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Juell Henson

Rebecca Morean

English Composition 1201.509

10 November 2021

How does continuing to cut mental health services impact society?

Continuing to cut mental health services is heavily impacting society as time passes.

Cutting mental health services is having a negative impact all over the world as it continues.

“Massive cuts to mental health services also potentially impact public safety.” There are many

problems caused by people with mental health issues. People with mental health illnesses need to

be provided with support.

I myself struggle with mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety. If cutting

mental health services continues, it will greatly impact me and millions of other people around

the world. Part of this is feeling like no one understands, also feeling like there is no one to talk

to. With mental health services, such as hotlines, that is not the case. Hotlines, therapists, and

psychologists are only a start to all of the mental health services here are. These services help

many people every single day.

People with mental health issues are no more likely than others to be violent towards

others. Most of the time, people with mental health illnesses are more likely to be victims of

violence. The risks of violence among individuals may increase when proper mental health
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support services are not provided. Using things such as drugs and alcohol can increase these

risks.Those are only some of the factors that can increase those risks if used as a form of self

medication.

It is common for people to only focus on the highly visible tragedies of mental illness.

However, things like suicide, arrests, homelessness, and school drop outs are less visible to

society. There could be an increase in all of these tragedies if mental health services continue to

be cut. Suicide happens more and more everyday. Mental health services help people who

struggle with this, and help them do better and feel like they are worth something.

Suicide rates in Ohio have decreased since 2018-2019. There was a 10% decrease from

2018 and an 8% decrease from 2019. From 2018-2019, the youth suicide rate decreased 5%.

Cutting mental health services may cause the suicide rates to spike. This could happen due to

hotlines being cut, or therapy not being available. These tragedies could result from mental

health services being cut.

Budgeting is a big factor in mental health services. Funding cuts play a big part in why

mental services are being cut. If there is not enough funds provided for mental health services,

they could get shut down. Cutting funds for mental health services could lead to them being shut

down. There are so many ways to fix this.

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“After three years of significant cuts in many states, some states increased their general

fund mental health budgets in FY2012. These increases, while encouraging, do not reverse the

devastating cuts that have taken place in recent years.” There could be some sort of donation

project. Just something that could help with funding to assure that mental health services will not

be cut. People need to be provided with the proper support when dealing with mental health

issues.

Although mental health hasn’t been talked about in the past; it is more acceptable in

today’s society, now more than ever. People being able to address their mental health needs

instead of, for example being embarrassed of them or pretending they don’t exist at all. Which

makes a huge difference in their everyday life. As well as their family members and people that

they interact with on an everyday basis.

By society being more aware and accepting of everyday mental illness, that opens up the

door for more people to talk about it and seek help. Those with mental illness having support and

accepting who they have become, also have better outcomes when they learn to live with the

stigma that comes with it. It’s sad when people think that they cannot overcome where they have

been in the past. When people perceive their mental illness as a weakness it withholds them from

seeing the person they have the possibility of becoming.

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Having a doctor who has an understanding of the different types of mental health is

beneficial to their recovery. People with mental health issues that have a doctor or counselor that

is understanding will help them not feel left out or looked down upon. For example, a lot of drug

counselors are addicts in recovery. This also gives them help that there is light at the end of the

tunnel. Them being able to help their patients helps the addict in recovery, as well as the

counselor, overcome their illness.

Mental health illness is not subject to just one. There are so many different types of

mental illness that come hand in hand. For example, bipolar disorder most likely comes with

bipolar depression, and anxiety usually comes with depression. People with loved ones that are

uneducated or unaware, may be trying to fix the suffering individuals when all they want is to be

loved and accepted. Sometimes people with depression need a day to be depressed without

feeling like they need to be fixed.

Loving an addict or someone with mental illness sometimes makes them need support of

their own. Loving somebody with addiction or mental illness could be just as stressful as being

the addict yourself. Mental illness comes in all shapes in sizes, it does not discriminate. It is

important to try to understand and relate to make people with mental illness feel more accepted.

Instead of putting people down, trying to help them could make a huge impact on their life.

Feeling like someone cares about you can make it easier to feel like you are worth something.

Getting help is the first step to overcoming these illnesses.

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Some forms of mental health are genetic. Mental health disorders, such as depression, are

the most common genetically inherited mental illnesses. Hereditary mental disorders never have

a full 100% genetic basis. Although these disorders can be passed through genetics, others have a

higher degree of heritability. People are much more likely to develop mental health disorders if

their parents or family members experienced this also.

Another popular cause of mental health disorders is drugs. Some mental health illnesses

can be drug driven. This could cause huge problems with the brain's functions with mental

health. If someone is a drug addict, it could drive them to eventually have many mental health

issues. People with drug problems may develop mental health disorders due to stress of being an

addict. Addiction itself is a mental health disorder, but it comes with many others along the way.

Brain injuries can also cause several mental health illnesses. If someone gets into an

accident and develops brain injuries, mental health disorders will most likely come with them.

For example, a car accident is something that could cause severe brain damage which could

possibly lead to mental health problems as life continues on. Severe brain injuries can affect your

physical functions, thinking abilities, behaviors, and more. Injuries to the brain can increase the

risk of developing mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Another likely potential cause of mental health illness, such as PTSD (posttraumatic

stress disorder) is serious accidents, physical or sexual assult, family history, abuse, etc. These

could all be causes of this mental illness. A sign of PTSD is reminders of traumatic experiences.
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People with PTSD often experience intense thoughts about their traumatic experience, they may

also experience flashbacks about the event. People struggling with this disorder should seek help

to try to cope with their repetitive thoughts about the event that caused their illness.

There are so many different types of mental health illnesses. These include depression,

bipolar depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and so many more. All of these disorders are

hard things that people all around the world have to deal with in their everyday life. Some people

even have to deal with more than one of these mental health illnesses. Dealing with these

problems every day can take a huge toll on someone’s life. People need the proper support and

services to help them through their difficult times when dealith with this.

Another issue when dealing with mental health disorders is that some people do not even

know how to identify their illnesses. This could become a big problem when trying to cope with

mental health illness. If a person does not know what they are suffering from, it can be severely

hard for them to seek help. If someone is unaware that they have depression and they just read it

as an off day, that could eventually become very bad for that person. This could also strongly

affect their mental health because they do not know what they are suffering from, so they cannot

get the proper help they need.

When struggling with mental health illnesses, getting help is probably the best thing

someone could do. This allows them to begin the healing process with someone to guide them

along the way. Seeking help is the best thing anyone could do when struggling with this. If a
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person is struggling because of their mental health, it is important for them to get professional

help and talk about it. It is important to get proper help so that people are not trying to battle it

out with themself.

20 years ago all of these mental health illnesses were not as talked about as they are now.

No one was educated back then. No one was talking about it, therefore no one is going to look

for help. It is something that needs to be talked about. For the sake of so many people, mental

health needs to continue to be talked about. Help and support needs to continue to be provided

for the people struggling. If no one is seeking help from the mental health sources provided, they

could be shut down for lack of use.

Nowadays, people don’t know if they are struggling with mental health issues, or if they

are just having a bad day. Sometimes it is easy to tell, others it can be impossible. This all

depends on what you are used to. If you are constantly feeling down and upset for no reason,

there is most likely a mental connection there. If you just wake up one day and you are just upset

for no reason but it gets better throughout the day, there could be a mental health connection

there, or it could just be a bad day that will be okay in a few hours.

Another thing that needs to be talked about is antidepressants. Antidepressants are not a

cure for depression by any means. Doctors assume that shoving happy pills down the throats of

mentally suffering individuals is going to make everything better. That is not at all the case.

When it comes to mental health illnesses, people need help, not pills. The pills may help with
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suicidal thoughts and they may help people feel okay for a certain amount of time, but they are

not going to fix it. People do not need to keep taking pills to feel better.

There is a solution to this. Instead of taking pills everyday to numb the pain for a few

hours, people struggling could reach out for help. Go to a counselor, therapist, or even call a

hotline of some sort. Reaching out for help is the best way to go in these situations. If it was as

easy as taking a pill and making all your problems go away, everyone in the world would be

taking pills all of the time. It is better to talk to someone and let it out instead of keeping it all in

and expecting one little pill to fix everything in life.

By ignoring mental health illnesses in the past, it has resulted in more and more suicides.

If people feel like they have no one to talk to, they are eventually going to lose hope. They may

begin to feel trapped, or like they are worthless. This could lead to more people giving up and

taking their own lives because they don’t feel worth anything. That is a big thing when it comes

to mental health. People who are struggling should never have to feel alone or ashamed.

If mental health services are cut, there would most likely be a major increase in suicide

rates and mental health problems. People use mental health services as a way to cope with their

illnesses. If these services are cut, some struggling people may not have any other support

system. This is not good for people because this could cause their mental health to drop. Without

mental health services, some might feel no sense of self worth because there is no one to talk to

for help.
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Reaching out for help is the best solution for dealing with mental health issues. Calling

hotlines, individual therapy, or even group therapy could make a huge impact on someone's

mental health. Talking to someone about what is bothering you could potentially make things a

lot better. It is better to talk to someone, than to hold everything in until it is unbearable. The best

solution for people dealing with any kind of mental illness is to get help, even if that means

talking to a family member or someone you trust, it does not always have to be a professional,

though that may be the best option.

Some people develop mental health illnesses through genetics, others are caused by

things that happen throughout their life. Both are very important. This is because no matter how

mental illnesses are developed, they are still illnesses that need to be attended to. It is important

to seek help when dealing with mental health issues. If help is provided, it should be taken

advantage of. Getting help could assist with the progression of the illness.

People struggling need help. There are so many different types of mental health illnesses,

they all need attention. If someone is struggling and needs help, they should be able to get that

help. People should not have to worry about not having anyone to help them with their mental

health. Mental health is not something people can control. People can not pick and choose if and

what mental health illnesses they have. That is something they have to live with everyday, and

just a little bit of help could take somebody a long way.

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Works Cited

Berlatsky, Noah. Mental Illness. 2016.

Burana, Lily. “My Mental Health Issues Have a Name: Bruce” The New York Times, edited by

Lily Burana, 2021.

Four Big Ways We Can Change Mental Health Care in America. 2015.

www.goodtherapy.org/blog/4-big-ways-we-can-change-mental-health-care-in-ame

rica-0127155

Günsberg, Osher. Back After the Break. Harper Collins, 2018.

Lubotsky, Bruce. Mental Health Services: A Public Health Perspective. 2010.

Mental illness [electronic resource] / Filmoption International (Firm), 2009. N.Y. Films Media

Group.

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db

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State Mental Illness Cuts: The Continuing Crisis - NAMI. 2011.

www.nami.org/getattachment/About-NAMI/Publications/Reports/StateMentalHeal

thCuts2.pdf

Stigma and Discrimination - American Psychiatric Association.

www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discrimination

The Impact of Austerity on Mental Health Service Provision. 2018.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6025145/