13◼ REMARKS Bloomberg Businessweek June 24, 2019ILLUSTRATION
BY
JUN
CEN
● Materialwell-beinghasimproved,
butthenation’semotionaldistresshas
climbedtocrisislevels● ByCynthiaKoons
It’s Time to Address
America’s
Mental Health
SomanystatisticssaythatlifeintheU.S.isgettingbetter.
Unemploymentis atthelowestlevelsince1969.Violentcrime
hasfallensharplysincethe1990s—citiessuchasNewYorkare
saferthanthey’veeverbeen.AndAmericanslivednineyears
longer,onaverage,in 2017 thantheydidin1960.It would
makesensethatthepsychicwell-beingofthenationwould
improvealongwithmeasureslikethat.
Yetsomethingisn’tright.In2017,47,000peoplediedby
suicide,andtherewere1.4millionsuicideattempts.U.S.sui-
cideratesareatthehighestlevelsinceWorldWarII,saidthe
U.S.CentersforDiseaseControlandPreventiononJune20,
whenit releaseda studyontheproblem.Andit’sgetting
worse:TheU.S.suiciderateincreasedonaveragebyabout
1%a yearfrom 2000 through 2006 andby2%a yearfrom
2006 through2016.
Althoughsuicideisthestarkestindicatorofmentaldis-
tress,othersabound.Drugoverdosesclaimed70,000lives
in2017,and17.3million, or 7%, of U.S. adults reported suf-
fering at least one major depressive episode in the past year.
Life expectancy, perhaps the broadest measure of a nation’s
health, has fallen for three straight years, in part because of
the rise in drug overdoses and suicides. That’s the first three-
year drop since 1915 to 1918.
The problems may have different and varied causes, but
what they add up to is a national mental health epidemic. The
damage is on the scale of the global financial crisis, yet we
lack the institutions, policies, and determination to address
it. The government’s response has been inadequate, says Paul
Gionfriddo, president of Mental Health America, an advocacy
group. “The dollars have gone more to deep-end services in
jails and prisons. It’s a really bad idea to put the money intojails because the people don’t belong there.”
Mental health problems manifest in a number of ways and
encapsulate a wide range of conditions, including substance
abuse disorders, crippling anxiety, schizophrenia, and suicid-
ality. A person’s susceptibility depends on genetic, social, and
environmental factors. These contributors are believed to be
intertwined; psychological stressors can activate a genetic pre-
disposition, so life circumstances matter a lot. And the U.S. is
home to some particularly challenging ones: stagnant wages;
rising health-care costs; the proliferation of highly addictive
opioids after a marketing push from major drug companies;
the disappearance of well-paid blue-collar jobs and the emer-
gence of the gig economy; the lack or limited availability of
treatment and services. The destructive powers of technol-
ogy, be it in the form of social isolation or cyberbullying, have
been cited in the rising number of teens killing themselves.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for 10- to 34-year-
olds. Then there’s the prevalence of guns, which are used in
half of all suicides.
Whateverthecauses,mentalillnessandsubstanceabuse
aresocialandeconomiccatastrophes.TheycostU.S.busi-
nesses$80billionto$100billion annually, according to a lit-
erature review put out by the Center for Workplace Mental
Health, which also showed that some two-thirds of people suf-
fering from either mental health or substance abuse disorders
don’t receive any treatment for their conditions. Unchecked
mentalhealthconditionscanresultinviolence.InAmerica,
workplaceshootingshavebecomealmostroutine.Thelatest:
OntheafternoonofMay31, 2019, a disgruntled city employee
killed 12 people at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, Va.
Some federal actions have contributed to the crisis. Out of
concern that patients were trapped in mental hospitals without
a path out, President John F. Kennedy signed the Community
Mental Health Act in 1963 to provide funding for new services
in the community. The law “drastically altered the delivery
of mental health services and inspired a new era of optimism
in mental health care,” according to the National Council for
Behavioral Health. It also came at a time when new psychiat-
ric drugs were emerging, supporting the hope that the future
was going to be brighter for people in need of care.