Saturday, April 21, 2007
And another can of worms
In a era of information overload, it is the media's judgment of just how important an issue is that makes the critical difference to how seriously average Americans will take it and what action they will be willing to support - especially if the action involves inconvenience, discomfort, or pain in the pocketbook. - Daniel Yankelovich
Television this week has used the Virginia Tech tragedy to launch a round-the-clock drive for ratings, while unseen Americans suffer and die each day from inadequate health care.
Someone should light candles in their memory, too.
[...]
We live in the only industrialized nation in the world that allows insurance companies to treat mental health as less "real" than so-called physical disorders and therefore restrict or deny coverage for mental health treatment.
Insurers are able to take advantage of our society's Puritanical belief that mental illness is a 'failure of will,' or that it's 'all in your imagination.' That's a false duality.
Labels: Cho, mental health
VaTech tragedy: A wake up call for America’s mental health
Each year, less than half of the 26 percent of all American adults with mental health problems receive the treatment they require to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
The effects of this national failure can be felt throughout schools, the workplace, family life and the criminal justice system, said Allen. Without a comprehensive mental health system focused on mental wellness and prevention, America faces increased numbers of people with untreated mental illnesses, at an even greater cost to society as a whole, she said.
The effects of this national failure can be felt throughout schools, the workplace, family life and the criminal justice system, said Allen. Without a comprehensive mental health system focused on mental wellness and prevention, America faces increased numbers of people with untreated mental illnesses, at an even greater cost to society as a whole, she said.
Labels: Cho, mental health
Mental Illness Strains School Counselors
From Red Orbit
Across America, college counseling centers are strained by rising numbers of mentally ill students and surging demand for mental health services - a challenging trend as campus officials try to identify potential threats like the unstable Virginia Tech gunman.
And even when serious emotional problems are detected, university officials often feel constrained in how they respond due to an array of laws and policies protecting students' rights and privacy.
"The number of people coming to colleges who've had psychiatric treatment has increased tremendously," said Dr. Gerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chair of the American Psychiatric Association committee on college mental health.
"Now they're able to come to college - that would not have been the case earlier," Kay said. "You've got a very large number of people who may have some vulnerabilities. It has stressed the availability of resources."
Reasons for the surge include the Americans with Disabilities Act, which gives mentally ill students the right to be at college, and increasingly sophisticated medications which enable them to function better than in the past.
[...]
"We have to provide services to students with mental illness - it's not grounds to exclude them from our property," Flynn said. "We cannot discriminate against the mentally ill, nor do we want to."
[...]
Across America, college counseling centers are strained by rising numbers of mentally ill students and surging demand for mental health services - a challenging trend as campus officials try to identify potential threats like the unstable Virginia Tech gunman.
And even when serious emotional problems are detected, university officials often feel constrained in how they respond due to an array of laws and policies protecting students' rights and privacy.
"The number of people coming to colleges who've had psychiatric treatment has increased tremendously," said Dr. Gerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chair of the American Psychiatric Association committee on college mental health.
"Now they're able to come to college - that would not have been the case earlier," Kay said. "You've got a very large number of people who may have some vulnerabilities. It has stressed the availability of resources."
Reasons for the surge include the Americans with Disabilities Act, which gives mentally ill students the right to be at college, and increasingly sophisticated medications which enable them to function better than in the past.
[...]
"We have to provide services to students with mental illness - it's not grounds to exclude them from our property," Flynn said. "We cannot discriminate against the mentally ill, nor do we want to."
[...]
Labels: Cho, mental health
Lowry: Stop tiptoeing around the problem of mental illness
The authorities at Virginia Tech did their own version of this urban shuffle in their handling of Cho Seung-Hui. It's obviously much easier to realize that someone is dangerously deranged after he has killed 32 people than when dealing with uncertain knowledge in an environment where any wrong (or even correct) move means a lawsuit. But Virginia Tech often tiptoed around Cho's mental disturbance.
When his ''poetry'' was read aloud in a class, it was so terrifying that at the next meeting of the class only seven of 70 students showed up. Cho was removed from that class, and another professor began to tutor him one-on-one, but only after establishing a secret code word with her assistant to signal when she should call security.
When his ''poetry'' was read aloud in a class, it was so terrifying that at the next meeting of the class only seven of 70 students showed up. Cho was removed from that class, and another professor began to tutor him one-on-one, but only after establishing a secret code word with her assistant to signal when she should call security.
Labels: Cho, mental health
