Neoliberalism and America's Mental Health Crisis
It is sadly common knowledge and accepted fact that our country today is in a mental health crisis of epic proportions. This crisis manifests itself in many different ways, and none of them shine a good light on our society. From children as young as school age to senior citizens who are retired and in nursing homes, this crisis has struck and broke the heart and soul of our country, and we need to come together to do something about it as soon as possible. Before going over what I believe are the necessary preliminary steps to addressing this crisis, I will list just a few of the manifestations of this crisis by generation starting from the youngest working to the oldest.
In every generation throughout time, children have been the most positive and promising people. In our darkest times, they have led us to believe in ourselves. However, in today’s era of mental health crisis, students are perhaps suffering the most from our country’s lack of attention to their well-being. Students as young as kindergarteners these days are under severe stress and anxiety such that they can’t find themselves to function in class (Daphne Bassok, 2016). Less than half of American primary and secondary school-age children requiring mental health care received it (Alan E. Simon, 2015). There are less than half of the recommended school psychologists employed by professionals, so the students who seek out help are kept from getting it for long periods of time (Research Summaries, 2018). Today, teenagers are more stressed out than adults (Bethune, 2014). Between 2010 and 2015, the number of teenagers who expressed feeling lack of joy and that of useless increased by a third (Jean M. Twenge, 2017). The number of middle and high school age children who committed suicide also jumped by a third (Jean M. Twenge, 2017). Almost one-fifth of teenagers have attempted or thought about suicide (Suicidal Teens, 2016). This is only a snapshot of all the mental health problems faced by children and teenagers in today’s day.
College should be the time where people are allowed to find themselves, create lifelong friendships, and learn about the world. However, today, college students’ mental health status is crippling, and it only seems to be getting worse each year. Almost every single college psychological services director has reported that the number of students requiring their assistance has increased at unprecedented levels (Gregg Henriques, 2014). More than half of college students report feeling hopeless and about two-fifths reported debilitating depression preventing them from functioning as students (Campus Mental Health, 2018). 85% of college students have said that they have felt overwhelming anxiety at some point in the last month (Facts, 2015). College today is a harsher and more intense reality than ever before, but the poor status we are in right now is inexcusable, and we must address it.
As has been the trend for a long time now, mental health problems in the country continue to increase, and adults are no exception. Over 40 million Americans have a mental health condition (Mental Illness, 2017). Around 16 million Americans have had at least one major depressive episode in the past year (Major Depression, 2017). Less than half of all Americans who need mental healthcare receive it (Alice G. Walton, 2011). The situation is so horrid and sad that today, the largest providers of mental healthcare in the country are prisons (Adams, 2017). As a country, we must make it a priority to address these deep-rooted problems and lack of action, or the consequences can only be imagined.
These statistics are alarming and should serve as a wake-up call for everyone in the country from our leaders and policymakers down to the regular person. However, I don’t want to spend time talking about what policy actions must be taken to address this; there are much more experienced and better qualified people who have already done that and continue to do so. Rather, I want to look at some of the things that are causing this terrifying mental health situation right now. I want to take a look at why so many Americans are on the brink of collapse. As fellow American brethren, we all need to take care of each other because if the last few decades have taught us, neither Wall Street, K-Street, nor the government will.
First of all, we as a people need to recognize that addressing our mental health crisis does not merely involve training more doctors, psychologists, and therapists and expanding mental health hospitals in the country. We need to look at what has caused us to get here in the first place and then eliminate these problems from ever happening again. I do not claim that the following is even close to a comprehensive or complete list. But we need to start somewhere, and these four are the what I believe are the most obvious and most contemporaneously pressing of our issues.
We need to deal with issues such as student debt. Today, the country collectively owes over $1.3 trillion to the federal government (A Look at the Shocking Student Loan Debt Statistics for 2018, 2018). In addition, the country has $64.2 billion in private student loans (Private Student Loan Report, 2017). Together, this represents about 7% of annual GDP (5. Reports for Selected Countries and Subjects, 2018). To put that into perspective, the annual federal government budget is approximately 21% (The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028, 2018). Together, this means that more than 70% of Americans holding student debt have felt some sort of mental stress or mental health issue because of it (Insler, 2017).
For our children, in addition to their studies being harder than ever before, the constant threat they feel for their lives in school is affecting them and their performance. In the 21st Century, the rate of school shootings in the United States has accelerated, and this in 2018 so far, there have been more deaths of school students in mass shootings than service members in action (Sommerfeldt, 2018). I want to put aside for the sake of this article the effects of mental health on the shooters; rather, I want to focus on the students who are and will be affected by school shootings and the fear that one will eventually happen. Pew Research Center has shown that a majority of school age teenagers now fear that a shooting will happen in their own school (Graff, 2018). These days, students are having to seek assistance to deal with the coming stress of school shootings from their parents and outside sources (Specter, 2018). In addition, studies have shown that any exacerbated fear and mental health problem that has commenced prior to adulthood has a much greater chance of causing lifelong mental health drawbacks and even could lead to PTSD in children (Christina Gregory, 2018).
The poor financial situation and increasing level of wealth inequality in our country have made it such that people cannot even live in peace. We are at a time when 57% of Americans cannot handle a mere $500 emergency (Picchi, 2017). 25 million American households are either in a food insecure or low food security situation; these families worry day in and day out whether than even have a full meal a day (Key Statistics & Graphics, 2017). Almost half of all Americans are underemployed for their qualifications and education (Elejalde-Ruiz, 2016). Around 25 million American seniors are economically insecure and do not have a sustainable model of financing their lives (Bauer, 2016). 43% of Americans say that “unexpected expenses” are their greatest stressor (Carter, 2018). Around 62% of Americans are stressed and concerned about anything related to money (Dealing with financial stress, 2018). The whole realm of financial stressors can be a book on itself.
Finally, one of the greatest and most depressing ironies of all of this situation is the stress caused by lack of healthcare. Two-thirds of Americans are stressed and concerned about the rising cost of healthcare and their potential to not be able to access it in times of need (Stress About Health Insurance Costs Reported by Majority of Americans, APA Stress in America™ Survey Reveals, 2018). Health insurance specifically is cited by 63% of Americans as one of the greatest stressors in their lives (Beaton, 2018). The fact that lack of access to healthcare itself is driving Americans mental health down is one of the cruelest sources of irony out there. In addition to everything else affecting the mental health of Americans right now, the mere fact that they cannot access health care is one of the greatest detractors from said health.
As I said earlier, these four broad issues are merely a snapshot and nowhere near a comprehensive look at things that are affecting and detracting from Americans’ mental health. We live in a situation right now where most of our fellow brethren do not even know if they will have enough to eat and do not even have the resources to take care of themselves. As a country and as a culture, we must come together and deal with this crisis of mental health. Otherwise, we are merely walking to our own demise as a society when there is no one left to help us recover. As I said earlier, our government clearly does not feel that mental health is a priority, so it is now on us as citizens and fellow Americans. I do not pretend to know the best way in which to address this crisis, but we must do something about it fast. This crisis will not solve itself, and the longer we wait, the worse it will be.
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