OPINION
Mental Health Needs Resources To stop sufferers of mental illness from slipping through the cracks, the government should rework the confusing and neglected government-funded mental health care system. THIS EDITORIAL REFLECTS THE VIEW OF THE LE JOURNAL STAFF. EIGHTEEN OUT OF 22 VOTED IN SUPPORT OF THIS VIEW.
The media is notorious for exaggerating things. Whether it’s an “unbiased” news station or a gossip magazine, sensationalized press is consumed everywhere and in all outlets. It can be written on just about anything. Knowing this, it’s understood that media outlets hyperbolize topics like mental health, among others. Sensationalist press expresses stigma towards those with mental illness. Consequently, mental illness has a bad connotation in society. According to Psychologytoday. com, it’s possible to split mental health stigma into two types: perceived and social stigma. Perceived stigma is defined as a person with mental illness subjecting themselves to discrimination, leading to shame. Social stigma, defined as prejudice and intolerance aimed at people with mental illnesses due to the negative connotation given to them, is responsible for the tainted views on mental illness in today’s society and in the media. Due to the negative undertone of mental illness, many individuals with mental illnesses don’t seek help or treatment. According to Healthline.com, approximately one in four Americans have a mental illness that could be treated, yet three out of four of those individuals don’t pursue help. The current system of government-funded mental health
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care is overly complicated. Different services are provided by all of the states as well as different federal agencies. These federal agencies minister a plethora of different programs and different social services agencies in each of the states. So while some states may offer many services for those with mental illness, other states may offer little to no services. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there aren’t any practicing psychiatrists, psychologists or social workers available in half of the counties in the United States. Services need to be available and equally as beneficial in every state for all individuals with mental illness seeking help. According to USA Today, about a million Americans with mental illness are ignored in today’s system of government-funded mental health care.
illnesses. The misplacement of these people results in patients not getting the help they need. According to USA Today, due to fewer hospital resources and useless community services, about 590,000 people with mental illness wind up in jails, prisons, city streets and homeless shelters. Consequently, the displaced persons are not only deprived of treatment, but they take up room and money in the institutions they are assigned. According to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 5.5 million people end up in hospitals each year because of mental illness. This is approximately four percent of all hospital visits. The issue of misplacement would be solved for the mentally ill and for the institutions that care for them if the government made an effort of ensuring that the mentally ill had the opportunity to receive treatment. The government needs to create and establish a nationwide system in which they clarify where an individual should go to receive help and make sure patients end up in places that will be beneficial for them. If the government would solve the seemingly never ending problem of individuals not receiving the help they need, and of the mentally ill ending up in places like hospitals and prisons, where they just cost those institutions more money, the misplaced persons issue would be solved. Finally, the government needs to educate the public on mental illness. In a society in which stigma towards mental illness is so prevalent, education to counter that social stigma would benefit not only the public but those with mental illnesses. With less stigma, sufferers of mental illness would be more likely to receive treatment and ultimately would live easier, happier lives.
“The complicated system prevents individuals from receiving the help they need, and the government needs to simplify it.” The complicated system prevents individuals from receiving the help they need, and the government needs to simplify it. The government ignores the fact that the current funded mental health care system isn’t working, and by ignoring their own system, they are negligent to all of the sufferers of mental illness incapable of receiving care and treatment. Once those individuals seek help for their illness, it’s important that they end up in the correct facilities. As reported by USA Today, many times people with mental illnesses wrongly end up in places that aren’t meant or specialized to cater towards those with mental
20% 20 percent of children 13 to 18 years old have some type of mental illness, defined as disorders that affect an individual’s mood, thinking and behavior.
Approximately 50 percent of individuals with mental illness between 8 and 15 years old didn’t seek treatment last year.
50% 61.5 million people in the United States discover that they have a mental illness in a given year.
25 percent of mental illness sufferers felt as if they were supported by the people they surrounded themselves with, rather than experiencing stigma.
