Stigma of mental illness

[emeraldkity4]

<p>Means that funding support isn’t sexy
But…years of stressful economic conditions, return of military from war zones and high profile incidents involving mentally ill persons might be enough to consider making treatment more available.</p>

<p>Lack of support for the mentally ill, is analogous IMO, to lack of support for education. Fund the schools or fund the prisons - our choice. With those who are ill we are treating the symptoms of how they affect those around them. Petty thefts, assaults, public urination, trespassing…like getting pecked to death by ducks.

In fact, The Seattle P-I’s September 2008 analysis found that of the taxpayer dollars spent on people with severe mental illness each year in this state, about $7 of every $10 go to services that don’t directly address underlying sickness.

[Browning</a> Communities | Press Room](<a href=“http://www.browningcommunities.com/press.html]Browning”>http://www.browningcommunities.com/press.html)</p>

<p>Life is difficult enough with a visible physical disability. But for those with an *invisible * disabilty, it can be impossible. </p>

<p>

Most of those affected by these new cuts are on Medicaid or indigent - and are persons with serious or persistent mental illness, according to Dr. Laurence Miller, who heads the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Public and Community Psychiatry.</p>

<p>Miller says nine states have closed down some public psychiatric units and substance abuse programs to save money, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Indiana. Mississippi closed 184 beds at its state hospital.

[State</a> Budget Cuts Slash Mental Health Funding | PBS NewsHour](<a href=“http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/01/state-budget-cuts-slash-mental-health-funding.html]State”>http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/01/state-budget-cuts-slash-mental-health-funding.html)</p>

<p>Perhaps those who argue for less government are happy with the above situation. It provides an opportunity for business to step in.

When residents sought answers from Hanbleceya, which charges about $100,000 a year per client for treatment and housing, they say they encountered secrecy and deception. What has disturbed them most is that there appears to be no government oversight of this new breed of long-term mental-health treatment that couples semi-independent living with off-site clinical care.</p>

<p>Because Hanbleceya doesn’t provide treatment inside the homes, they are not considered residential treatment facilities, which are regulated by the state Department of Health (DOH). And because Hanbleceya doesn’t provide other supervised care inside the homes, they most likely do not fall under Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) regulation.

[Group</a> homes stir anger in quiet Normandy Park | Local News | The Seattle Times](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018798999_mentally_ill_homes29m.html]Group”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018798999_mentally_ill_homes29m.html)</p>

<p>Stepping up the conversation is needed I think before we will see changes. I believe that we need to acknowledge that the bar shouldn’t be the same for all. For example, I dropped out of high school, but attempted to restart my education at a community college when I was still a teen. I recieved social security dependents benefits to do so. However, SS required that I take 18 credits a qtr in order to recieve benefits. For a high school drop-out, with undiagnosed learning differences and depression, 18 credits was overwhelming, and I beat myself up about it for years.:(</p>

<p>I could have managed 12 credits at first I think. If someone had met with me when I was 18 they would have seen my father had just died from depression, that the police had come to my house because of a suicide attempt, ( before my father died), I had been in therapy off and on since childhood and that I had left school, they might have allowed me to take fewer credits at a time. </p>

<p>There are many people who have something to offer but we have to give them a way to show it.</p>

<p>[A</a> Serious Illness or an Excuse? - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203430404577094330403235506.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]A”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203430404577094330403235506.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)</p>

[mamita]

<p>Emeraldkitty–(((Hugs))) to the 18-year-old you. How unfair/draconian… I agree with your concern about mental health funding and about the fact that invisible illness (mental health or other) get less attention from funding sources and are treated as less credible by the public at large when compared to some type of more “visible” need. I have a friend who has a chronic immune disorder and struggles daily with low-grade infections. It is unrecognized and, in fact, friends have had the temerity to intimate that her immune disorder is under her willing control. When she broke a foot, and had to be on crutches, she received massive amount of support from friends and co-workers, though truth be told, the immune disorder affects her day-to-day life in a much more disabling and profound way.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>I guess we not only don’t have enough providers to care for the mentally ill, but we don’t have enough for our aging population.</p>

<p>

Decade of training</p>

<p>Health experts, including many who support the law, say there is little that the government or the medical profession will be able to do to close the gap by 2014, when the law begins extending coverage to about 30 million Americans. It typically takes a decade to train a doctor.</p>

<p>“We have a shortage of every kind of doctor, except for plastic surgeons and dermatologists,” said Dr. G. Richard Olds, the dean of the new medical school at the University of California, Riverside, founded in part to address the region’s doctor shortage. “We’ll have a 5,000-physician shortage in 10 years, no matter what anybody does.”

</p>

<p>[Doctor</a> shortage likely to worsen with health law | Nation & World | The Seattle Times](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018799265_doctorshortage29.html]Doctor”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018799265_doctorshortage29.html)</p>

<p>Except for plastic surgeons and dermatologists.

Which reminds me that I just saw an article about MDs advertising themselves as being “board - certified”. Some of these Drs. also practice in surgical clinics that they own instead of or alongside their work in hospitals. I can’t find the article now, but it said that the speciality that they are board certified in, may have little to do with surgery or the type of medicine they are performing. Hospitals presumably won’t allow MDs to perform outside their speciality, but they don’t have the same oversight in their own clinic.</p>

<p>Which kind of gives me the willies
[Why</a> It Is Important for a Doctor to Be Medical Board Certified](<a href=“http://patients.about.com/od/doctorsandproviders/a/boardcertificat.htm]Why”>Importance for a Healthcare Provider to Be Medical Board Certified)</p>

[siemom]

<p>emeraldkity4 - I agree completely! I just complained to my son’s school about the tuition insurance program offered via Dewar’s, which offers 100% reimbursement for physical illnesses but only 60% for mental illness. Isn’t it about time to acknowledge that mental illnesses are also physical? They are brain based and “invisible” but diabetes is invisible too and no one would question accommodations for a diabetic. How healthy for a kid to ask for an extension or whatever if needed - much rather that than a far more dire reaction to stress. </p>

<p>Sorry if on my soapbox, but this is an issue near and dear to my heart. And big huge to you emerald for all you have experienced and for your courage in being so open.</p>

[teriwtt]

<p>Great thread.</p>

<p>For those who are interested in learning more about the stigma, and what they can do, here’s another link:</p>

<p>[Say</a> No To Stigma ? a blog of The Menninger Clinic](<a href=“http://saynotostigma.com/]Say”>http://saynotostigma.com/)</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>Thanks for the link Teriwtt.
Another place that military personnel can share their stories is
[Doonesbury-The</a> Sandbox-Military Blog, Milblogs for Military Families](<a href=“http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/]Doonesbury-The”>Doonesbury-The Sandbox-Military Blog, Milblogs for Military Families)</p>

[college_query]

<p>Another resource is [NAMI:</a> National Alliance on Mental Illness - Mental Health Support, Education and Advocacy](<a href=“http://www.nami.org%5DNAMI:”>http://www.nami.org)</p>