We'd All Be Better Off In A World That Treated Mental Health Like We Do Physical Health
30September

We'd All Be Better Off In A World That Treated Mental Health Like We Do Physical Health

Written by Craig Rogers, Posted on , in Section Inspirational

Addressing The Real Problems People Face

If, as the mental health parity law requires, we're bound by law to treat mental diseases with the same focus and interest as physical diseases, then why don’t we look at them in the same light?  A person, on the outside, may look like a completely normal person, but in fact may be plagued by a debilitating condition. We must recognize the hipocracy of only treating diseases and conditions that we can see as if they are serious.

Mental health issues are extremely prevalent in my family, from pathological lying and depression, to paranoid schizophrenia. As someone who has been so personally affected by the impact of mental illness, it’s easy for me to comprehend how difficult it can be to live with mental illness.

Understanding mental health disorders

Someone very close to me is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. He is required to medicate daily, and if he doesn’t, he becomes suspicious of even those who are closest to him, sometimes lashing out violently. For many years, it was difficult for me to understand. I thought to myself, “why doesn’t he just not act like psychopath and just try to act normally?” I understand now that this is like asking a person with cancer to not be sick. It’s just not as black and white as mentally healthy people would like to believe. Because we can’t physically see the turmoil those people are suffering, it’s easy to judge. 

The mental health issues that plagued my early childhood were a strange mixture of depression and toddler negativism, which can later lead to more serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia. I remember the feelings of total despair so vividly that even today, almost twenty years later, I remember exactly what it was like. I would come home from school or activities and just express how much I hated everything that had happened that day. I would express how much I hated my teacher, my parents and my friends. I secluded myself, inviting my friends over only to go and play in my room by myself. I felt such a hatred for everything and a sort of unwillingness to do anything. It got to such a point that I would have terrible night terrors. These were so intense that when I would wake up, I would still see the dreams happening. I can still picture them as if they happened yesterday. I was lucky enough to have parents that were able to recognize my issues and get me into treatment at a very young age. 

What Are The Consequences of Unaffordable Care?

In order to get the best outcomes from treatment, it is vitally important to obtain an early diagnosis. It was easy for my parents to recognize traits that run in my family and do something about it. But how do you identify mental illness if it doesn’t run in your family? The best thing you can do, in my opinion, is to be informed. 

The only cure for ignorance is the pursuit of knowledge and thus knowing thyself (mastering the body, mind and senses through the exercise of reason).” – Diogenes

Because schools and governments have shown themselves to be ineffective, in many cases, at finding and treating mental illness, parents must rely on their own instincts, wits and knowledge. If you don’t know how to identify serious mental illnesses, it’s important that you learn to recognize the signs. It’s easy for us to identify colds and other diseases, but it is not so simple when it comes to mental illnesses. There are several websites that offer advice and tell you exactly what to look for. Academia.edu, psychiatry.org, and mayoclinic.org are just a few of the many websites that are available to help parents recognize and learn the early warning signs of mental illness.

It is an unfortunate fact that most individuals will continue to misunderstand how critically important mental health treatment is for those experiencing these issues. Luckily we live in a time where ignorance is giving way to understanding. Since 2008, the government has issued laws through the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) which helps families get help through their insurance plans, and stops discrimination against mental or drug health problems.

The Public Eye

With the recent death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, drug addiction has retaken the spotlight in a long list of public health issues. But what is most disturbing to me, is how the public, instead of celebrating the life of an incredible actor, has chosen to defame his memory with insults relating to his relapse into drug addiction. Drug addiction and mental health issues are so easy for us to mock and demean. You wouldn’t dare mock a person who died of cancer, so why is it okay for us to mock someone who died of addiction or of any of the myriad issues that can arise as a result of mental illness? Unfortunately, explaining mental health issues to someone who has never struggled with them is like explaining the taste of salt to someone who has never tasted it.

 

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