Not too long ago, I wrote about mental illness and why it's much more difficult to treat than other conditions we come across. I wrote about how some people respond to certain treatments better than others and how it's rare for people to find the right treatment.
My pharmacist and I had a conversation the other night that demonstrated more reasons why mental illness is so much more difficult to understand. This conversation was the end result of me discovering that I could look up people in the main software and see what was going on with them based upon nurses', doctors', and counselors' notes.
I discovered some of the more interesting clients we had were interesting for far more serious reasons than I had initially understood. The things that they had been through were far and beyond what I could've imagined, much less understood.
For example, people go through rough patches in relationships all the time, they go through custody issues all the time. Mostly it's just a simple case of two people no longer liking each other and trying to be spiteful towards one another. Well the case I was looking at was different in that the couple was engaged, but one was accused of felonious assault of a child and instead of seeing each other through the ordeal, they've been torn apart by it.
I don't want to get into too many details for a number of reasons, but this case shows how someone can appear to be better off than they actually are. I would never guess that the client was going through the things that they're dealing with.
What I learned from the discussion I had with my pharmacist though was how taboo mental illness is. You see/hear all the time with people dealing with cancer, or diabetes, or most other types of diseases how families band together, friends come to the person's side, and everyone hopes for the best. They send cards, they visit the person, they show all the support in the world.
Mental illness? They scatter. They disappear. They want NOTHING to do with the person, treating them as if they had the plague. They make fun of the person, or act like the problem can just be changed.
How many times have you seen someone tell someone suffering from depression "just don't think about it, or think happy thoughts." How many times has someone tried to make it seem like it was an easy problem to fix, that they just have to "think differently"?
The problem is, it isn't that easy. Someone who is depressed or mentally ill can't just flip a switch. Some can fight through it for the most part, but it can still catch up to them after a while.
Mental illness and treatment works the opposite of traditional diseases as well. Generally, if someone has high blood pressure, cholesterol issues, or diabetes, you can find a treatment relatively easy and implement it. In rare cases, it isn't easy and the person struggles through multiple treatments. If they fail, it's usually because they decide (rationally) they don't need the medicine.
With mental illness, it's rare that the solution is found right away. Usually several combinations of medicine and therapy are tried before the absolute right treatment is found (additionally, you generally won't need therapy for high cholesterol), and that's if it's found. Most people never find that combination and trudge through life, barely hanging on. It's sad and it's generally ignored.
One of our more troubling clients, who additionally is battling alcoholism (and losing badly), is an example of what happens to people when they start to lose control. Their own family abandoned them until recently. The client's sister hadn't seen her in years, yet had the nerve to yell at us for not doing more for the client. In my head, all I could think was "where were you for the last several years," but you can't say that. Instead, you have to bite your tongue.
That's what happens though. Family either disappears or become completely overwhelmed by having to take care of the client. Some end up devoting years upon years to take care of someone, but this is mainly because no one else wants to deal with it.
After going through some of the notes in the computer, it's become more and more clear to me that mental illness is an even bigger problem than I had already imagined, and I knew it was a big problem. These people need all the help they can get, but they don't get it.
In fact, the states are cutting funding for mental health treatment so much that people are being left behind because there aren't enough hours allowed anymore to provide people the help they need. Meanwhile, rich, healthy men and women are doing all they can to prevent tax increases on them so they can continue to live lavish lifestyles while those who need the money most continue to slip through the cracks.
Look, I'm not sitting here saying that throwing more money at the problem is going to fix it. Mental illness isn't just because someone goes through a rough patch and needs assistance. A lot of it is genetics and there isn't much you can do about that. But those that can be helped need more than they're getting.
It's a problem, but will anything happen to help change that?
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