Comstock's magazine 1117 - November 2017 | Page 19

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER n
WE MUST ENCOURAGE DISCUSSIONS
ON MENTAL HEALTH
PHOTO: ELEAKIS & ELDER PHOTOGRAPHY
W
e’ve recently had a litany of disasters that have rocked
our country — hurricanes, fires and killings have taken
many lives, creating a pervasive sense of loss and pain.
As people reel from fires in the Napa and Sonoma areas, we’ve
barely recovered from the shock of a mass shooting in Las Ve-
gas. When people become victims of such graphic violence, it
jolts our collective conscience.
Almost always, the first question we ask about a mass shoot-
ing is how it could happen, how anyone in their right mind could
act so unconscionably. All too often we have no answers. The
brain can be a murky place that hides more secrets than it reveals.
We may never know what was going on in the mind of the
Las Vegas shooter, but we cannot deny that mental illness is a
bigger part of our everyday lives — in mostly subtle, non-violent
ways — than we may know. Research by the National Council for
Community Behavioral Health and the World Health Organiza-
tion shows that one of every five of us suffers from some form of
mental illness. Nationwide in the U.S., that is more than 57 mil-
lion people. It afflicts people of every age group, with the highest
rates for symptoms, such as depression, in young people between
the ages of 18 and 25.
Those same studies show that the problem is equally shared
by all ethnic groups, with similar rates among Caucasian, Asian,
Hispanic and African Americans.
As sobering as these statistics are, they still don’t reflect the
price we pay as a society for not addressing mental health prob-
lems. Some of us may have a “crazy uncle” we keep at a distance, or
can point to people wandering our downtown streets in obvious
need of mental health treatment. This ubiquitousness may make
us feel like it’s not our problem. But, in fact, we are all affected
by untreated mental illness, whether we are taxpayers, business
owners or a person struggling to help a family member cope.
The WHO estimates that mental illness costs the U.S. econ-
omy $80 billion a year, 15 percent of the economic cost from all
diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. Forty-nine per-
cent of Medicaid recipients use some of those funds for mental
health treatment. Half of jail and state prison inmates require
mental health treatment. Two-thirds of homeless adults suffer
from mental illness, and the alcoholism and drug dependency it
can lead to.
I recently attended a UC Davis lecture and heard Dr. Stephen
Hinshaw, a noted psychotherapist, talk about the book he’s au-
thored on his experience with mental illness. His father suffered
from it in secret. The family suffered because of the father’s long
absences from home, which he and his brothers did not under-
stand. Therapists had advised his parents “not to tell the kids.”
His brothers all suffered life-long mental problems as a result.
To a large degree, there is still a lot of stigma and secrecy as-
sociated with mental illness. We change the subject or look the
other way. Public discussion has prompted public support for
other health problems that were once stigmatized, from HIV to
cancer. We honor survivors of cancer with pink ribbons, celebrate
the decreasing mortality rate for those living with HIV, and praise
patients who have overcome a heart attack.
Research shows that up to 90 percent of people who get men-
tal health treatment can recover or manage their symptoms well
enough to function normally, especially if treatment begins soon-
er, rather than later.
We are taking steps to do that. The UC Davis Behavioral
Health Center urges medical doctors to study psychotherapy so
they can recognize mental health symptoms and proactively re-
fer patients for treatment. A bill just signed into law by Gov. Jerry
Brown and sponsored by the Steinberg Institute, created by Sac-
ramento’s current mayor, will help raise funds for primary care
doctors to receive training in rec