Mental Health and Money

Recently on BBC it was announced that funding for mental health care was to be cut but 8.25 per cent and they are planning to do “more with less.”

Here’s where I have a problem with this but I’ll start with a question. In our current day of age, do mental health issues seem to be on the rise or decline?

If you search the news, do some studying or even just talk to new people, you will notice there are a lot more people struggling from and labelling themselves with some sort of mental illness. Even in my own personal life, it seems the more people I meet, the more people suffering I get to know.

There is no decline in this very serious issue and everywhere you look, someone is suffering from something such as depression all the way to things like bipolar disorder. There is an increasing awareness of how many people suffer from a mental illness.

So in simple terms, there is a rise. With this, now we see why “more with less’ is an issue.

One may argue that they are coming up with alternative methods and studies which help cut down costs for diagnoses, treatments and remedies, but if mental health issues are rising and more people are found to be suffering how can they accommodate these people with budget cuts?

Personally, I find the cuts would be completely fine if the amount of people was declining, as would many I’m sure, but now is not the time to forget about one of the greatest plagues to cover the world. Yes, I’m referring to mental health as a plague.

I mentioned in my last article how people don’t take their time to get to know and help those suffering but they should start. When you avoid people like that, you’re out casting a person, such as a plague victim. When you throw money at something and don’t deal with the issue head on, and then pull the funding, you’re signifying a truce, or a nature of giving up, with the issue.

I think that’s enough of a defense for the plague statement but here’s time to defend my statement on why I think we should not only keep funding but increase it.

In my last article I mentioned how my best friend suffered from anxiety, today I’m going to tell you statistics say 1 in 13 people around the world suffer from not only mental illnesses, but anxiety alone. If 1 in 13 suffer from anxiety, how many more people suffer from depression? How many more people suffer from bipolar disorder? How about personality, eating, OCD, PTSD? How about the many more?

It’s a rising issue, not something we need to cut budgets on. This is why I cofounded True Reflections, this is why I want to travel and help the world. This is why I’m here for you, all of you.

Remember, you matter and you’re going to be perfectly okay!