How ignorant is the US government of mental health conditions?

We’re talking about a group of people who, for the most part, believe that prayer is healthcare and science is debatable.

I’m not being facetious.

The vast majority of our Congress are openly religious, and simply do not believe that science can provide answers. After all, if being gay is against God’s will, how much more is being Bipolar, or schizophrenic? If they honestly believe that Jesus can heal the demons in their brains, what reason do they have for legislating change in health care to encompass mental health?

I don’t know if they’re ignorant so much as don’t have the courage or compassion to tackle the big issues.

President Reagan reduced or eliminated many mental health institutions. He further supported laws that made it very difficult to force people into mental health programs and institutions, thus insuring the elimination of government support for mental health issues. Mentally deficient street people became the norm during his administration. The vast majority of today’s problems are directly related to the reign of one of the dumbest and most ignorant presidents we’ve ever had.

The three responses I’ve read thus far have all but eliminated any chance of me travelling to the US for so much as a holiday much less a six month work visa. I’m pretty appalled by this.
Are there no support groups or organizations that look favorably upon those with MHCs within the US? This is pretty bad for a country that likes to harp on about the American Dream and such like.

Oh – certainly there are! You were asking on a societal level if the problems were addressed and they are not being addressed adequately. But a friend gets support through social services and attends two or three groups a week. It’s just not where it should be.

NAMI is one of the main mental health support organizations.

Why would this stop you from coming on a visit or even for 6 months? I could see why it would stop you from living here.

@SamandMax “his is pretty bad for a country that likes to harp on about the American Dream and such like” The American dream was killed by “Trickle Down Economics”. A mentally defective president Reagan espoused this policy and it still is considered as doctrine by an increasingly destructive and deceitful right wing. The middle class has been static for years and is now being decimated. Soon we well be a feudal state of the rich privileged and the poor serfs. Unless you are very rich, you should avoid the U.S. big cities with militarized police forces and the south filled with racist bigots. Visit Canada, It’s like the U.S. but civilized and not hell bent on fighting with brown people throughout the world.

While I support the recent efforts to make sure mental health insurance coverage is on a par with physical health coverage, for the most part this is not what the Federal Government is supposed to do. The US is a large country, and does not oversee the mental health of all 300 +million people.

It’s hard to place responsibility on the national government when the local community does not take on responsibility for itself. It is the school, the school board, the local PTA and the local police and sheriff that should be involved.

In 2003, Pres. George W. Bush commissioned a panel to study mental health needs in the US. The result was the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Many of its recommendations have already begun and others are ongoing.

I personally am currently in training for one of the aspects of the commission’s recommendations. I will, hopefully, soon be a Hawai`i Certified Peer Specialist in mental health. As a person in recovery with a mental illness, I will be helping my peers to overcome life’s hurdles that we face every day as people with mental illness.

Mental health care in the US is not totally lacking. Like every other country, it is a growing and changing field as our human understanding of the nature of mental health expands.

@zenvelo even so, it’s the government’s job to put suitable measures (acts, laws, what you will) to ensure that people who do have such issues are supported appropriately. The government is the government, that is to say, they are the big cheese, there is no excuse to pass the buck to the little guy who is the sheriff or the teacher. So whilst I can understand your point of view, I think it is a very weak government who does not act with a view to taking action on a grander scale to ensure the well-being of those who do have those issues in a particular State. If you’re going to set up a government and get it to run things properly, get it to run things from the ground up, not from the top of the ladder working down to the bottom rung in this case.

When you say, “the government” who are you talking about, @SamandMax?

If you’re an American, you don’t need an answer to that question @bkcunningham…

It is not up to the government to fix bullying but the parents through the PTA. 15 yrs ago a very brave congressman and later senator wrote legislation that made it harder to lock someone up without proof of being a danger to self or others. This is very important because the mental health system has a long history of mistreating people in their care and millions of cases where a family was trying to steal grandma’s bank account or even husbands who instead of divorce were using the system to control their wives through drugs and torture. The easy answer for bullying is that the parents have to get involved through PTA and as my schools had, there was no tolerance of bullying and it never became a problem because teachers were in hallways paying attention to negative behavior. 1st time, detentions and a couple months of weekly counseling with the school counselor. If the behavior continued, the bully (not the bullied) was escorted to classes by a disiplinarian (off period teacher or vice principal) for an extended period of time where the teacher would talk about being a good person and what that entails. Counseling in school would be ramped up. If there were still problems, Family services would be brought in to investigate the family of the bully. Something at home, even if it was having witnessed the neighbor being abused, was always the problem. Children do not act out for no reason. On the rare occasion that there is mental health issues, that would be picked up by the school counselor who could get them into treatment. Our schools pay for an on site counselor and we are afraid to make them do their job. My high school had close to 5000 students and our principal knew all of us—and yes that does matter.

You’ve addressed one aspect of what is a problem that exists beyond education @jtxl.
The picture with mental health and what causes mental health issues, is much much bigger.
As for bullying at schools, let’s not forget it goes beyond that for some people unfortunate enough to experience it in it’s many guises in the workplace – so bullying is not just a school problem, but I do see your point. The government may not be able to ‘fix’ much, but what are they doing to assist in the ‘fixing’ of things?

The government can’t solve everything. The state is not something over there. We are the state. Every individual. We can get involved in the communities we live. This includes problems related to mental health.

Hence “assist in fixing”