Mental Health in Dollars

It's been forever since I've updated this blog.  My life has been both really busy and really uneventful -- I don't have much time to write and what I have to write about doesn't seem interesting.  If you want to see some work-related things I'm writing, though, keep an eye on the Grassroots Leadership blog and Texas Prison Bid'ness.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my life could have unrolled if I had been born into a different situation.  I see everyday how mental illness and economic access interact, both in my work and personal life.

The US is completely unequipped to deal with people with mental illness.  I am so, so blessed to belong to a family that had the wealth and ability to take care of a daughter with a serious mental illness; without their resources, I would have ended up like most of us –  homeless or in prison.

Without a mother and father who were able and willing to intervene early in my life, I doubt I would have finished high school, much less attended college.  I would have dropped out and tried to support myself with whatever work I could find, if I could keep it.  Because of my father’s health insurance, I’m able to afford expensive prescriptions and personalized treatment, but I could have just of easily tried to self medicate with illegal drugs.

Just one drug offense could have landed me in jail – if I had been born Hispanic or African American, the chances of my using would have been equal, but the odds of me being incarcerated for the same offense would be seven times greater.  The mental health services available to people in prisons are abysmal, especially in underfunded states like Alabama and Texas; without the psychiatric intervention I received at age twenty and the constant vigilance, I could have been a “trouble maker” and be sent to administrative segregation.  I would be kept twenty four hours a day in a small cell without psychiatric help, fresh air or sunlight, room to move, or meaningful human contact.

After being released from prison or jail, US Americans are ineligible for social services and can be legally discriminated against for jobs.  The rate of recidivism in this country is astounding – two thirds of people return to prison after being released.  Even if I managed to stay out of prison, I would have no governmental assistance and probably wouldn’t be able to get a job.  I would be homeless and mentally ill, like a third of the people living on the street.

My parents’ wealth – not my own abilities – bought my ticket to a secure, comfortable life.  In fact, without their wealth, my abilities would be useless, lost under a tenuous grasp on reality rather than buttressed by a first-class education.

I profoundly wish that other people in the chemically imbalanced boat had the same opportunities that I have.  Instead I’m face to face with a system so intrinsically unjust that I feel like I’m emptying a pool with a tea spoon.  It’s enough to drive a person crazy.

Check out Presbyterian Serious Mental Illness Network for information and some great resources.