We are by far the richest nation in the world. But we are 20th in the world in dealing with mental health issues. What countries do we trail? Pick pretty much any country in western Europe plus Japan and you start to get the idea. According to the Well Being Port, which is based on the well-being of any one country versus its mental health care. We are number 3 in well-being worldwide. That means that we rank 20th in mental health paints an even gloomier picture of our approach.
What is mental health? According to the report cited above, 1 in 5 Americans will encounter and mental health crisis at some time during their life. But among those figures, and one least written about is addiction which includes alcoholism. According to the World Population Review, the rate of alcoholism and addiction in the U.S. is among the highest in the world. I think this speaks loudly to our desire to take on these health issues directly. Again, countries such as Sweden, Austria and others have a much lower rate of these diseases. This is not a statistic anomaly, but a reality.
It is strange that anytime a Republican speak of mental health, it is only when there has been some sort of mass shooting. They are most certainly only trying to curry favor with the NRA and have no real empathy for those who suffer a mental illness.
The streets of the cities of the U.S. are littered with the mentally ill. There was a time when such people could be institutionalized until they were stabilized and of no danger to themselves or others. But in the 1970s Democrats in particular, viewed this as involuntary incarceration. If you care to wax philosophically about the, yes, that state is true. But is that good policy for those who suffer? It definitely is not. But also in the 1970s, there was a lack of psychiatric facilities for pure mental illness and a lack of facilities to treat those with drug and alcohol addiction. That has changed somewhat, although medical hospitals are want to treat the mentally ill past 2 weeks and almost uniformly refuse to provide in-patient care for drug and alcohol abuse.
This year, as our debt limit crisis is apparently avoided, Democrats refused to cut back on funding for mental health. But that is like saying, I will pay you 25 cents for your $1 product. Republicans on the other side, tried to reduce funding for those on public assistance. Well, news flash to the Republicans in denial, many of those on such assistance get government aid in the form of public assistance. The answer here is, if you want to reduce how much you pay into public assistance, put more into programs that directly assist those with mental health issues.
In a chapter of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, written over 80 years ago, Dr. Silkwood, at that time, described alcoholism as a health issue and not one of moral character. And yet still today we treat these individuals as pariahs of the general public. Many employers upon discovering an employee with drinking problems that lead to substandard work, fire such individuals rather than help them find assistance. They simply cite the lack of quality work as the reason for the firing. In truth, it is the combination of these factors. If a person get cancer, they cannot be summarily discharged because they miss so much work. There is a little known law by the public which is a portion of the American with Disabilities Act call the Reasonable Accommodation portion of the law which requires companies to work with people who present every sort of disability. Alcoholism and addiction are most definitely disabilities.
In short, we are failing all around to treat the most treatable illnesses today. Some mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and psychosis, defy physicians best efforts to contain them. But for the most part, people with mental illnesses can be fully productive provided they receive proper mental health care. Personally, I have what is called, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I have been on medications for over 40 years and there is little likelihood that I will ever fully recover. And yet, I lead a quiet but happy life. That is because via good health insurance and the Veterans Administration, I am fully cared for. But I believe I am in the minority who receives such care.
It is long overdue that our politicians, of any stripe, step up to the plate and put forth a rigorous plan that attacks the root forms of mental health in our country. We would do well to publicly fund treatment facilities for anyone who suffers any sort of mental illness. The result of this would be two-fold, they would get well and they would become healthy supporters of our economy. This might sound like a huge influx of cash by our federal government, which it would be, but it will reduce the costs of funding other portions of our public sector.
We each have a duty to help those in need. We cannot turn a blind eye to such problems and call ourselves good people. It is good to practice the help as you would wish to be helped thinking we must embrace.