TEXAS LOOKS TO REFORM MENTAL HEALTHCARE
WHAT TO KNOW
For people suffering from mental illness but unable to afford mental health care, coping with their condition by ignoring it may be their only option -- but not for long.
The Texas House has given the green light to draft a bill that would reform mental health care across the state by keeping health insurance providers from discriminating between the treatment of mental illnesses and physical health concerns, making it easier for patients to obtain the help they need.
While this legislation is still in the works, Four Price, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on Mental Health, has been advocating for House Bill 13 (HB13) over the past few months.
The bill, which passed last week, will set up a matching grants program for community mental health programs. With this grants program in place, mental health care will be more accessible to people who may otherwise have a hard time getting help.
Websites like Psychology Today expedite the process of finding a medical health professional based on specific needs and insurance types, but patients must also take into consideration how well they will get along with a given therapist or psychiatrist.
For Talia Milan, a University of Texas Student that has been coping with mental illness since high school, it’s not easy to find a perfect fit when looking for a therapist.
“After meeting with my first psychiatrist, I tried a local therapist on and off for 2 years,” Milan Said. “We didn't click immediately but she did help some. Since I moved to Austin I've been scared to try and find someone new to see, even though I know it would help me.”
In many cases, a medical health professional’s safe and reliable relationship with a patient will be severed because of an insurance change or an unforeseen personal obstacle that forces them to step down from their practice.
Morgan Clegg, who has been struggling with her anxiety and depression from an early age, finds it easy to discover medical health professionals in her area but has seen many challenges in keeping within one practice because of these kinds of changes.
“We have health insurance, so it wasn’t hard to go online and look at what therapists near us were covered by our insurance,” Clegg said. “But after my first therapist had to take a leave of absence because of family problems, I had to find another. I finally found a psychiatrist… but after a few months of seeing that doctor, our insurance changed, and we were no longer in the same network.”
This phenomenon, coupled with the fact that many health insurance providers make the differentiation between the treatment of mental health problems and physical problems, causes many people to try to deal with their mental illness by not dealing with them at all.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that one out of five adults have a mental illness and around 60% of those people don’t receive treatment from a mental health professional. African American and Hispanic Americans use mental health services at half the rate of whites, and Asian Americans use mental health services at ⅓ the rate.
While the ratio of adults affected by mental illness is consistent regardless of race, minorities are less likely to seek treatment because of some factors including stereotyping, discrimination, poverty and education.
“In some minority groups, there is a significant stigma associated with seeking mental health care and this stigma can be exacerbated by societal oppression,” GoodTherapy.org reported. “A person of color might, for example, be fearful that they will be judged more harshly for a mental health condition than a person who is white.”
Mental health is also a hot topic in the online community right now thanks to the Netflix adaptation of Jay Asher’s young adult novel “Thirteen Reasons Why,” a story centered around cassette tapes left behind by Hannah Baker to detail her thirteen reasons for committing suicide. The series is directed by Selena Gomez, who has become increasingly open about her battle with anxiety and depression.
“...from what I know about it I’m not a fan. It seems almost to glorify suicide which is the opposite of what needs to happen,” Clegg said. “Even with celebrities coming out about their mental illness, I still believe there is quite a bit of a negative stigma surround mental illness.”
The Texas House also has headway to make before a reformative bill can be brought to vote, but HB13 is a sure sign that the state is taking actions to become an influential proponent in mental and behavioral healthcare.
BY THE NUMBERS
WHAT IS MENTAL ILLNESS?
BE THERE
YOU ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH
IN THEIR WORDS
I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression for a lot of my life, but it became unmanageable in college. I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, and my group projects for my engineering classes were just too much. I tried to balance too many things at once. I’m a fairly active person, and working out is a stress reliever for me. It wasn’t enough, and I finally got on medication so now I feel a lot better. -- Anonymous
Just because someone looks like they have the perfect life doesn’t mean that’s how they feel inside. You never really know what someone is going through, what they’ve been through, or how they’re feeling; everyone has their demons and everyone goes through stuff. I think people should be more aware of the things they say to one another. -- Laura
I would describe mental illness as frustrating and something I try to control everyday. But usually, it feels more like it's controlling me. It's a struggle that I'm not sure if I will ever be able to fully manage or handle and that makes it very scary because now end is in sight. -- Talia
Anxiety completely changed me. In high school I used to be outgoing, pretty talkative, interactive. I was a bubbly person. I’d say my personality is kind of shy now and I am just more introverted. I hate to say this, but it gave me a negative view of the world. -- Rachel
I wish people knew that living with mental illness is an everyday thing. It's not like a cold that you get over. That being said, there are times that are better than others. Our moods and feelings change every day, just like other people. Sometimes they're just more extreme. But that doesn't mean that we're not just like you. -- Anonymous
I wish people knew that being a positive person doesn't magically make everything better. I consider myself a pretty happy person but a lot of times my brain literally won't let me think positively. It's a horrible to feel so out of control internally because I know what's happening and I know what makes sense but my emotions and those rational thoughts in the back of my mind don't match up. -- Kirsty
