irishcitizenarmy:

eightyprovinces:

maliny-w-lecie:

Mentally ill people are not the problem. Inaccessible, unaffordable health care is a problem. Stigma is a problem. Lack of treatment is a problem. Lack of understanding is a problem. Lack of compassion is a problem. Not taking people seriously is a problem. Lack of honest conversation and open dialogue is a problem. Using jails as a housing facility for mentally ill persons is a problem. Do you understand me. Mentally ill people are not a problem.

Doesn’t this only apply to the US? I thought Canada and Europe treated mental illness very seriously.

I’ve noticed that you seem to idealise Canada a lot…it’s really not much better than the USA. Maybe in this case with healthcare it is more “affordable” but that only makes it twice as inaccessible.

Psychiatrists work overtime and are late, rushed, and impatient with their patients. They get away with minimal effort and care because they’re on a guaranteed payroll (if you leave, there’s a years long waiting list waiting to replace you) and besides, they know you have nowhere else to go.

Beyond that, medication still costs a fortune, the stigma is still there, lack of treatment, understanding, compassion, everything else mentioned in this post.

In Vancouver, which as I’ve mentioned before has a disproportionate mental health and substance abuse crisis bordering on epidemic, we have a ridiculous number of the mentally ill population living their lives on the streets as homeless people if they’re lucky and on East Hastings as hard drug addicts if they’re not.

Psychiatric wards are at maximum capacity at all times and people in acute crisis are often turned away with no where else to go. People have relapsed into addiction and attempted suicide because of this.

On the other hand, Vancouver doesn’t have it nearly as bad as in the territories and on the reserves where the suicide rates of the indigenous populations are out of control. Our provincial and federal governments don’t even care.

^^^^^^^^^ Thank you. It’s not much better here in N.B., where I’ve had close friends who were actively suicidal and/or presenting otherwise very serious symptoms placed on waiting lists up to two years to get their “affordable” therapy. News flash: it’s only “affordable” if you’re willing to wait. If you can’t wait and have no money, then guess what, you’re shit out of fucking luck.

And I’m sorry, eightyprovinces, but this notion that Canada having more affordable healthcare than the U.S. automatically means that the mentally ill are treated any less deplorably in society, or that the stigma faced by MH patients is somehow “not a problem” is ridiculous bordering on laughable, not to mention incredibly ignorant. 

I mean “isn’t this only a problem in the U.S.” are you fucking kidding me? Believe it or not not everything is about the fucking United States.