It’s World Mental Health Day: Getting Everyone the Care They Need

I’ve noticed that people are more open to talking about the mental health needs of themselves and others since last year’s World Mental Health Day. Yes, we’re looking at you, Michelle Obama, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, Owen Wilson, and Bella Hadid. who all disclosed or expounded their struggles with mental health issues in the media during the past year. While some got a little more publicity than others, they all have helped “normalize” mental health issues.

I’ve notice my social media feed — that maybe because I’m such a mental health kinda guy, though — is full of people disclosing their own mental health issues, struggles with mental health, and reaching out to support others. So, if you’ve got a mental health story that you’d like to tell go ahead and put it in the comments. Hell, I’m autistic and tell anyone who will sit still long enough and even a few that won’t. Of course, that usually means shouting at them as they flee out of sight with Ma Belle Femme giving me the evil eye for causing a “scene.” Don’t be like me. You’re not scoring points for mental health acceptance by doing it that way. But, letting us know in the comments, is, so it’s okay.

We are talking more and more openly about mental health issues, which is good, but it ain’t good enough. Not yet. And, if it ain’t good enough in the US, Canada, Europe, and other developed Western Countries, then it sure as shit ain’t anywhere near good enough in the developing world.

So, mosey on over to the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Day page and see what they’ve got in terms information and things that we can all do. TL;DR? Well, Ye Olde Blogge has got ya with a bit of a summary here. This year’s theme is Mental health care for all: let’s make it a reality and be sure to use the hashtag, #WorldMentalHealthDay on all your social media posts.

Mental Health Care for All: Let’s Make it a Reality

Fun Mental Health Facts

We’ll start off easy with some “fun” facts about mental health in the world. Yeah, as if there’s anything fun about mental health issues.

• A billion: At any given time, it is estimated that a billion people — that’s an eighth of the world’s population (we got about eight billion, y’all, for all y’all who are adverse to math) — are suffering from a mental health disorder.
• Any time, any where, any one: No one is immune from mental health disorders. They cut across all socio-economic boundaries and barriers. The only real difference is how accessible and acceptable getting treatment is. The only real tragedy is when people who clearly need treatment refuse to get it — ahem, Donald Trump.
• 300 million: It is estimated that 5% of the world’s adult population suffers from depression. Depression is the number one cause of disability in the world, y’all, and ain’t nobody’s employer respect, I ain’t comin’ in today cuz I’m depressed.
• One in one hundred: Suicide accounts for one percent of all the deaths in the world every year. So, when everyone at work is wringing their hands and mumbling about if they only knew after somebody commits suicide. Well, that’s on you. You shoulda had a work environment where I’m too depressed to work was okay to say.
• One trillion US dollars: The economic cost of anxiety and depression alone amounts to $1 trillion US dollars. Anxiety and depression are the two most prevalent mental health disorders in the world.
• Two percent: On average countries spend about two percent of their national health budgets on mental health and that ain’t changed since it achieved that milestone and we all patted ourselves on the back for how PC and woke we were or whatever it was we were calling it back then.
• One for five: For every dollar spent on scaling up the medication, talk therapy, or combination therapy for depression and anxiety, you get a return of five dollars. That’s a pretty damn good return, too bad, ain’t no one figured out how to make a profit off of it yet.
• One for seven: For every dollar spent on treating drug dependency, society gains seven dollars in reduced costs due to crime and jurisprudence costs. So, where’s the profit motive in that? How’s the prison-industrial complex going to profit off that investment, hunh? Not so smart now, are you? Just remember, profits are people, too, my friend, and they have RIGHTS! Just ask the John Roberts Court!

We all know mental health issues are serious. We all know they are widespread. Hell, we’ve all experienced them at one time or another. I mean, who hasn’t thought of suicide a time or two? Who hasn’t found themselves unhappy, unmotivated, and unable to perform at some point? Who hasn’t found it difficult to sleep for worry and then been unable to focus on the very tasks that could ease the worry? That, my friend, is anxiety. It makes it impossible for you to do what you need to do to reduce your anxiety. It’s an exhausting cycle, and it’s no wonder many people end up committing suicide because they see no way out of it.

How to Get Everyone the Help They Need

Of course, to get us to this wonderland where we can locate and treat everyone in the world with mental health disorders, we’ll need political leadership.

Okay. Okay. Quit laughing.

Okay. I can give you another minute, but then we have to move on.

Really. Quit laughing.

Seriously. I’ve got to finish this blog post.

Don’t wet yourself.

You’re starting to worry me.

The WHO recommends universal health coverage…

Dammit. You’ve got to get control of yourself. Stop laughing.

We’re never going to get anywhere with making mental health treatments accessible to all who need them if you just keep losing it every time we try to have a serious discussion about what it will take.

That’s really the issue, isn’t it? The US is on the wrong trajectory to actually help with any of this. We’re fighting to maintain a semblance of democracy and not default on our debt. The Republican Party is looking to lead a world-wide regressive conservative movement that is looking to squeeze every last farthing out of every last citizen so that the one percent can tighten their grip on lives of every last one of us to milk us even faster for every last fathering and when we no longer can contribute more than we take from the system, our time is up and it’s off to the gulag with you to die quickly and quietly.

Mental health treatment ain’t cheap or easy or guaranteed, so anyone needing investment up front probably ain’t going to get much interest from the one percent. Mental health issues aren’t high on their agenda.

Seriously, folks, we’ve got to make 2022 about governance and delivery of services. I just don’t see how we get there from here as long as we have the millstone of Citizens United around our necks.

Man, I’ve driven what should’ve been a hopeful look at the butterflies and everything is coming up roses post straight into the depressing ground. Sorry. If you’ve got any bright ideas, though, I’d love to hear them… in the comments, of course.

Image Attribution

“169.366 Mental Health” by HelenHates Peas is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0