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Trinity Turner

Mr.Taylor

English II

10 January 2019

Mental Illness: A Generational Crisis

“It’s called Mental Illness for a reason, because it is an illness. Why can’t it be accepted

like another illness?”(A Healthy Place). These types of observations explain the reason that this

generation is plagued with unhealthy conditions of the mind that no other generation has faced.

This generation faces such problems not because of the existence of mental illness, but because

of the lack of urgency in our response. The current crisis at hand is mental illness, and the

solution to such a problem is to attend to it more carefully, and to provide treatment to those who

experience difficulties. Some may say that it can not be done and that a problem like this will

continue on, this is due to the tax it might take to help others in situations caused by such

complications. Those who agree with this claim do not consider other methods of funding, or

how positively this change will affect our society. It is always good to help avoidable deaths.

Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions that affect your mood,

thinking, and behaviour. Being mentally ill is not always detectable, and it can often take those

who know a sufferer by surprise. In the case of Robin Williams, an American celebrity that was

beloved by all of America and committed suicide in 2014, his death was a shock to millions.

Most notable, it was very avoidable. Devastating tragedies that have left our country traumatized,

such as many mass school shootings, could have been avoided if treatment had reached out

sooner. At least 59% of the 185 public mass shootings that took place in the United States from
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1900 through 2017 were carried out by people who had either been diagnosed with a mental

disorder or demonstrated signs of serious mental illness prior to the attack (There is a Clear Link

Between Mass Shootings And Mental Illness). Adam Lanza, Sandy Hook school shooter, was

diagnosed with schizophrenia, and experts at the journal ​Psychology Today​ confirm that Lanzas

act shows untreated schizophrenia. Traumatic events like these create a paranoid and distrustful

country. Around 45 million Americans are affected by this problem, men seem especially

susceptible, as their suicide rates are much higher than in women.

Not just in America, but worldwide, people are suffering from many mental health

conditions, as suicide rates have only gone up.The suicide rates in men in the last 16 years have

gone from 17.7 deaths per 100,000 residents of the U.S in 2000 to 21.1 deaths in 2016. The rate

in females went from 4.1 to 6 deaths per 100,000 residents (Statista). This problem does not

seem to be fixing itself, or going away. The rate of Major Depressive Disorders in youth

increased from 11.93% to 12.63%. The most notable part of this reality is that more than half,

62%, of these youth did not receive treatment (The State of Mental Health in America).

Increased suicide rate and an unhappy general public with unstable youth are the main

consequences for not attending to such an issue. When people are ill mentally, depending on the

condition, they can become more reckless With a tendency to have less concern for themselves

and others which makes the public unsafe.Untreated mental conditions lead to poor quality of

life, just like untreated physical conditions. It is crucial to take note from other countries, such as

South Korea, so we do not follow in their footsteps of being one of the most industrialized

societies with one of the highest suicide rates in the world. People left untreated with mental

illness have higher rates of homelessness and are more likely to be incarcerated due to lack of
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concern for themselves and others. This explains why 70% of youth in juvenile systems have at

least one mental health condition. Incarcerated victims of mental health are likely to never

receive treatment. If we let this continue, our youth will only become more reckless, and this is

completely avoidable.

Offering more public services that provide medication for those in need is one of the

easiest ways to combat this generational mental health crisis.This would give access to those

who need care and make resources more well known, provides proper medication to the mentally

ill, decrease carelessness symptoms in patients, and lower incarceration and poverty rates

amongst people with mental illness. Requiring towns and cities or states to have a certain amount

of facilities available to the public, preferably for free, or for an extremely low cost is the

simplest way to implement services. This would be expensive and difficult to fund.Some may

discredit the solution entirely, due to the possibility of a tax increase. What these people do not

see is that the government can take funding from something of less importance, and apply more

taxes appropriately to those who can pay. This along with the support of nonprofits and such will

be more than enough to pay for these much needed services.

Mental illness is an issue that is secretly wreaking havoc on our society, criminals that are

misunderstood and impoverished and deprived of care and a generation of mentally absent

drones will not mix well with advancements that we wish to make as a society. An advancement

such as legalization of recreational drugs is not ideal with our society today. If we fix this

mental health crisis by making resources for recovery and care more accessible and implement

facilities everywhere then we can prepare our country for new advancements. America is not in

the best place, but we are doing much better than countries that are even more industrialized such
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as China and South Korea. We should look at them as an example of what not to do. If mental

health facilities were as common as Mcdonalds or Walmart, it’s likely that we’d have a more

self-aware and mentally peaceful country.

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Works Cited

“Suicide Death Rate U.S. by Gender 1950-2016 | Statistic.” Statista,

www.statista.com/statistics/187478/death-rate-from-suicide-in-the-us-by-gender-since-19

50/​.

“Consequences of Not Treating Mentally Ill.” Mental Illness Policy Org,

mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/untreated.html.

“Health Status - Suicide Rates - OECD Data.” The OECD,

data.oecd.org/healthstat/suicide-rates.htm.

“The State of Mental Health in America.” ​www.mentalhealthamerica.net,​ Better Help,

www.mentalhealthamerica.net/sites/default/files/key%20findings%20infographics-01.pn

g.

“Actually, There Is a Clear Link between Mass Shootings and Mental Illness.” Los Angeles

Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2018,

www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-duwe-rocque-mass-shootings-mental-illness-2018

0223-story.html.