Scoobes on 16 December 2012
| Dodece said: @scoobes The problem isn't the lack of treatment options. The United States is fairly progressive when it comes to mental health at all levels. Federal, State, and Local agencies will provide treatment free of charge. The government will even provide wage subsidies to those that are disabled by mental illness, or provide them with long term treatment facilities. The care isn't even substandard. The bureaucracy could be daunting, but the majority of the problem is the associated stigma. Those who suffer from mental illness are often afraid to be diagnosed, because they think it will disqualify them from employment opportunities. Cause them to be ostracized by the community, or worst of all will cause them to be forcibly committed, and heavily sedated. Sadly some of those fears are justified, and some of them are just the product of lazy writers. Who don't understand scarey mental hospital stories are actually scarey to people who do have mental illness. A lot of the problem has to do with how the mental health message is conveyed in the United States. We have a lot of lip service that advocates for seeking mental health, but then we have people running around tossing out slurs like psychos, schizos, manics, and crazy. So the message seems to come out like get yourself diagnosed so we know who you are. So we know to avoid you. Who in any group wants to be singled out, and then cast out. Anyway if this gunmen had entered the building, and walked to that schools counselors office. He could have had mental health care providers there to help him in less then fifteen minutes, and they would have probably taken excellent care of him. He would have gotten a case worker, and would be in therapy before the day was out. It isn't even like it doesn't happen every day. Even with the stigma people routinely go to government buildings, and ask for help, and they get it. To put it in simple terms. You never needed insurance to get mental health services. It was more of a universal right. I work not five miles from a state hospital for long term care, and that facility isn't anything like what the entertainment industry likes to portray. They aren't caged like animals, and they aren't mistreated. It isn't that their families are wealthy, or that they have insurance themselves. The government is providing for their treatment. I just don't want you to have the impression that people with mental illness are neglected by our society. We put a lot of resources into making sure they get the care they need. We just need to make it easier for them to want to get that care. |
Thanks for the reply and info. It was just a thought I had whilst contemplating the possible reasons for all these recent school shootings in the US, but it sounds like mental healthcare is covered quite well. I think your last sentence is true of a lot of places. Afterall, no one really wants to acknowledge they're ill.
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