Removing the Stigma of Mental Illness.
Viewpoint articles are written by members of the SPH community from a wide diversity of perspectives. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of Boston University or the School of Public Health. We aspire to a culture where all can express views in a context of civility and respect. Our guidance on the values that guide our commitment can be found at Revisiting the Principles of Free and Inclusive Academic Speech.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 1 in 5 Americans are affected by mental illness annually, with 1 in 25 Americans living with a major mental illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or major depressive disorder. It is estimated that more than $193 billion is lost in earnings every year because of serious mental illness.
If you pick up a newspaper on any given day, you’ll likely see headlines related to issues around substance abuse, homelessness, or mass incarceration. The lack of adequate mental health care in this country is intrinsically tied to these societal ills. Approximately 8.4 million adults have co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. It is estimated that people with an untreated psychiatric illness comprise one-third of the national homeless population; 24 percnt of inmates in state prisons have a recent history of a mental health condition. The statistics are staggering.
To make matters worse, we have a history of discrimination and stigma against persons with mental health disorders. We label them as “those people” rather than “us”; we have created a system of exclusion for those that we consider to be “retarded” or “crazy.” This stigma carries a heavy cost—it influences the resources we’re willing to give to preventative care and hinders the recovery of those with a mental illness. It holds us back as a society, when we say we’re more willing to meet the mentally ill living on the streets or in prison than care for them using the best health resources we have available in our wealthy country.
Creating the systems of care to combat mental health disorders is just as important as fighting illnesses that impact our physical health. We need measures such as the newly proposed Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 that would create a new Health and Human Services division to work on prevention-focused mental health care. The expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act has been singled out as the single most important thing we can do to make mental health services more accessible and financially viable to those who need them most.
Mental health is not only about the presence of mental illness. The Canadian Mental Health Association describes mental health as living well and being capable of pursuing wellness despite all of the challenges we face on a day-to-day basis. We can all benefit from living in a society that values and protects mental health—not only for the most vulnerable populations, but for all of us who might one day face a struggle that we can’t manage alone.
Jenna Bhaloo is an MPH candidate in the Department of Global Health and the coordinator of the Spotlight on Mental Health series. Find out more about Spotlight at bu.edu/sph/practice/spotlight-on-mental-health or via email at jbhaloo@bu.edu.