Due to budgetary cuts, the state that has faired the best in the recession, Utah, is cutting 2200 patients from Valley Mental Health. Sad fact is that in the long run this cut will cost more than cutting administrators or recreational services because it will inevitably lead to more criminal activity, job loss and dysfunctional families.
It is also a reflection of our ongoing prejudice against mental illness. There are no "Huntsman Centers For Mental Health," no full health and disability coverage for mental health and no media driven charity fund raisers for Joe Blow down the street who was just diagnosed with schizophrenia. Why?
We still think that while all the other organs of the body can have innumerable things go awry, what ever goes wrong with the most important organ of the body, the brain--since it is without a rational doubt the embodiment of the human spirit--it is simply a matter of dint of will to rise above any mental health issue. Yet this is simply false.
While all physical and mental health issues are subject to our personal choices, they are both equally susceptible to disease, injury and congenital and environment disruptions. And while schizophrenia and other mental illnesses are not immediately fatal and therefore do not evoke the same reaction as a diagnosis of cancer would, untreated, they are worse than cancer, they are like being buried alive in full view of caring eyes.
Let's stop burying alive our fellow sojourners here on earth by cutting their much needed access to mental health services. It is not only the right thing to do, it is the financially prudent thing to do.
Loren M. Lambert © June 30, 2013
It is also a reflection of our ongoing prejudice against mental illness. There are no "Huntsman Centers For Mental Health," no full health and disability coverage for mental health and no media driven charity fund raisers for Joe Blow down the street who was just diagnosed with schizophrenia. Why?
We still think that while all the other organs of the body can have innumerable things go awry, what ever goes wrong with the most important organ of the body, the brain--since it is without a rational doubt the embodiment of the human spirit--it is simply a matter of dint of will to rise above any mental health issue. Yet this is simply false.
While all physical and mental health issues are subject to our personal choices, they are both equally susceptible to disease, injury and congenital and environment disruptions. And while schizophrenia and other mental illnesses are not immediately fatal and therefore do not evoke the same reaction as a diagnosis of cancer would, untreated, they are worse than cancer, they are like being buried alive in full view of caring eyes.
Let's stop burying alive our fellow sojourners here on earth by cutting their much needed access to mental health services. It is not only the right thing to do, it is the financially prudent thing to do.
Loren M. Lambert © June 30, 2013
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