Yes. It's a cycle that touches every part of life, not only for the mentally ill individual but their entire ecosystem. We don't clean plastic out of the ocean and turn around and shit in it and call it clean.
It's ironic. For me, the worst part about my own disabilities/illnesses is that no one wants to hear it. All the physical, social, economical manifestations of it I can-and have been- dealing with just fine. But the lack of support or understanding has done far more damage than anything and I
cannot get a referral to a psychologist for the-actual- life of me.
It was quite telling when I asked my Dr about it. " I REALLY just need someone to talk to" I told him. He himself looked immediately depressed when he sighed, running his hand from his forehead to his jaw and said " I
can't. I'm sorry. I have tried so hard to get therapists for all of my patients and it's impossible."
Apparently there are no longer any physiologist at this particular hospital-which is enormous, expansive, has a history of break-throughs in treatment of a variety of conditions and awards in service excellence-it goes to show that mental health really is considered non-vital for over all well-being.
That particular issue aside, my problem is often that " You don't have a history of mental illness so you're fine" Bitch, Ima about to develop one from exactly this. No doubt many, many people are the same.
The last time I tried to talk to someone at a therapists office, one known for being charitable ( If you're a drug addict, otherwise, "The hell is your problem?) she said she couldn't help because of my insurance. I told her " No wonder people kill themselves." and she just gave me some deadpan, rehearsed " if you're feeling suicidal you need to call the suicide hot line ( ie not my problem, go somewhere else)
I know I sounded really down when I said " Fine. I'll go somewhere else." and hung up on her. No one called back to check on me. I received no paperwork asking " Hey, you had an interview and never heard anything back what happened?" Nothing.