Mental Health of The Lower Class

Disparities in Mental Health Treatment Across Social Classes

Psychiatric patients' frequency of seeing their therapists each month is significantly different between social classes (American Journal of Public Health, 2020). "The higher classes receive more frequent and longer treatments than those of the lower classes." While higher classes are treated by private practitioners, the lower classes are mainly treated with less therapy time and techniques such as "organic therapy and medication." This isn’t the first instance in history where the lower classes are left behind to struggle. Consider the comparison to social class superiority on the Titanic, the "unsinkable" ship of 1912.

Mental Health of The Lower Class

The crew used their passengers’ class status to determine who lived and who drowned (American Journal of Public Health, 2020). This is the case with today’s mental health treatments as well. The higher classes receive more effective treatment, while the lower classes are left to "drown" with timeless recommendations of medication (American Journal of Public Health, 2020). It has also been found that children who grow up dealing with "toxic stress (neglect, abuse, seeing violence in the home)" are more likely to develop a mental illness in adulthood (US Department of Education, 2021). Although there are concerns while they are still children, one-third of all students with mental health conditions drop out of school. This results in possible troubles finding jobs, getting insurance, or treating their ongoing mental illnesses (US Department of Education, 2021). As you can see, mental illness results in an endless cycle because most lower-class citizens do not get the chance to fix their illnesses, just prolong them.

Through regulations, protections, research, and funding, the federal government is working toward improving our nation's mental health care systems. By making regulations, the government allows United States citizens to interact with legislators and come up with ideas to fix our country's mental health crisis. The federal government has begun coming up with protections for the mentally ill to keep their jobs while they seek treatment rather than just being unemployed and suffering more. Programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) are being funded by the federal government to ensure mental health care is accessible to everyone, including even those of the lowest social classes. Along with funding such programs, the government funds research on mental illnesses. This helps give our country's mental health care system a better understanding of the causes of such illnesses or to study how new treatments will affect the mentally ill. Through these four methods, the federal government will continue to work toward improving this country’s mental health care systems, even for the lowest classes (The Federal and State Role in Mental Health, 2022).

All findings have shown that the lower classes have harder times treating and handling their mental illnesses, due to class superiority or lack of insurance and simple medical support. However, our government is working to put an end to the evident divide between lower and higher class treatment methods, as well as support systems. Until a solution is found, mental illness will continue to be a concern in the United States, especially with statistics proving mental health issues are most abundant in the lower classes. It is crucial for both public and private sectors to collaborate in addressing this disparity, ensuring equitable access to mental health care for all, regardless of social class.