Suicide Is A Serious Issue

The provision of mental health services in the U.S. is a social justice issue that affects vulnerable populations in a variety of ways, including: limited access to quality mental health programs, especially in rural areas; the stigma associated with seeking mental health help; and discrimination against those with mental health issues. The far-reaching implications on our current system and policies of mental health care mean that it is a pervasive issue in the United States. According to the Scientific American, “Mental health care is one of the biggest

The lack of treatment for mental illnesses — due partly from the stigma with which it is associated with — comes with a number of public issues: economically,

Mental Health coverage prior to the Affordable Care Act was far to none. With about nearly one-third of currently covered individuals having no coverage for substance abuse disorder services and approximately 20% having no coverage for mental health services. Services such as outpatient therapy visits, impatient crisis intervention and stabilization were among many that were not offered. Since the Affordable Health Care Act has been passed more individuals are able to afford health insurance that were once uninsured. It has helped many individuals in being able to obtain medical services that were once inaccessible.

One of the biggest contributors for poor healthcare is the stigma against mental health. This stigma allows healthcare providers to view those with a mental illness as having low relevance, thus creating disinclination towards providing adequate resources and/or care. This negative stance, based on misinformation and prejudice creates those that have a mental illness to lose their self confidence. Because of this loss, people with mental illness decide not to contribute to their health or livelihood. In the past fifty years, many advances have been made in mental healthcare. However, with the attached stigma, many people choose to not seek out treatment.

According to the World Health Organization, mental illness will affect approximately 25% of people at some point in their life (“WHO Qualityrights”, n.d.). Despite that, the current mental health care system in the United States is inadequate. Many aspects of the system need improving, especially the barriers to service. In fact, approximately 20% of individuals are left without necessary treatment for their mental health disorder (“Mental Health”, 2016). Mentally ill individuals have difficulty accessing necessary mental health care services for various reasons; insurance, socioeconomic status, and mental health stigma can all function as barriers to treatment. Insurance discrimination can make it difficult for individuals to find treatment (Han, Call, Pintor, Alarcon-Espinoza, & Simon, 2015). Gaps in insurance coverage can also be a barrier, as they disrupt the long-term treatment process (Gulley, Rasch, & Chan 2011). Socioeconomic status has been found to negatively affect appointment scheduling (Kugelmass, 2016). Finally, stigma in our society can also stop people from seeking out treatment that they need (Bathje & Pryor, 2011). The mental health system in the United States is not capable of caring for the mentally ill, as insurance, socioeconomic status, and perceived stigma all act as barriers that prevent people from receiving the treatment they need.

Mental health in America is a stigmatized topic that affects nearly 20% of the population and around 1 in 4 people will be affected by a mental illness at some point in their life (World Health Organization, 2010). However, due to the stigma behind mental health, people often do not seek treatment. As for the homeless population, the rates are much higher, with 1 in 4 homeless individuals living with a severe mental illness (Jasinski, Wesely, Mustaine, & Wright, 2005). These people and this population struggles to receive adequate healthcare, but with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or better known as ObamaCare, there have been positive change made to help these individuals. However, the ACA is not perfect and there are

The rate of suicide, the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally, increases each year. “More adolescents die each year from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, combined” (Preventing Teen Suicide, 2016, p.2). These facts show suicide is a serious problem among teens. Last year, teen suicide became the second leading cause of death in the United States confirming the significant increase in teen suicides.

In the United States the Mental Health Care field is one of the most underserved areas of healthcare. The mental healthcare field faces many challenges to the proper treatment of patients from both a societal and professional standpoint. From a societal perspective a negative stereotype is associated with patients seeking psychiatric care. Patients seeking care are often labeled as defective or damaged. Add in the complication that most patients with mental illness appear to be normal, accepting that someone is ill without outward symptoms can also be difficult for a society to understand. From a professional perspective the challenges within the mental health care industry include personal prejudice, staffing issues, and problems with coordinating care. The combination of these factors has a direct negative impact on the willingness of individuals suffering from mental illness in seeking the care needed to treat the symptoms of mental illness.

According to The National Institute of Mental Health the costs related with mental illness from both the direct cost for mental health services and treatment and losses related to the disability caused by these

What is left is that we have many citizens who are mentally ill and are not receiving treatment. However the patients who are able to receive treatment are only able to have some treatment covered. Health insurers are responsible for covering the immensely large cost of substantial treatment, a mixture of medication and therapy; since therapy is highly priced, less reliable, and time consuming; patients typically do not receive treatment for therapy. Health insurers would much rather cover medication because it is cheaper, it heals patients faster, and it is more reliable than therapy. However, medication is not made to heal, but to only coax symptoms of a mental illness (Sandberg).

However, this is simply not the case. Physicians and other health care professionals are guilty of discriminating against their mentally ill patients. USA Today author, Liz Szabo discusses this very topic in her article entitled, “Cost of Not Caring: Stigma Set in Stone.” Szabo supports her claims with quotations from credentialed experts, including Mark Covall, president and CEO of the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems. He says, “The Medicare law discriminates against those with mental illness, as well, by limiting the number of days that patients can receive inpatient psychiatric care. Medicare imposes no such limits for physical health.” Additionally, Robert Glover, executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, says that, “States closed 10% of their hospital beds [for psychiatric care] from 2009 to 2012.” These situations brought to light by Covall and Glover draw attention to the fact that mental healthcare is not given equal treatment, as when compared to overall, bodily health. In the eyes of insurance companies and healthcare providers, mental health coverage is somehow viewed as inferior, less imperative for the overall well-being of their constituents. Thus, it is apparent to see how the mentally ill are discriminated against in a medical

Lack of access to mental health care and treatment is one of the top ten reasons that many mental health conditions go untreated. Many private and group health insurance plans only include minimal mental health care coverage or do not incorporate mental health care coverage at all. Over half of adult citizens of the United States of America, who possess a mental illness, do not obtain mental health care treatment. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one out of every five adults in America have endured their own mental health difficulty, and one out of every twenty-five American adults suffer from a severe mental illness, such as major depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. (Top 5 Barriers to Mental Healthcare Access, Social Solutions.com, 2017)

1) Mental health treatment has seen substantial improvements within the developed world. However, mental health patients continue to experience difficulties receiving mental health care as opposed to physical health care. There are many barriers to receiving mental health services in the developed world even with the advances in technology and treatment seen in medical treatment. When compared with physical health care services, mental health services delivery continue to face issues (Andrade et al., 2014). The barriers to mental health services can be linked to issues of structure and issues related to the patients themselves. Many people do not seek treatment as they may not think they require treatment or believe that they are healthy. Others may seek assistance from a mental health professional and drop out after treatment had already been initiated. This may be due to lack of satisfaction with the quality of service provided. This increases the likelihood of dropping out of treatment (Andrade et al., 2014). Some people do not seek treatment for fears of social stigma and discrimination in the work place. They may become worried about being labeled mentally ill and be denied job opportunities (Andrade et al., 2014). For such reason, many people retrain from disclosing mental illness or treatment. Structural barriers speak to the person’s ability to pay for services and the availability of services. In some developed countries like the United States, a large proportion

As a Health Access Worker my charge is to assist the community with finding resources to help remove the barrier of access to health services. Frequently I encounter, depending on the severity of the mental health disorder, the cost to access treatment in an outpatient treatment facility without insurance is insurmountable for people. If patients are awarded social security disability insurance they rely on a monthly disability check in the range of 900 to 1200 to cover all of their expenses. Much of their income is taken up by housing, utility, food and transportation costs, leaving little room to pay for health insurance or medication which causes a delay and disruption in

Access to mental health care is not as good as than other forms of medical services. Some Americans have reduced access to mental health care amenities because they are living in a countryside setting. Others cannot get to treatment for the reason of shortage of transportation or vast work and household tasks. In some areas, when a