MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS HEALTHY DISCUSSION

In the wake of the recent Oregon shooting, which killed 20 people at Umpqua Community College, there has been a stream of conversation about mental illness. One news article from the New York Daily News headlined the tragedy stating, "Madman Kills Nine." Even in our politics, many politicians divert to blaming mental illness and our treatment of the mentally ill in discussing such tragedies, in order to steer away from discussing gun laws. It is obvious that we connect the idea of mental illness very closely with that of crime and violence.

There is a commonly held belief that horrific crimes and violence stem from mental illness. The reality is, however, that someone who is mentally ill is more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator of one. When looking at the facts, it becomes apparent that the vast majority of the mentally ill do not commit violent crimes, and that of these types of crimes, only 4 percent are committed by those with a mental illness. A study of mass shootings in 2001 found that 75 percent of these shooters had no psychiatric history. In fact, it is found that factors such as history of violence, social isolation, access to guns, alcohol, drugs, and age are much more accurate predictors of any future violence. So why, then, do we continue to automatically associate mental illness with violent crime, if it is clearly not an indicator for such acts?

The truth is, we have a huge problem in how we talk about and treat our mentally ill. In 2013 there were 43.8 million American adults suffering from a mental illness, and upwards of 10 million seriously mentally ill. This accounts for more than 25 percent of adults and 20 percent of children. So why are only about half of children and adults and less than 40 percent of young adults being treated for their illness, when it is such a big problem? The stigma surrounding mental illness hinders people from asking for help and receiving treatment.

It seems that the only time people discuss mental illness is in the aftermath of a tragedy. This is very misleading and dangerous, as it reflects negatively on everyone with a mental illness. It creates a stigma where it is commonly associated with words such as, "crazy, wacko, and psycho." On the Dr. Oz show, there is a game called "Normal or Nuts," in which it is decided whether behaviors are normal or not. The destructive way we talk about mental illness has very real, negative effects for everyone.

Take Glen Ridge for example. While there are some mental health facilities in the surrounding area, government funding is weak, and although coverage has improved, out-of-pocket cost remains prohibitive for many necessary health costs. Combine this, with the discrimination and stigma in society, and there are many factors pushing against people receiving adequate care.

In the early 20th century, mental institutions were refereed to as "snake pits," for the horrible and inhumane conditions. Then, in 1960, Kennedy signed a bill to put people in therapeutic centers. The issue is, however, they never received adequate funding, leaving many mentally ill people without affordable or accessible care.

For a person who is mentally ill, they are 10 times more likely to end up in jail than at a mental health facility. They make up about half of inmates, and 17 percent are suffering from serious mental illness. This is unacceptable; a prison does not have the adequate recourses to treat these people, causing them to cycle through the criminal justice system. Not only is it ineffective and dangerous, it's costly. When we fail to prioritize health care centers for these treatable diseases, everyone pays.

Today there are more the 125,000 young people with mental illness in nursing homes, or in Greyhound therapy - discharged from a facility of care and given a one-way bus ticket to another city. What's even more is that in the presence of a mental health crisis, police are often called to the scene.

Less than 15 percent of police forces even offer education on how to handle mental illness, however, leading to half of police deadly force used in dealing with the mentally ill. When services try to step up and offer help to communities, they are often one of the first to receive budget cuts, even though they practically pay for themselves.

Our system of dealing with the mentally ill is broken, and the debt to society is large. These are people in our community, our family, friends, and neighbors, and we owe it to them to create a better system of care. Let's start changing the discussion about mental illness, and instead of demonizing it, offer concrete solutions and treatment to those suffering.

Sources for this article included: america.aljazeera.com, www.usatoday.com and www.newsweek.com.

The author is a junior at Glen Ridge High School.