Facts: Over 800,000 people die by suicide every year (SAVE). There is one death by suicide in the world every 40 seconds (SAVE). Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the world for those aged 15-44 years. (SAVE). Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide (SAVE). These are all traumatic statistics that lead to the reality of mental health care being unreasonably difficult to acquire. Many US citizens are suffering from lack of support for their mental illness because proper care is not available. Absurd behavioral qualifications are what make most people eligible for mental health care here in America. Many families are forced to watch their loved ones spin out of control before they are able to receive help. With all of this information presented, my open question is as follows: why isn't mental health treated with as much priority and seriousness as physical health? 

This topic is particularly interesting to me for a few different reasons: I am currently enrolled in school in hopes of one day becoming a nurse. I am trying to follow in the footsteps of my grandmother, who was a psychiatric nurse for 30 years. Also, during my grade school career, two of my classmates, as well as my elementary school Principal, committed suicide. Because of this, mental health care is of great importance to me. I have always firmly believed that mental illness should be treated with the same urgency as any other physical illness. The way I see it, both types of illnesses, whether mental or physical, have the ability to end in devastating results if not treated properly. Just because one could be contagious or has visible affects and the other is not necessarily as easy to see does not mean that they are of different priority. The fact of the situation is, if the illness can end in death, it is important that we, as American citizens, do everything in our power to help these patients. 

In an article written and published in 2011, statistics showed that "of the estimated one in five adults who experience a mental illness during their lifetime, approximately one-third of them receive care" (Larrison 1256). Even though the data was presented 5 years ago, it still explains the negative affects budget cuts had on mental health care in the United States. With this being said, almost all of the authors of this excerpt hold a Ph. D. or a M.S.W., which indicates that they are more than qualified to write about this topic; however, because they are all involved with mental illness in some way, this might make their work more biased for the idea that more funds are needed towards mental health care. By 2011, many states took large budget cuts to their local mental health agencies. These are sometimes the only source of behavioral health services in certain areas. Budget cuts began because mental health facilities were in debt, leading to a necessary elimination of sufficient staff as well as support for patients. Due to this loss, many mental illness patients could no longer afford proper treatment (Larrison 1267). 

Of those who were fortunate enough to receive treatment, many believe that the mental health care system is actually showing signs of improvement. According to a behavioral study conducted with adults suffering from schizophrenia, this response is reported to be true. The participants in the study were asked to describe their experiences with the mental health care community since they had all been involved long enough to be able to analyze its transformation. These adults reported the change of health care as positive: many believed that there was an increase in available programs, a decrease in amount of time in hospital, and better treatment overall. This particular study could be helpful to my research because it brings up the opposing argument while acknowledging the fact that there is clearly an imbalance in proper mental health care facilities in America; however, it is still biased because of the few patients that they interviewed for the study (Stein). Each author had some type of experience with psychology. Because of this, they were all qualified to be writing about the topic of mental illness, specifically schizophrenia.

With this progress in mind, there is always a contrasting side to each argument. A psychiatric article titled "Two Birds, One Stone: Unintended Consequences and a Potential Solution for Problems With Recovery in Mental Health" was written by two doctors of philosophy. This builds a sense of ethos from the start; however, I believe that because of their education on mental illnesses, they may be bias towards patient recovery rather than government spending. This particular excerpt focused on the idea of bringing mental health care back to life in the US. It states that many organizations are in the process of turning the whole system around to create a positive, influential environment for mental health care patients. The article argues that we, as American citizens, should take this fight and center it on the most important factor: patient recovery. By doing this, the article states that health care reform would be more effective, therefore adding more evidence to my claim against insufficient support for patients suffering from mental illnesses (Hunt 1236). 

I believe there are three possible arguments to this situation. The first (my argument) is the belief that mental health care in America needs more funding. The second is the belief that mental health care is important, but does not need as much funding as other situations. The final is the belief that mental health care is not important, and therefore does not deserve as much funding. Each of these arguments has validity, but I believe that the first argument is the one that makes the most sense. In order to be able to address this issue in 2,500 words, I might need to make my exigence a little more specific. Instead of asking the general question of "why mental health isn't treated with as much priority and seriousness as physical health," I may have to be less broad and ask about certain mental health programs; however, at this point in my research, I believe that 10 pages is sufficient enough to build a strong argument for my paper. 

