Mental wealth care

Browsing through the Jan. 19 edition of The Bulletin, I found myself much perturbed by the article pertaining to the proposed budget cuts in the mental health services in Washington [Proposed state budget cuts mental health services]. What was more upsetting was the fact that I was not particularly surprised.

Anyone who has been paying attention to the mad scramble budget committees have been making ever since the crash in 2008, might have noticed that the mental health system is usually one of the first and largest targets for cutbacks.

This trend is disturbing for several reasons. For one thing, it is not a recent development. Moving past the long history of abuse the mentally ill have suffered in cost-effective prison-like "asylums," it might be argued that the 1960s budget-inspired policy changes sponsoring outpatient treatment continue to be some of the most detrimental changes to the mental health care system as a whole. Outpatient treatment has been — as a rule — ineffective, as the resources to meet patients' needs (including housing, work opportunities, affordable medication and community welcome) are entirely too sparse to meet demands.

Given that background checks usually discriminate against those who have been institutionalized, the severely mentally ill often fail to attain a place in the workforce. This generally means they are unable to afford their medication, and their conditions continue in a steady decline. From there, a direct link to the homelessness problem is not difficult to make. In general, it might be stated that the outpatient program has primarily served to place a greater burden on the community while increasing general hostility and fear toward the mentally ill. These policies, carried through to the present day, continue to undermine efforts to improve the mental welfare of people throughout the United States. But who cares? It's cheaper, right?

This is precisely the problem. By cutting funding to mental health care services, the message being sent is that we, as a society, place very little value on mental health, and even less on those who suffer from mental illness. This general disregard for the welfare of the mentally ill has some frightening implications. It might be said that it reflects an overarching lack of compassion. Perhaps more concretely, I would argue that it shows woeful ignorance.

It is foolish to assume that the state mental health system affects only those suffering from debilitating mental illnesses; this would be like saying medical care should only be of concern to those with a terminal disease. However, I believe the greater problem rests in the fact that these budget adjustments seem to advocate a perpetuation of conditions that promote doing the bare minimum to help those who lack the faculties to help themselves.

When we place so little value on the well-being of some our most helpless and dependent citizens, are we not also devaluing ourselves? When we treat the sick and the poor with such unspeakable indifference, how can we possibly believe in our own sound judgment?

Just thinking about this makes me crazy.