Mental Health Crisis

People struggle with mental health all over the world. The United States particularly struggles with mental health. This is due to the mental health crisis we have going on in the United States right now. The United States mainly struggles with anxiety of all sorts. There isn’t much affordable help available to people who are struggling. Most people who struggle are people who don’t know how to reach out for help, or people who are in poverty. Many people in the United States who are under the age of 18 also struggle with severe depression and a solution needs to be made so these people can get help. I’ll be looking into New Hampshire closely especially looking onto the opioid epidemic and anxiety depression rates in the state.  I believe it is important to look into these issues. We need to spend more money that way people can get the help that they need. We also need to make more affordable mental health care so no get excluded from getting help.

The United States mental health crisis has been going on for a while now. Here’s what a quote in the article Mental health in America says. “Nationwide, almost one in five people (47.1 million) in the U.S. are living with a mental health condition. That number increased by about 1.5 million over last year’s report,” (“Mental health in America- printed Reports”). The crisis in the United states continues to rise and worsen. Many may know people with a mental illness due to these statistics. The United States needs help and needs more affordable mental health care for people since many can’t afford it. An article by Rhito Chatterjee says this.

“Roughly two-thirds of Americans with a diagnosed mental health condition were unable to access treatment in 2021, though they had health insurance,”

(“Most Americans with mental health needs don’t get treatment, report finds”).

This shows that many people aren’t able to get the help they need due to availability and affordability. Even with health insurance it’s still hard to afford everything you need. More affordable mental health care would seriously help this issue. 47 million Americans struggle with mental health and two thirds of the people aren’t able to get the treatment they need. This has been an ongoing problem for years and only continues to get worse. There are also things that play into mental health. Sometimes when people struggle with mental illness they can get into drugs that they think are helping them but they don’t and will just make things worse.  New Hampshire is the state that has one of the worst opioid epidemics. There is also not enough help out there in New Hampshire for struggling addicts. An article called a look at the New Hampshire opioid crisis says “New Hampshire ranks the lowest nationally for available addiction treatment programs, both state-funded and otherwise,” (“A Look at the New Hampshire Opioid Crisis”).  I use New Hampshire as an example since we have one of the worst drug problems in the United States. 

New Hampshire struggles with mental health and we have a huge opioid epidemic. New Hampshire doesn’t have the worst mental health issue out of the states in the United States. The people with most mental health issues are mostly in the south/ south east area. New Hampshire has one of the biggest opioid epidemics though. In New Hampshire we struggle with anxiety and depression the most. They are the two disorders that take up most of all mental health health disorders in New Hampshire. Many people aren’t able to get the help they need with these disorders. This also doesn’t account for people under the age of 18 that struggle with mental health too. An article called mental health in New Hampshire says, “29.4% of adults in New Hampshire reported symptoms of anxiety and/ or depressive disorder,” (“Mental Health in New Hampshire”). This shows that many adults in New Hampshire struggle with mental health. Many people in New Hampshire can’t afford to get the help they need even with health insurance. Another quote from the article mental health in New Hampshire says,

“Among adults in New Hampshire who reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder, 27.7% reported needing counseling or therapy but not receiving it,”

(“Mental health in New Hampshire”).

This shows that not enough people are getting the help they need due to a multitude of reasons. Mental health states to get really bad after covid 19. There was still a crisis beforehand but after the pandemic mental health issue went way up in almost every state. This shows how little New Hampshire has to help struggling addicts. We don’t have funded addiction programs to help all those in need. New Hampshire needs to get more help and spend more money to help all these people. The number of struggling addicts in New Hampshire continues to rise. We need to spend more money to help those with addiction and mental health issues. Another quote from an article called a look at the New Hampshire opioid crisis says, 

“Doctors who are focused on recovery and addiction support are not well-represented in New Hampshire,”

(“A Look at the New Hampshire Opioid Crisis”).

This also shows that New Hampshire doesn’t get much support when it comes to addiction and mental health. We don’t have the resources open to help everyone. People in New Hampshire under the age of 18 also struggle a lot and are important to mention. Not only adults are struggling and can’t get help. An article called youth mental health in New Hampshire says, “Over 36% of youth reported that their mental health was most of the time or always not good including stress, anxiety, and depression,” (“Youth Mental Health in New Hampshire”). This shows that we need more help available in school and available to more people. It is also important to mention that some kids’ parents don’t listen to them when they say they are struggling. We need more help in schools for these kids so that they can feel open and comfortable talking about it. We need more resources for all these people in New Hampshire to get the help they need. This way we can hopefully all become happier and everyone can get help that is easy and available. 

On the other hand, people may think we don’t need to spend more on these things because there are more important things to worry about. People also believe that mental illness makes you weak and that you are just able to think your way out of it. An article by UNC says, “For many people, mental illness is seen as a sign of weakness. An article called if health is wealth, why do so many people ignore mental health say, “There’s a belief that if you can’t “just snap out of it,” then there’s something wrong with you,” (“If Health is Wealth, Why Do So Many Ignore Mental Health?”). This shows that some people just don;’t believe in it and don’t want their money spent to help the people who struggle. People also don’t want it because mental health can be hard to see in people. Another quote from anarticle called if health is wealth, why do so many people ignore mental health says,

“Mental illness can be harder to detect,’”

(“If Health is Wealth, Why Do So Many Ignore Mental Health?”).

This is why people ignore mental health and don’t think it actually affects people so why spend money on it. People who don’t struggle also don’t want to spend money on it. 

This is wrong because there is much science behind that mental health can seriously affect someone. Mental health will get worse if we don’t do something. It is very real and some people struggle everyday. In an article called information about mental illness and the brain says, “Mental illnesses result from problems with the communication between neurons in the brain (neurotransmission). For example, the level of the neurotransmitter serotonin is lower in individuals who have depression,” (“Information about Mental Illness and the Brain”). This shows that there is science behind mental health that really affects people. You can’t say it’s not real or doesn’t happen when there is science to back it up. A person with mental health problems is not a weak person either. “A mental health condition has nothing to do with being weak or lacking willpower. It is not a condition people choose to have or not have,” (“Busted: 7 myths about mental health”). This shows that a person can’t choose to have one and a mental disorder does make us weak. If anything it makes people stronger. 

I would say we need to spend more money on mental health facilities because they are not up to par in the United States. In New Hampshire I would say we need to give more money to lakes region mental health centers, growing roots integrative health and wellness, and robison wood applies psychology. So many other countries that have affordable and available mental health facilities are doing so much better. The United States has some of the most mental health problems. We should also have help kore available in schools and it should be talked about more so that way people start feeling comfortable talking about the way they are feeling from a young age. This would help people get help early on instead of struggling for too long. Mental health should be talked about way more than it is since it is so common. If we make mental healthcare more affordable as well it will help those who struggle but can’t afford to get help. This would improve the crisis that’s been going on for too long now in the United States. The country is struggling with mental health disorders all over and something needs to be done. Everyone should be able to afford and get the help they need.  

Works Cited

“Busted: 7 myths about mental health.” UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/parenting/health/busted-7-myths-about-mental-health. Accessed 29 April 2024.

“If Health is Wealth, Why Do So Many Ignore Mental Health?” UNC Health Caldwell, 8 December 2022, https://www.caldwellmemorial.org/wellness/wellbeing-with-caldwell/health-is-wealth/. Accessed 29 April 2024.

“Information about Mental Illness and the Brain – NIH Curriculum Supplement Series.” NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20369/. Accessed 29 April 2024.

“Mental Health in America – Printed Reports.” Mental Health America, https://mhanational.org/issues/mental-health-america-printed-reports. Accessed 25 April 2024.

“The New Hampshire Opioid Crisis.” Rivier University, https://www.rivier.edu/academics/blog-posts/a-look-at-the-new-hampshire-opioid-crisis/. Accessed 29 April 2024.

Panchal, Nirmita. “Mental Health and Substance Use State Fact Sheets.” KFF, https://www.kff.org/statedata/mental-health-and-substance-use-state-fact-sheets/new-hampshire/. Accessed 29 April 2024.

“Youth Mental Health In New Hampshire | Extension.” UNH Extension, 8 May 2023, https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2023/05/youth-mental-health-new-hampshire. Accessed 29 April 2024.