Acceptance and understanding of mental health has increased profoundly in the last century. Yet most institutions and states have yet to reach a point where mental health is placed on the same plinth as physical health.
Mental health issues carry with them a host of stigma. A fundamental lack of education and understanding leaves much of society demonizing and ostracizing those afflicted, especially the ones with severe disorders. With legitimate psychological problems being deemed unnatural, voluntary, demonic and a host of other fallacies by much of the lower strata, the majority of those inflicted never end up seeking help. Instead, very real problems are corked up and plague the minds of millions.
Attitudes towards mental health are paralleled by current policy prescriptions. In the UK, a recent study found that only 1.4% of health financing was siphoned towards mental health care and research. Furthermore, there are stark discrepancies between those receiving treatment based on race, gender and socioeconomic status — with white males receiving the majority of the treatment. While research indicates that minorities are more reluctant to seek professional health, their reluctance does not solely stem from stigma. Economics and distrust of the medical profession both play large roles.
The situation is similar in North America. Those only covered by public insurance and with pressing mental issues need to wait upwards of a month before obtaining an appointment with a psychiatrist. Upper and middle class folks can fork out the money to drop-in to a private clinic, however such options are not viable for the lower class. This very narrative is observed across Canadian universities. While at prima facie mental health is placed on a pedestal via awareness campaigns and grassroots organizations, treatment is phenomenally difficult to obtain on a consistent basis. Long waiting times, understaffed clinics, and impersonal treatment are the norm. Considering the profusion of mental health disorders in recent years and that 70% of chronic mental health problems start during the ages of 17-24, faculty intentions seem to be in the right place albeit their actions are clearly misaligned. Students completely dropping out of university due to issues related to mental health is not unheard of. Recent increases in funding and grants shed some hope that universities will ramp up facilities, however embedded bureaucratic inefficiencies and institutional failures continue to paint a bleak picture.
Greater appreciation of the role that an individual’s mental wellbeing has to play towards society’s conjoined fortune is a prerequisite for palpable political progress. Very real problems are a direct result of the current culture of mistrust and ignorance. Lack of treatment for the lower class contributes to the cycle of poverty that becomes a breeding ground for extremism and violence. With the recent gunning in Ottawa inciting debate regarding both the sanity and the faith of the shooter, it’s astute to acknowledge both fields of thought. Albeit fundamental Islam undoubtedly has the potential to brainwash and trigger violent behaviour amongst the mentally unstable, it is easily arguable that any extremist vehicle can broil the same sentiment. Rather, a stronger social fabric for mental health acceptance and understanding is needed in order to kickstart a virtuous cycle of education, research, and infrastructure.
Although costly, idealistic and quite intangible in the short-run, the germinations of such a cycle would undoubtedly benefit the economy via gains in productivity and happiness — simultaneously giving mental health initiatives further credibility and momentum along the way. Declining long-term health care costs, incarceration rates, and security apparatus funding are but a few of the foreseeable boons. The beat of true progress begins with humanity looking within and fixing its broken mental state.
Sasha K
what do you mean by “much of the lower strata”?