Mental Health Awareness Month:

Why May Is Such An Important Time to Recognize Mental Health

Before we begin, let’s cover some of the headlines:

Fortunately some good news. The final American hostage freed from the hands of Hamas

Prescription drug prices are being targeted in a new executive order. Only problem is no one knows how such an order can be enforced

Trump makes millions from his cryptocurrency meme coin, but it comes with potential national security issues and opportunities for corruption

The new FEMA head appointed by Trump says he will “run right over” staff who resist his reforms and shakeup to agency

Meanwhile, reductions in emergency training take place at FEMA despite the start of hurricane season approaching fast

DOGE cuts continue to impact the sprawling federal government, now hitting infant mortality prevention and neonatal heart defect research

The GOP budget resolution proposed would ban states from prohibiting AI for the purposes of rental price-fixing

It also would cut, and completely eliminate, many rural housing and rural development programs

Trump made a deal with El Chapo’s drug cartel, following the playbook of El Salvador’s dictator Bukele

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants air traffic control upgrades. But did you know he voted against earlier upgrades when he was in Congress?

For all interested Democrats, let me flag dark money group Welcome PAC, a political action committee funded by wealthy donors that include Michael Bloomberg, Reid Hoffman, members of the Murdoch Family, the Waltons of Walmart, and hedge fund manager David Nierenberg

Not to mention a significant mayoral flip in Omaha, Nebraska against the longtime GOP incumbent on a message of basic constituency services, a focus on affordable housing, and tackling government secrecy and corruption. All despite a barrage of anti-trans ads at the campaign’s closing.

And for a view on-the-ground, RI KIDS COUNT warns of the devastation to be wrought by reductions in federal funding as the Trump GOP has proposed, including the loss of SNAP benefits, RIte Care (our Medicaid/CHIP program), the School Breakfast Program, the National School Lunch Program, and Head Start for tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders.

Back to the theme of the post. Did you know May is Mental Health Awareness Month?

Via hawaii.gov

Some of us might’ve not known it. I didn’t for some time, having been working on final exams and other assignments.

It came to light as I watched a commercial featuring former HHS administrator January Contreras, former Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo, former Montana Governor Steve Bullock, and other political figures from across the aisle (and unlike Kristi Noem’s DHS promotion ads, this promo was not meant to be partisan propaganda).

Mental health is something we often overlook or stigmatize. The truth is it deserves so much more attention, especially now.

One of the most stunning numbers I heard about came from Bernie Sanders’s Fight Oligarchy tour, in which working class men and women live 7 years less than the wealthiest among us.

When it comes to dealing with financial burdens, social uncertainty, and divisive political times, it makes sense. So does the anxiety that exists over specific issues, whether it is healthcare and the medical debt that comes from it, the high costs of education and the obligations people are buried under from student loans, the exposure to environmental pollution and the pending impacts of the climate crisis, the struggle to afford basic groceries and energy costs, the squeeze people feel in the housing market, food insecurity, the predatory behavior by corporations and oligarchs, the suppression of rights of workers to organize, and on and on.

The stress on people today is immense. Having that stress every single day weighs heavily on people. This is something some (including Republicans such as Josh Hawley) describe as “deaths of despair.”

Especially in such times of inequality, poverty, and stress, it is no wonder that 46% of Americans will have a diagnosable mental health condition at some time in their life, as Mental Health America detailed on their page. And that stat might only be the minimum for what does go under the radar.

As Dr. Vivek Murthy, the previous Surgeon General under President Joe Biden, emphasized repeatedly while in office, there is a growing youth mental health crisis brewing with the presence of social media (meaning the horrific elements like algorithms and cyberbullying), and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left many compadres in my generation feel more isolated. The American Psychological Association has only backed up those findings and observations.

The political times we are in have further inflamed mental health crises among the American population. The poorest areas of the country (including rural areas) and in communities with severe chronic health issues and the like—Appalachia and the Black Belt included—are some of the most impacted places the mental health crisis ravages. And yes, the campaign rhetoric on the national level from one particular party, hint hint, translates to more suicides and clinical issues for members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially children, and members of the immigrant community.

We also cannot forget addiction is often interlinked with mental health, something most Rhode Islanders remember from Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s heroic tales in overcoming his OxyContin addiction and clinical depression. The areas hardest hit by the drug epidemic, including Midwestern and Southern rural areas, are the same ones battered by mental health challenges. American farmers face some of the highest rates of suicide in the country for instance.

And yet, in this country, as mental health advocates would lay out in depth, we still treat mental healthcare and treatment for addiction as second rate or second class to physical medical healthcare. Mental health irrefutably impacts the physical health. That should never be forgotten.

We must call out the disparity in mental healthcare, which is why we need to toughen up Patrick Kennedy’s Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008 that forces insurers and healthcare providers to cover mental and physical healthcare on an equal basis.

As such, let me publicize the damage DOGE is doing across the nation by gutting suicide hotlines in states such as West Virginia, slashing the 988 lifeline nationally, cutting mental health funding for homeless children and youth in Nevada, carving into health programs in Michigan, ripping away mental health grants for schools, and decimating services for those at the VA. $11.4 billion total in COVID-era funding for mental health and addiction treatment just eviscerated by the Trump White House.

Just to be fair, Democrats are not absolved from this issue either, as Rhode Islanders can attest to in their criticism of the Gina Raimondo administration’s neglect of care for mentally and developmentally disabled people at the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital. Because of them, people all across the country today now know about Raimondo’s record as Governor abandoning behavioral care for the most vulnerable, as well as the rest of her story.

Especially in light of such news, most importantly, we need to support mental health advocates on the ground doing the important work fighting to address this widespread crisis impacting everyone regardless of age, geography, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.

Check out mental health advocates in your local communities. Search around for national organizations, especially for those most interested in working in this line of profession in the future as a doctor or public official. Look into some of the voices I will list here who are advocating for mental health and substance abuse treatment wherever they go, from Congressman Kennedy and Tom Coderre, to Demi Lovato and Ashley Eckstein, and contribute to their work.

And honor those who have since passed away such as Minnesota Republican Jim Ramstad, New Mexico Republican Pete Domenici, and Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone.

Let’s honor all those affected by doing the work to end the stigma of mental health and help get people the resources and tools they need to not only survive, but to thrive.