One of the areas that our government spends the least on is mental health care. In a country consisting of very few rich and many who fall under the poverty line, government funded healthcare is heavily relied upon. The people who need the care the most often cannot get adequate care for their mental illness. The mental health system is a system dominated by overworked therapists, psychiatrists, and facilities to treat too many severe cases. These overworked individuals often want to give people the care they need, but the harsh reality is that the resources and funding just aren’t there. People are falling through the cracks every day, and our government does not seem to notice.

For some it is a never ending cycle of seeing overworked therapists who see too many severely mentally ill people, the therapist refers the person to an overworked psychiatrist who prescribes medication that may or may not work. Some are lucky, and this is where it stops. Many however are not this lucky. Many enter the third step of entering a psychiatric hospital. These hospitals are typically state or federally funded for the most part. This usually means that they are overcrowded and cannot offer many services to their patients. Many of these hospitals also use mechanical restraint liberally along with the use of injectable sedative drugs. This is done because there is nothing the staff can do for the patient, or because the staff does not want to deal with the patient. This creates an environment of fear and hostility among the patients which makes it more difficult for them to receive treatment and therefore to maintain well-being after discharge from the hospital.

Not all psychiatric inpatient care is this way. Psychiatric units maintained within general hospitals are usually better funded, less crowded, and can actually do more to help the patients. Care in these units is typically also more structured, and it allows for more interaction between staff and patients.

Though all the flaws of the mental health system cannot be blamed on the government, many can. If more funding was allocated for mental health care the cycle could be broken and more people could have a chance at a healthy and happy life. The population of severely mentally ill people grows each year. However, the government does not change funding allocation to match the growing number of people who need help who can’t get it. More money needs to be going into programming, not medication research. These people need help not to be controlled.