BillionsofDollarsin MentalHealthFunding HasDeliveredaSystem inShambles
Thefederalgovernmentspentaround$280billioninmental healthfundingin2020,aboutaquarterofwhichcamefrom theMedicaidprogram.
In2013,mentalhealthwasalready thecostliesthealthcaresectorin thecountry,costingmorethanthat expendedonheartconditionsand cancer.
Thementalhealthindustrywatchdog,CitizensCommissiononHumanRights International,saysdespitethisinvestment,America'smentalhealthsystemisin shambles.Conditionsandoutcomeshaveonlyworsened.
ItisconsistentlyreportedthattheU.S.isexperiencing aprofoundmentalhealthcrisisandthosewith psychiatricdisordershaveshorterlifeexpectancies thanthegeneralpopulation.However,studiesshow peoplearemorelikelytodiefrompsychiatric hospitalizationandtreatment.
With6.1millionAmericanchildrenages0-17prescribedpsychotropicdrugsdocumentedto causesuicideandviolentbehavior,weseeacultureofviolenceinschools.From1992to 2017,therewereatleast37activeshooterincidentsinschoolsand15suchincidentsat post-secondaryinstitutions.
Today,childrenaresubjectedtopsychiatric-style “restraints”inschools—pinnedtothegroundorbound bymechanicaldevicessuchasstrapsorhandcuffs.
Federaldatareportsrestraintsandseclusionshappen 2,300timesperschoolday,onaverage,acrossthe nationto102,000studentseachyear.
Inthe2019–20schoolyear,55%ofpublicschools(or45,600schools)reportedprovidingmental healthassessmentstoevaluatestudentsand42%(or35,200schools)reportedprovidingtreatment tostudentsformentalhealthdisorders.62%providedtreatmentbothatschoolandoutside.
Whenschoolsreferstudentstooutside “treatment,”over96%ofpsychiatric hospitals,andgeneralhospitalswith separatepsychiatricunitsadminister psychotropicdrugs.
Althoughaccountingforapproximately20%ofthepopulation,patientswith“behavioralhealth” conditionsaccountfor48%ofMedicaidspending.ItisestimatedthatalmostathirdoflowincomeMedicaidbeneficiarieshavebeenlabeledwith“depression,”representingtwicetherate ofthenation.
Thatputsthematgreaterriskofbeing prescribedpsychotropicdrugsthatcan havedebilitatingsideeffectsanduniversal mentalhealthscreeninginschoolscanbe aconduittochildrenbeingprescribed thesemind-alteringdrugs.
In2019,Dr.KateAllsoppfromtheUniversityofLiverpoolsaid:“Although diagnosticlabelscreatetheillusionofanexplanationtheyarescientifically meaninglessandcancreatestigmaandprejudice.”
ProfessorPeterKinderman,Universityof Liverpool,said:“Thediagnosticsystem wronglyassumesthatalldistressresults fromdisorder,andreliesheavilyon subjectivejudgmentsaboutwhatis normal.”
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