by Mark Snider, Hamilton
For hundreds of years millions of people have prayed for others who have mental health problems. If mental health was a spiritual issue, then those who meditate, chant and fast would have solved mental health issues a long time ago.
No religion and no spiritual belief can cure mental illness because it is a physical condition just like a birth defect, a concussion or missing limb. A person who is bipolar, or suffers from depression or experiences a panic attack does not need your prayers or a higher vibration etc. A person who has mental health issues needs a trained doctor, perhaps prescription drugs and sound societal connections.
However, that is not the case in our country. Instead, we ignore early signs of mental illness claiming things like “he will grow out of it” or “she talks to her invisible friends.” Or we expect them to “snap out of it” or punish them for misbehaving.
As the mentally ill are punished or shunned by their peers for being odd, on the inside they are crying for help. They may break the law or self medicate to mask or hide the condition even to themselves. Instead of receiving treatment for their illness, they are imprisoned and thus relieve their fellow countrymen from helping them.
We have built a billion dollar industry employing tens of thousands of prison employees such as guards, office personnel and grounds keepers etc. America has the biggest prison population on the planet and the reason is this, mental illness is ignored until those who suffer are punished in order to fill our prisons and thus relieve us from helping them. Americans can mitigate homelessness, drug abuse and a growing prison population by early detection and treatment of mental illness.
Gomez says
Well said.