Mental Health Crisis

[Gusington]

Starting new thread as to not derail other threads on crime, homelessness, etc.

Did not put in to R&P straight away but we can if we have to.

[DoctorQuest]

I would propose calling it "Health Care Crisis" but I understand your point. Who helps people who cannot afford mental health care? There is still a stigma in come circles that mental health issues are somehow the fault of the people affected.

[Jarhead0331]

I would propose calling it "Health Care Crisis" but I understand your point. Who helps people who cannot afford mental health care? There is still a stigma in come circles that mental health issues are somehow the fault of the people affected.

I think it depends on what he means by "mental health crisis". Seems that it could be argued that a mental health crisis is different from a so-called "health care crisis". It is debatable whether either exists, and depending on context, they both have different needs and require different solutions.

[Centurion40]

It's a difficult business, balancing the rights of the individual against the best interests of society.  Take the Toronto van killer, clearly a person dealing with mental illness, along with other stuff (no doubt).  If they guy were to admit to a mental health professional, that he has concrete plans of murdering someone; (as far as I know) he could be legally detained.  But if he keeps those thoughts to himself and/or stops taking his meds, there isn't much that a free society can do.  It's not against the law to stop taking your meds, unless you've been court ordered to take your meds (again, as far as I know).

I work in social welfare, and there simply isn't enough effective mental health services available to deal with all the needs.  We deal with literally thousands of people who (perhaps) could be productive members of society if they had access to the right kind of treatment (therapy, counseling, medication, etc.) when they need it.  But we also can't force people, who are in denial about their mental status, to get treatment (when it is available) unless they are uttering threats of harm to themselves or others.

[DoctorQuest]

... there simply isn't enough effective mental health services available to deal with all the needs. .

What do you consider to be the root cause of this part of the issue?

[Barthheart]

... there simply isn't enough effective mental health services available to deal with all the needs. .

What do you consider to be the root cause of this part of the issue?

Money.

[Centurion40]

Yeah, money and willingness to invest/spend that money (either by government or insurance companies).  There could also be an insufficient number of qualified practitioners.

We had a M.Sc. level Psychologist immigrate here from Israel.  Before coming here she had worked for the IDF and in the Israeli hospital system.  Her specialization was PTSD. I met her when she was working in an employability project, helping to assess welfare recipients' psychological state and to help counsel them towards being able to participate effectively in the labour market (we have lots of Mcjobs here, along with 10s of thousands of welfare recipients and most are not diagnosed as being permanently disabled).  It was a new approach with which we were experimenting, hoping that by attempting to treat the underlying psychological causes of unemployment (in a labour market with opportunities, where farms and food services have to import workers from the 3rd world).

So I asked her which patient is more challenging: the Israeli soldier returning from a battlefield, an Israeli citizen trying to overcome the trauma of a bus bombing/ terror attack, or a Canadian on welfare saying that they are willing to work and trying to get a job.  She said the Canadian.  She told me that the Israeli is usually dealing one instance of severe trauma; which is easier to treat.  But the Canadian welfare recipients (with whom she was working) had a tangled mess of smaller compound traumas related to family histories of poverty; family violence; physical, psychological & sexual abuse, addictions and more.  She said that some carried life-long attachment disorders related to broken homes, and that it all blended together to produce adults with a wide range of psychological disorders.  Furthermore most were unwilling to accept or address their disorders. So they sit on public assistance as the stereotypical lazy "welfare bum", as they are truly unemployable- having failed so many times that they've truly stopped making a sincere effort to improve their circumstances within societally acceptable means.

[Barthheart]

...There could also be an insufficient number of qualified practitioners.

I think that goes back to lack of money again....

[RommelFox]

My wife suffers from depression and attempted suicide. Thankfully I had come home in time, and I literally had to untie the noose she had tied around her neck.

Insurance will only help with so many visits to therapists before you're on your own.  You won't even get a year's worth of help from insurance for therapist visits.  There's also the issue of the utter lack of therapists available, and we live on the outskirts of the largest city in the state.

Mental health issues are some of the worst things someone can suffer from.  I'd be willing to venture a lot of people would take some physical ailment or mental health issues.

[Centurion40]

Holy shit man!  I hope that you were able to get some counseling too!

[bayonetbrant]

I'd be willing to venture a lot of people would take some physical ailment or mental health issues.

I can personally attest to this one

[Centurion40]

I'd be willing to venture a lot of people would take some physical ailment or mental health issues.

I can personally attest to this one

100%  Physical ailments are considered to more legitimate and less stigmatized.  One of the reasons I like Bell's "Let's Talk" campaign.

https://letstalk.bell.ca/en/

[DoctorQuest]

http://kios.org/post/insane-americas-3-largest-psychiatric-facilities-are-jails

[Arctic Blast]

We have largely cut funding in terms of mental health facilities in beds. That just leads to us asking cops to have to serve as essentially frontline mental health personnel, which is of course ridiculous.

[Centurion40]

http://kios.org/post/insane-americas-3-largest-psychiatric-facilities-are-jails

I can't imagine what sort of intensive treatment regime would be required to effectively treat an adult who smears their own feces or gouges out their own flesh!  The cost of personnel and facilities is obviously prohibitive, hence the jail-like settings. Yikes.