In his review of Sectioned: A Life Interrupted, Blake Morrison praises John O'Donoghue's portrayal of the "humdrum reality" of mental illness:
It's less a story of locked wards than of hostels, soup kitchens, sheltered housing, drug addicts, well-meaning charity workers and relentless poverty.
Patching together adequate treatment for those with mental health problems is always a challenge -- it's a stigmatized illness whose sufferers often go undiagnosed only to end up unemployed, homeless, incarcerated, or with substance abuse problems.
But we should be even more concerned about the precarious state of mental health services as the economic crisis hits state budgets. Chicago is closing four mental health clinics--all on the city's (poor, black) south side. Tennessee is facing state budget cuts that will further reduce the funding for counseling and treatment. Utah is considering $5.5 million in cuts to mental health services.
And California's recent budget deal? I called up Kirsten Barlow of the California Mental Health Directors Association, a group which has been lobbying against Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to funding for the Mental Health Services Act (Prop. 63). She said the budget transferred $460.7 million in funding over the next two fiscal years for Prop. 63 to fund the federally-mandated EPSTD program. Yes, it's still a program that provides mental health screening, but the resulting cuts to the Prop. 63 program mean an overall decrease in the services California is offering.
Mental illness needs constant monitoring and treatment. As Dr. Jeffrey Ditzell told WYNC, "Certainly, consistency is the name of the game in mental health treatment. You have to be consistent with your energies and your treatment plans, and if not, that can spell relapse, which can be even more devastating than the financial concerns that are valid." And don't forget that studies have shown that during periods of economic stress, the need for mental health services increases.
--Phoebe Connelly
