
Illnesses in this category include phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Posttraumatic stress disorder. These illnesses can be caused by many factors that include …show more content…

It became popular during that time because it was a cheap and easy way to treat mental illness. In the article “Electroconvulsive Therapy” the author points out that electric shock therapy was being abused in the 1950’s in order to punish patients who caused trouble in the ward (Electroconvulsive therapy). The 1950’s made many people believe that electric shock therapy is not useful even though it does help patients who have no other options for treatment. Media also made many believe that electric shock therapy was often used just to punish patients. For example, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, McMurphy is the leading character that often acts out against Nurse Ratched. After fighting with some of the “black boys”, he is sent to the “shock shop” to receive electric shock therapy because he was defending his friend George. That is only one example of many from the book where patients have been forced to receive electric shock therapy as a punishment. The only risks are disturbances in heart rhythm and memory loss. Rebecca J. Frey also explains that today anxiety disorders are treated with medication, psychotherapy or both. All depending on the severity of the disorder (Anxiety Disorders). This means that having an extremely severe anxiety disorder will not be treatable with these methods. However, if a patient has a mild form of an anxiety disorder it can be treated by these methods and will help alleviate the symptoms. The medications used for treatment are antidepressants, antianxiety and beta blocker drugs. To test the effectiveness of the medication, a patient is put on a 6 to 8 week plan on that certain medication. This method seems to be the most effective for mild anxiety. These treatments are very important and have helped many people around the world. Prevention is not possible but treatment for the disorder is the best that modern medicine has found.

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