MENTAL HEALTH - A TOP PRIORITY
Mental Health. So much in the news these days, mental health
is looked at from several perspectives.
Political, healthcare, research, and the positive but mostly negative
impact of mental health issues in our society.
There is an old story I will repeat here:
According to the National Institute for Health, nearly 53 million American adults are afflicted with AMI, defined as a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder. Some of them you might know about, others maybe not so much. Depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit disorder (also ADHD), obsession/compulsion disorder, eating disorders, dissociative disorders, paranoia, and schizophrenia are some of the most prominent and they rank in severity from no impairment to mild, moderate, even severe impairment. One in four American adults will have a diagnosable mental disorder at any given time. Chances are you might know someone personally who suffers from one of these disorders.
Is it any wonder we are having such an apparent increase in the number of mass shootings and violent acts resulting in injury and/or death almost every day? Is it any wonder why homelessness and poverty continue to plague individuals and society? If this is ever going to change, as a nation we must put the same kind of effort into identifying mental health issues, provide treatment for those so impaired, and increase research into finding ways to improve or lessen the impact on individuals and society as we do for treating cancer, heart disease and other prominent physical abnormalities. Even searching for a cure for some forms of mental illness, should be a top priority.
Until we recognize that Mental Health should be up at the top of the list of problems we address instead of spinning our wheels and spending our tax dollars on complex, and sometimes, ineffective solutions like gun control, police protection in our schools, arming teachers, increasing the size of our police forces and improve their training, or handing out care baskets/blankets to the homeless. All good things, but they do not address the core issue; mental illness.
Comments? Solutions?
I welcome your thoughts.
Jud
Great advice.
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