The other......treatment.....and costs.....

I frequently talk about 'the other' in regards to mental illness. It isn't a new concept. I'm simply talking about stigma. Sometimes I'm amazed at how things have changed. People hear the words "mentally ill" without blanching. But because of how we have treated it in the past, we are dealing with the consequences day to day. At one point, we eliminated mental hospitals with the intention of creating community mental health options that would deal with the problem and then we dropped the ball. The thought was that it would be less expensive.Then there was no funding. No options created. We are now struggling with mentally ill human beings committing violent crime.We are struggling with the ways that our police deal with mental illness...sometimes with the result that a mentally ill person dies. Homeless people are frequently mentally ill. And we now have a potentially viable candidate for President of the United States talking about how people with mental illness are 'gaming' the system. In the midst of that, we are dealing with huge numbers of people who will have a mental illness at sometime in their lives. The National Institute of Mental Health has stated that one in four in this country will struggle with mental illness during their lifetime. Really. One in four.

In the midst of debates about 'gaming' the system, what happens to the people living with mental illness?  They are still greeted with suspicion and judgement.  Their families still have to struggle with how to get them treatment, because amazingly, even with the attention...there are still few options available.  We treat much mental illness in jail. With all the ethical considerations that jailing the mentally ill might create. We are also a country in which incarceration is the tool of choice. Period.  http://bit.ly/1tBy3xv To top it off, incarceration is seriously expensive. The logic of this? You tell me. I don't get it.

Now, of course, not all mentally ill people become homeless. Or end up in jail. But a sufficient number do to prove we might have a problem. And this presidential candidate is sure that the real issue is that the mentally ill are gaming the system?  But here is what I would like to see. More comparisons of the cost between incarceration/homelessness and an adequate mental health treatment system. When will we focus on humanity and not this desire to use punishment exclusively? When will we recognize that maybe spending on the front end will decrease a HUGE bill on the back end? Lost lives. Broken families.  A criminal justice system that doesn't always serve those living with mental illness.  The costs of jailing huge numbers of people that may not need to be there. Or focusing on those 'gaming' the system with back aches and 'anxiety'. (Now, seriously...what does he know about debilitating mental illness?  Is he a psychiatrist?) You choose.