Improving the sad state of mental health care in the United States

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Holly3278 said:
You are right. Obamacare should have included something that required all health insurance providers to provide adequate coverage of mental health services as well as other services such as dental and optometry services which I believe are also things that some insurance providers do not adequately cover
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Obamacare will fail, after many lives are lost and ruined.
Health insurance companies’ first duty is to make money for their shareholders, which they do by limiting the care they provide to the insured.
We have been sold out to make the insurance companies rich.

Sadly, even when families identify mental illness, they are not able to get help that their ill members need. My friend knew her mother was mentally ill, but could not get her help until she began banging on her neighbors’ door at midnight naked. When she became a danger to others, she was able to be placed in a facility.
 
Insurance companies are basically mutual benefit societies.

If they put out more money than they take in, they will go broke.

A response to that was the formation of hospitals by church groups … but then the Federal government got involved by imposing practices that were so costly that the church groups went broke.

One of the other posters found this:

movementforabetteramerica.org/economicimpact.html

Basically, the abortion of around 50 million Americans … and nearly 2 Billion people from other countries … has destroyed the economy … because abortion has wiped out the numbers of future generations … there is no one left to take care of the sick and elderly.

It’s the young people who take the care-giver jobs.

As the young people get older and more experienced and move up the seniority ladder, they … in turn … teach the newer generations of young people.

But, by abortion, we have wiped out generations of young people. So, now there is nobody left to take care of mentally ill people or anyone else].

Check the link … it has other links with buttons.

Very important.

movementforabetteramerica.org /economicimpact.html
 
The mental health system is a scam, with professional views that cater to those being espoused by the media. As society changes, the nature of the mental health system will too.
 
I was surprised to find out a psychiatrist is not required to have a doctoral degree or master’s degree in psychology in the U.S.

After medical school they intern under a psychiatrist I guess.

At any rate. Psychiatry and prescription medication has its place. I’m more of the view prescription drugs are to overly prescribed for psychological issues, within the U.S. at least.

Some people need them though. I’m always thankful I’m not one of them. I’d hate to have to be taken meds constantly at specific times of the day. Especially when they have side effects I don’t like.

I think the big question for many (not all) is how to get yourself into a state of being you like and are very content with if not extremely happy. But what one is looking for can differ from person to person. So, the paths taken may be different.

I type this feeling rather relaxed, content, and happy myself. But moods change. I’m sure if someone hit me in the head with a brick I wouldn’t be too content or relaxed any more.

I always find it interesting there are people happy–and preferring–living in the cold, cloudy, snowy areas. The snow is not so much the tripped out thing to me as the cold. I greatly dislike the cold. Happiness to me comes with warm weather and maybe palm trees. Minus the alligators, snakes, and poisonous spiders.
 
“Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you”
-Psalm 32:9
 
I’m reminded a of a young Mexican father I met at a VA hospital. He was a VA police officer. He was happy to have moved from Houston, Texas to a small town in Wisconsin. Very happy. He no longer wanted the cities.

He had lost a child while he was in the Army and the Army kind of screwed him over and didn’t allow him anytime to mourn. He has had his stresses, but when I asked him how he got through it all, he said, “I’m Christian. It works for me.”

Marvelous answer I thought. Basically, he was telling me his Protestant devotion to God raises him above all earths trials and helps him put a smile on his face. But that it worked for him but that that does not mean it would work for me or anyone else.

And so it is, there are happy Muslims, happy Buddhists, happy atheists, and happy gay people actively lesbian or homosexual.

What works for me is gratitude. And many of my posts evidence this as I’m frequently acknowledging my good fortunes. I also believe God is good (as black Protestants are so fond of saying) and that God has my back. I just know God and the Virgin Mary are on my side. That works for me.

I’ve seen many men in the VA hospitals locked up for mental problems and heavily medicated. They’ll walk in lines with a nurse like they’re almost zombies. This is their life. I’m very grateful I’m not one of them.

I walked outside this morning to catch the bus for school. It was sort of warm out and the sky was not yet as gray as it is now. And I thought to myself, “This is a beautiful day out, I can walk, I live in a country with a stable economy, and we have a great President. Life is good.”

The weather changed latter to get a little more gray and a lot colder with rain fall on top of that. My mood changed a little. I was not totally gloomy, still felt a bit good, but I was not as cheerful inside as I was earlier.

That works for me.

But I also remember a young fellow in the VA hospital that is permanently disfigured now for life. His face, arms, are disfigured. He can’t move well either. He had tried to commit suicide by setting himself on fire. He didn’t manage to kill himself. Now he is confined to the VA living with a life of routine prescription medications given to him. His life would seem to me much worse after setting himself on fire than it was before it. I’ve always thought this was tragic.

I know for years and years I was at about 5% to 10% happiness. If I can assign a percentage to it. After I got shot and got awarded a VA pension my happiness shot up to about 40% to 50%. Getting shot multiple times and seriously injured was one of the best things that ever happened to me in that sense. I’m almost certain I’m probably going to me relocating to a warmer climate when my lease is up. That will shoot my happiness up to 70% or so.

There are a few other factors and things I need to do and my happiness will climb up dramatically to 90% to 100%.

I was intrigued in an anthropology class today to find out in a lecture that 3% of England is made up of cousin marriages. In Pakistan 55% of marriages are made up of cousin marriages. In Tibet some women will marry two brothers. If the youngest brother is only 5 years old he is still married to the woman while she and his older brother have sex. When he’s old enough she’ll initiate him into sex too. What is interesting is cultural expectations and how people can be happy in situations that would drive an American to depression.

What was equally intriguing was finding out that men and women surveyed (presumably from the USA too) rated mutual attraction/love the lowest score, their least concern in a mate, and what they rated with the highest score, their most concern in getting and having a mate, is that they share the same political beliefs.

Give me a nice house, good food, a nice, safe neighborhood, a large income, and maybe two or three adopted girls from Cambodia or India or something, and I presume I could be quite the happiest man on earth. But I will have to be honest about my own priorities and accept the consequences of those priorities.

Just my out loud thoughts. Everyone has to find their own path to happiness. And they must suffer the consequences of their own path by themselves. I won’t be sharing it at least.
 
I am on the “receiving end of all of this”. If that’s what it is suppose to be. I have Schizo-affective disorder, ADD, OCD. Blessed with these traits, what a wonderful thing…Geez. My life was stifled right from the beginning. For almost 50 years now, I have been a victim in one way or another(not to mention being bullied for my clear weakness). Yes. I was bullied and made the fool/stooge all day long, everyday in school since kindergarten, all the way through high school and well into adulthood. For my so called "stupidness, weakness, poor functioning(socially, mentally, academically, ect.). I have been knocked out of any quality of life, seemingly, indefinitely. I have spent most of my life alone, losing touch with the outside. Everyone who I grew up with and many generations after, blow by me with success in their lives, while mine still goes nowhere. I have been through many doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, therapists that never really help. And they don’t tell me anything that I already have done research on myself. Medications mask the problems. I exercise when I can, try to eat healthy, try to think as positive as I can, pray. It’s hard to pray when I can’t keep my mind focused, my mind wanders, emotions are flat line, except for depression. I pray for mercy from the Lord. I need a renaissance in my life. Nothing changes. I have done a lot of research into becoming a Catholic, which I desire to do(born and raised Methodist). But it seems so complicated for a simple little man like me. And being in a social environment where I feel like all eyes are watching to make sure I do just what I’m supposed to without making mistakes or something, I have always felt out of place and intimidated in church. I need major intervention. Prayer is wonderful, but I need personal intervention. Please help me. Please don’t forsake me. I have felt left behind all my life. I have a lot to give, given the opportunity.
 
stix2rob said:
I am on the “receiving end of all of this”. If that’s what it is suppose to be. I have Schizo-affective disorder, ADD, OCD. Blessed with these traits, what a wonderful thing…Geez. My life was stifled right from the beginning. For almost 50 years now, I have been a victim in one way or another(not to mention being bullied for my clear weakness). Yes. I was bullied and made the fool/stooge all day long, everyday in school since kindergarten, all the way through high school and well into adulthood. For my so called "stupidness, weakness, poor functioning(socially, mentally, academically, ect.). I have been knocked out of any quality of life, seemingly, indefinitely. I have spent most of my life alone, losing touch with the outside. Everyone who I grew up with and many generations after, blow by me with success in their lives, while mine still goes nowhere. I have been through many doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, therapists that never really help. And they don’t tell me anything that I already have done research on myself. Medications mask the problems. I exercise when I can, try to eat healthy, try to think as positive as I can, pray. It’s hard to pray when I can’t keep my mind focused, my mind wanders, emotions are flat line, except for depression. I pray for mercy from the Lord. I need a renaissance in my life. Nothing changes. I have done a lot of research into becoming a Catholic, which I desire to do(born and raised Methodist). But it seems so complicated for a simple little man like me. And being in a social environment where I feel like all eyes are watching to make sure I do just what I’m supposed to without making mistakes or something, I have always felt out of place and intimidated in church. I need major intervention. Prayer is wonderful, but I need personal intervention. Please help me. Please don’t forsake me. I have felt left behind all my life. I have a lot to give, given the opportunity.
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Becoming a Catholic is a good thing. Do it! And don’t let anything convince you otherwise. You might not fix all your personal problems, but you’ll be a Catholic.
 
I suffered from mental illness for several years. I was institutionalize twice, once in California and once in Colorado. They helped me a lot, though I didn’t like having medication forced upon me, even if it helped. It seems some states have at least some care for the mentally ill.

The Federal Govt doesn’t reimburse for Mental Health, but does provide more income for those with disabilities.

I never got any good psychological help from a psychiatrist, just medication. It seems the meds are all they care about, when I would rather have mental tools and advise on how to handle strange thoughts and mental states. Any medical doctor can prescribe meds, so why pay $300/hr for a psychiatrist?

I don’t really see much we can do to fix our Psychiatry in the US, except for funding those 30 day facilities that determine what your meds should be.
 
bsroufek said:
Becoming a Catholic is a good thing. Do it! And don’t let anything convince you otherwise. You might not fix all your personal problems, but you’ll be a Catholic.
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Is there a way I would be able to find an advocate to help me walk through it? I know it might seem childish, but from what I’ve read for steps to becoming a member of the Catholic church, I feel like I’m back in my teen years and starting all over again. But instead of, lets say, confirmation in the Methodist church, which I did as a teen, now I need to do that and a whole lot more and spread out over time. like an internship or something, a test. :eek:
 
Monte_RCMS said:
This is just a very brief summary of a few of the issues that impede improvements in the sad state of mental health care:

Learning to become a mental health professional is extremely expensive and time consuming and emotionally exhausting. You are looking at ten years for all of the courses and internships and exams … plus recurring training / continuing education … plus legal / professional certifications.

The bureaucracy, alone, is enough to drive practitioners out of the field.

And there are “norms” that turn out to be either ineffective or counter-productive.

The costs of having a practice are enormous … rent, for example.

And liability insurance.

And the risks of entrapment. [Some practitioners insist to video-tape EVERY session AND insist on having one or two witnesses or chaperones present for every session.]

And bizarre phone calls. [alleged suicide threats]

Some practitioners have to take defensive preventive measures, such as having all their calls screened in advance. Or having to defend against other “competing” practitioners who have political clout.

Clients who have been over-medicated … ten or more prescriptions, for example … with consequent organ damage. Or over-use of SSRI’s, for example, that turn minor problems into full-blown psychotic episodes. [A lot of those mass killers turn out to have been on SSRI’s.]

Professional and personal burnout are really big issues for mental health professionals. Professionals who work with clients having end-of-life issues suffer the most.

And the income turns out to be minimal.

Some practitioners find the only way they can make a decent income is to teach … and that has huge risks all of its own.

Some practitioners are starting to insist on cash-pay ONLY … because reimbursement is so low that they cannot even meet basic expenses.
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I briefly saw a Dr. Goldman(who liked to boast about treating Judy Garland we all know how that turned out).

He gave me one of his Goldman “cocktails” that weakened me so I could barely keep my eyes open. I could barely drive home from school!

I was only on that “cocktail” one day and found another Doctor.
 
stix2rob said:
I am on the “receiving end of all of this”. If that’s what it is suppose to be. I have Schizo-affective disorder, ADD, OCD. Blessed with these traits, what a wonderful thing…Geez. My life was stifled right from the beginning. For almost 50 years now, I have been a victim in one way or another(not to mention being bullied for my clear weakness). Yes. I was bullied and made the fool/stooge all day long, everyday in school since kindergarten, all the way through high school and well into adulthood. For my so called "stupidness, weakness, poor functioning(socially, mentally, academically, ect.). I have been knocked out of any quality of life, seemingly, indefinitely. I have spent most of my life alone, losing touch with the outside. Everyone who I grew up with and many generations after, blow by me with success in their lives, while mine still goes nowhere. I have been through many doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, therapists that never really help. And they don’t tell me anything that I already have done research on myself. Medications mask the problems. I exercise when I can, try to eat healthy, try to think as positive as I can, pray. It’s hard to pray when I can’t keep my mind focused, my mind wanders, emotions are flat line, except for depression. I pray for mercy from the Lord. I need a renaissance in my life. Nothing changes. I have done a lot of research into becoming a Catholic, which I desire to do(born and raised Methodist). But it seems so complicated for a simple little man like me. And being in a social environment where I feel like all eyes are watching to make sure I do just what I’m supposed to without making mistakes or something, I have always felt out of place and intimidated in church. I need major intervention. Prayer is wonderful, but I need personal intervention. Please help me. Please don’t forsake me. I have felt left behind all my life. I have a lot to give, given the opportunity.
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Stix, I feel for you and I have been bullied for years. I have clinical depression and ADHD as well.
People are often just downright cruel, and so often they have machismo hang ups like my own father. His idea of treatment for clinical depression was to ignore it and “pull myself up by my own bootstraps” since admitting clinical depression is not the “macho” thing to do. He has since died since seeing a doctor is not “macho”. He never saw a doctor until his first heart attack, and even then resisted the meds and diet prescribed.

I mourn him to this day. If only he had surrendered his machismo and listened to his Doctors 😦

Yes the church is helpful, but so is medication. I hope you stay and your meds and not resist them like my late step brother did.
 
Holly3278 said:
I

One of the sad things about mental health care in the United States is that there is a severe shortage of mental health professionals. Often times a patient must wait several weeks, if not months, before they can have an initial appointment with a psychiatrist or other mental health professional. This should not be the case. We need more mental health professionals so that better and speedier care can be offered to those with mental illness.

I am a Qualified Mental Health Practitioner–or at least I was, until I was laid off from, not one, but two different agencies due to lack of funding. I also suspect that ageism had something to do with it (I was 52 and closer to retirement so benefits would cost the company more). I, like you, see the great need, but until there is an adequate funding stream many trained therapists like myself will be choosing other professions to keep food on our tables.
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stix2rob said:
Is there a way I would be able to find an advocate to help me walk through it? I know it might seem childish, but from what I’ve read for steps to becoming a member of the Catholic church, I feel like I’m back in my teen years and starting all over again. But instead of, lets say, confirmation in the Methodist church, which I did as a teen, now I need to do that and a whole lot more and spread out over time. like an internship or something, a test. :eek:
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If you have already been baptized a Christian, you have done the first step. A priest can be your advocate; visit your local parish and talk to the priest. If he is very busy, perhaps he can recommend someone to walk you through it. You might want to enroll in RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which usually begins each fall. You will find helpful people there. Don’t feel bad, many people feel hesitant at how to join the church, but it is not as difficult as you think.
Good luck and God bless.
 
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (retired). The state of the poor, mentally disabled, developmentally disabled, and all the millions with social and personal problems has never really changed. In the 1930’s there were no social programs. There was poverty, child labor, slum wages, and this is when the first Social Welfare activists opened the first homes and provided services to combat the above. Today with the false promises that medications alone would allow people to live in the community we have seen State Hospitals close, funds promised to the Counties diverted, and promised clinics never built.
Medications have brought miracles to thousands of patients. But without follow up, monitoring, and continued support , people fall through the cracks.
Those who enter the Helping Professions do so because it is a calling. There is no money in it and the stress is enormous. But it is very fulfilling. Unfortunately, as with the medical profession, there is a shortage of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Counselors, Drug and Alcohol Counselors as well as every treatment center needed for every imaginable problem.
The only backup counseling / social service agency able to fill this void is the Church. Every Catholic Church through the congregation must step up. Because poverty, hunger, homelessness goes hand in hand with mental illness, domestic violence, divorce, homicide and suicide.
Let’s face it, the government, politicians, state and county officials and all those with total insurance coverage are not going to fix things. They don’t care. They spend their days arguing and debating. The Church is the only well funded, organized entity that can fill the gaps.
 
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