Admittedly, mental health reform in North Carolina faces many financial and administrative challenges. But I’m not sure where Blue NC is coming from here:
From top to bottom, we’ve let mental health be something we are ashamed of, something we’ve hidden in the closet or in the basement. Now, that philosophy is coming home to roost, because just as we’ve come to realize and accept that Alzheimer’s is a genetic disease and not just some crazy old coot, just as we’ve come to accept that autism is caused by genes and the environment, and not by “cold” parenting, we’re now coming to realize that Schizophrenia, Depression, Anxiety, and Phobias are caused by genes too. Now, we as a society are much less willing to throw someone out on the streets because they have these problems. We still do, but we don’t feel so garsh-darn-superior about it anymore, knowing that “There, but by the grace of good genetics and parenting, go I”. Heck, I don’t mind you throwing God in there as the “dad” behind genetics either. Whatever. What matters is that we’re coming to this realization, now we just have to do something about it.
Mental health is something we’ve hidden in the closet? Really? After the untold millions of dollars spent on helping the mentally ill? After the development of drugs that help many mentally ill patients lead normal lives? After the number of celebrities who’ve openly discussed their mental illness on television? After research that discovered diseases like schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and phobias are caused by genes?
Again, mental health reform faces considerable challenges. But lack of awareness isn’t one of them, in my opinion.
