Mental Health - A Real Problem We Face
By: NayNayButler
Everyday you read articles or watch programs telling you how important it is to take care of your physical health by diet and exercise. We are told to take certain supplements and exercise daily for our overall health. The question is why don’t we hear much about how to take care of our mental health? Did you know that 1 in 4 adults suffer from mental illness in a single year? That is 61.5 million Americans who suffer from mental illness in a given year. I think we have to ask ourselves a few questions, such as why are so many people suffering from this illness? Are these people who are suffering from mental illness getting the proper treatment? How does this large number of mentally ill people affect us as a society?
Mental illness comes in various forms. Some of the forms of mental illness are:
Anxiety
Eating disorders
Depression
Bipolar Disorder (Manic-Depressive)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Schizophrenia
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, ADD)
When people are experiencing the effects of one or more of these disorders it can be devastating to the person as well as their family members. I have experienced family members who had one or more of these illnesses, and I am sure most of you reading this article have at least one family member or friend who also has one or more of these illnesses. It can be very difficult to help that person and get them the services they need to get them better. When I was caring for my family member, they were fortunate enough to have medical insurance to cover their care and medications, but what about the countless number of people who do not have that insurance. Those people are let out into our society sometimes harming themselves or harming others. We have seen a record number of mass shootings recently. Was there something that could have been done to get these people some help before they snapped and murdered so many innocent people? We as a society sometimes watch these horrific events and feel sorry for the people going through it, but never imagine that one day it could be you and your family going through the very same thing. That is why it is important to be knowledgeable on the subject of mental illness and realize that it is much more prevalent than you might have imagined. Our soldiers come home from war and sometimes experience very serious mental illnesses such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Is our system set up to truly provide these soldiers with the help they need to re-adjust to society again? We can also evaluate whether we should have trained mental health counselors in schools to monitor our children and make sure they are not slipping through the cracks. Our children are suffering with some of these mental illnesses, but if their parents are not financially able to get them the proper treatment they are left to turn to drugs, alcohol or sometimes suicide because they were not able to cope.
Mental illness affects our society in so many ways, yet there is not a lot of help out there if you don’t have the money to afford it. Even if you have insurance, the out of pocket expenses can be to expensive for a lot families to afford. What can we do to address this problem and make mental illness just as important as our physical health?
1. Check to see how available and affordable mental health treatment is in your community. The following are some suggested contacts for mental health assistance:
- Open Path Psychotherapy Collective -
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- The National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics
- Open Counseling
2. Let your Congressmen and Senators know that this is an issue that should be addressed. They are elected to listen to their constituent’s concerns. They have the power to bring this to the national stage and really make a difference.
- Congress.gov
3. Get involved and share your concerns by joining a mental health organization in your community.
I really don’t have an answer to this problem, but I do know if we continue to do nothing this problem is not going to go away, and the numbers will keep rising. We need to treat mental illness just as seriously as we do our physical health, and mental health services should be readily available and affordable to anyone that needs this help. On a positive note, The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has required that all insurance plans on the Healthcare Insurance Marketplaces include mental health and substance abuse services as part of your medical coverage. This is a huge step in providing mental health services to those that need it. There is still the issue of those people who aren’t qualified for Obamacare, and also do not qualify for Medicaid. Those people who fall through the crack in the healthcare system are still without proper care and treatment for mental illnesses. That means that there is still a lot of work to do to fix the huge problem we have in this country regarding mental illness.
Sources:
http://www.nami.org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml
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