News /SAMHSA Administrator: Shift focus of national mental health dialogue from blame to social inclusion
In the opening keynote of the Alternatives conference in Orlando on Wednesday, SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde urged attendees to start new conversations about mental health and recovery by shedding the traditional negative focus often displayed by media in favor of a positive one.
After sharing sobering statistics on mental health cost and impact worldwide, Hyde cited multiple reasons why individuals shun the idea of seeking mental health treatment. Part of the problem, she said, lies in the fact that many are fearful of others finding out about their conditions or being institutionalized.
And these fears aren't unfounded. In fact, surveys show that 30 percent of individuals would think less of a person who has an addiction, and 20 percent would think less of a person who is in recovery from an addiction, according to Hyde.
Because reality is much more nuanced than those numbers, Hyde said, there is a real need for constant national dialogue about mental health. However, we only seem to have those important discussions in the wake of tragedies.
"When does the county get revved up about behavioral health issues?" Hyde asked. "It's when somebody dies. It's committing suicide in a dramatic way. It's when Columbine happens. Or when Virginia Tech happens. That's when the whole country gets galvanized around talking about behavioral health issues. And what you see is a lot of individual blame."
This blame then leads to misunderstandings about mental health and substance abuse, which are manifested in prejudice, discrimination, and damaging media portrayals of help centers, according to Hyde.
“We also hear institutional blame with discussions around welfare systems driven by substance abuse and mental illness issues. People ask, 'What was wrong with that mental health center?' or 'Why did the court that let that guy out?' There's always the effort to blame and find some reason for tragedies that have happened."
For us to progress as a society and have a physically and mentally healthier population, Hyde said, we must first eliminate the element of blame in our dialogue.
"We need an approach that engages everybody, based on science and fact and not misunderstanding," Hyde said. "It needs to be based on social inclusion, healthier communities, and healthier people."
Hyde wants systems to frame their thinking in a way that looks at how we can have overall healthy people, not just end disorders.
"There is too much potential in people to lock up or keep out," Hyde said. "There is too much insight to ignore. There's actually insight that we need to grab onto, and it's too costly as a society not to support recovery. That's the conversation that we want to have."
By the numbers:
- 50: Percentage of U.S. adults who will develop mental health illness in their lifetime
- 11 million: Number of people who consider, plan, or attempt suicide each year
- 36,000: Number of people who die from suicide each year
- 45: Percentage of people who saw a primary care physician within one month before suicide death without any discussion of suicide issues
- 8: Number of times someone with depression is more likely to commit suicide than the general population
- 25: Percentage of women who will be victims of intimate partner violence
- 24: Age at which 75% of all lifetime mental health cases have begun
- 20.8 million: Number of adults aged 18 or over with substance abuse orders in the past year
Data from Centers for Disease Control
Comments
"Recovery is living the hope that wellness is possible and doing whatever it takes to get well." Inclusion is being open to connecting with everybody on some maningful level, in dialogue, in intimacy, and everywhere in between. In the United States people say they believe that everyone is "created equal" before the law and all have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." If we understood that people's definitions of what makes a life livable, free and happy are many, diverse, and can be highly quirky, and if we believed that that's Ok, we might actually get to a place in this society where people like me are welcome.
The content of the first two paragraphs in the article above, "SAMHSA Administrator: Shift focus ...," is focused strictly on mental illness. The third paragraph, "And these fears aren't unfounded ...," then cites statistics on addiction.
MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT AN ADDICTION! One does NOT choose to have mental illness any more than someone chooses to have cancer or kidney disease. Implying that it is an addiction just adds to the misperception and stigma already out there.
Hi Marilyn,
You're right; mental illness is not an addiction! However, addiction (or substance abuse) is a type of a mental health issue, which is why SAMHSA is the federal agency that focuses on both mental health and substance abuse.
While mental illness and substance abuse are often co-occurring disorders, in no way does anyone choose to have mental illness (or I would bet most addictions for that matter)!
No one understands discrimination better than a person who has been discriminated against because of their color, faith, challenges or mental illness(es) including co-occurring illnesses. The public of the world may think they understand the word discrimination but it's not a word it is an action. Inclusion is not a word it is an action.
Discrimination is a binding, choking, killing feeling of despair for the discriminated against. I aim with the help of others to eliminate the discrimination against those with mental illnesses and prove we are capable and endowed with talent and intelligence and value.
Have you ever been called 'Psycho' by an ER doctor as you gently sit waiting for transport to a receiving unit? Discrimination! Some nurses in doctor's offices are wary and fearful. I've lost jobs when I've disclosed that I have a chemical imbalance to the owners of companies. Some people think we are dumb, unintelligent and of no good purpose. We must educate the public not just with our views but the truth of our value. The word 'discrimination' defined in my thinking and understanding is judging without the facts. We are people with names. We are our names not our diagnosis. I am Mrs. Andrea Willard, not my illnesses.
I am the Recruiter/Director for the forthcoming 'From the Beginnings and On' Galleries in Southwest Florida. It is a Psychiatrist, Dr. Manuel Gallego MD's, of Port Charlotte, Florida, attempt through our project 'Mental Wellness and Recovery Through Art' to show the world (and I am being contacted by MI artists from around the world) that inclusion must begin and attacks of discrimination must end.
It is difficult to get an interview for the 'Call for Artists' in the newspapers when you want to talk about and inform the public that words like 'psycho', 'lunatic', 'looney bin', 'crazy', 'coo-coo's nest' and many other discriminatory words are not just offensive, they are harmful to people, our society and culture.
Respectfully,
Andrea (Bower) Willard
The term "behavioral health" is stigmatizing.
This is going backwards.
Many people have the misconception that persons with mental illness are violent, crazy etc...
They "behave badly".
I work as a CNA and my husband works as a mental health therapist. I feel like in any given day I see more people with mental health issues than he does. It seems like the people that need treatment never get it and the people that are getting treatment are just being neurotic half the time. That's just my opinion though obviously.
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