Why mental health care in America is so shoddy
Posted on Jul 27 2021
Yahoo! Finance
More than 47 million American adults are experiencing a mental illness, and yet 57% of adults with a mental illness are receiving no treatment. The fundamental issue, according to experts, is that mental health care has historically been treated differently than physical health care. Jennifer Snow, director of public policy at NAMI, also noted that there is "a severe shortage of mental health professionals across the country." "Psychiatrists are not the only mental health professionals — there’s a robust continuum of professionals — but can you imagine if 60% of counties in the U.S. didn’t have access to cancer care?" Snow said. "I feel like people would be rioting in the streets." "Certainly with younger generations, more people are comfortable talking about their mental health care, but there are people who still look at it as something they should be able to get over and don’t look at it as a real health condition," Snow said. "We know that the brain is, in many ways, the most important part of your entire body."