[Serious] The Mental Health Crisis

[T.J.]

I think I made a thread like this before, but it doesn't hurt to make it again.

What can we do as a people to improve the nature of mental health in the world? I don't know what it's like in other countries, but here in America the jails and prisons hold the most mental health patients instead of hospitals. Whenever mental health issues are brought up, it's brought up by conservatives who want to distract from safer gun control measures. And I hate this narrative that everyone who goes out on a shooting is mentally ill as I feel it demonizes mentally ill people. Just because someone is mentally ill doesn't mean they're going to go out and kill a bunch of people. Actually they're more than likely to be the victim of a violent crime than commit one.

Discuss.

[arewethereyet]

IMHO one of the dumbest things done in the US was closing down mental health facilities. There seemed to have been the idea that since there are drugs that help manage some mental illnesses that people would be fine outside of an institutional setting. While this is certainly true for some, it's not true for all. Care is left to the family who may not have the resources to provide the help that's needed...and most certainly don't have the training. The home environment may also simply not be helpful for the person expecially if in crisis.

Handing out a prescription and expecting it to be taken correctly and also expecting it to fix everything has obviously failed spectacularly.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

We? There is no 'we'. Atheism isn't a club or an ideology. I have neither the means nor the inclination to do anything about the problem

Australia closed its asylums about 30 years ago and threw the inmates onto the street .Then local government started putting them on buses and sending them to Western Australia. Problem was every state started doing it. Soon became like musical chairs. Today, wondering schizophrenics can be seen in parts of the city, they have become included in the homeless population.

I've suffered from severe depression for most of my adult life. Last bout was 8 years ago. I saw a shrink and a psychologist for seven years. I've been stable for a bit over 6 years. I was lucky. I found an excellent shrink who came up with a cocktail of psychotropics which work.

In 2012, my shrink diagnosed me as being on the autism spectrum, what used to be called Asperger's syndrome. Around the same time, my psychologist did a set of proper IQ test, first I'd ever had. I was stunned to discover that I'm not stupid after all, but far from it. One of the reasons I keep coming here is to stop me from getting too arrogant. There are a couple of first class minds here, imo.

[brewer]

To many poorly run mental health facilities making the news combined with the magic bullet(medication) belief. Deinstitutalization fit in perfectly with the Regan agenda.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinstitutionalisation

As far as the mentally ill and shootings, it's a false narrative where over all injury/deaths are concerned. However there is a connection with mass shootings/mental illness and we all know that mass shootings make headlines.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/201...full-data/     (sort column J)

[Belacqua]

What can we do as a people to improve the nature of mental health in the world?

"As a people" is the difficult part. What most people want would help a lot -- universal health insurance, a higher minimum wage, etc. There's lots of concrete, do-able steps that would ease the burden of millions. 

The trouble is that what we want can't get done, because the people who have power (Biden, etc.) will never ever do what most people want. Voting won't help because they will never give us someone good to vote for. Neoliberalism doesn't mind mental illness at all, because they can make money from it.

But to some degree, thinking about "as a people" shifts the burden. Since "they" will never do anything other than what's profitable, each of us has to think about what he or she can do. This doesn't mean that each of us is to be held responsible for the crisis, only that, first and foremost, we have to make sure we are doing what we can.

A simple thing, possible immediately, is to vow never to say something with the intention of making someone else feel bad.

[T.J.]

We?  There is no 'we'. Atheism isn't a club or an ideology. I have neither the means nor the inclination to do anything about the problem

Oh relax. I'm not talking 'we' as in 'atheists.' I mean 'we' as in general people trying to spread light on the issue.

[Aegon]

Significantly mentally ill folks? I have no clue. Nothing to say there.

But for general depression and anxiety that is plaguing people today? I think the root cause is our economic system. An expansion of the welfare state would help. Mandatory 2 weeks paid vacation leave for all employees, a higher starting wage, free childcare, a comprehensive free public healthcare system... that would be a start. The less people worry about money/the less they feel they live to work, the more they'll be able to live a fuller life and I think a net increase in happiness would follow.

[The Architect Of Fate]

On one hand, I'm happy most of the old mental health facilities were shut down as they were awful places . But the simple fact they didn't create anything to replace them is unforgivable 

[Astreja]

I think that disappointment and frustration underlies a lot of mental health issues. Real Life™ bears very little relationship to the grown-up lives we were promised when we were younger. Work is often a struggle to bring in enough resources to meet basic needs, social media presents us with highlight reels of other people's lives rather than an accurate picture, and the news is designed to put us into fight-or-flight mode rather than inform us in a meaningful way. We eat too much fast food, get too little sleep, and spend too much time in passive rather than active leisure-time activities (probably because we're malnourished and exhausted).

Multifaceted problems are very difficult to solve globally, and I'm pessimistic about getting a top-down fix because a lot of the players up top make their money from providing the very things that cause the problems. The solution will have to come from elsewhere, perhaps a movement that promotes a less manic, less cutthroat way of life. Minimalism culture has a few useful elements, but not all of them. The current trend of people not wanting to work at crap jobs anymore is also promising. Mindfulness training gets two thumbs up from me. Talk therapy (particularly cognitive behavioural therapy) would help some people, but it's usually expensive. That's all I've got so far.

[tackattack]

We know that the Default mode network can be re-engaged with feelings of inclusiveness, so I'd say combatting depression stemming from unhealthy self attitudes can be combatted with inclusiveness while a measured addition of "sacred beliefs" would be beneficial