Mental health care is a serious problem in the US and beyond. According to the National Institute on Mental Health statistics, at least 1 in every 5 American adults suffers a mental health problem. Mental health care is supposed to be available and affordable for everyone. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case in the United States. For one reason or the other, some people don’t seem to be able to access this basic right easily. But why is this so? Why do Americans sometimes have to struggle to get mental health care?

Ignorance

Several studies carried out by the American Psychiatric Office for Minority and National Affairs show that Americans struggle to get mental health care because they are ignorant. Many of them do not even know that they suffer from a mental health disorder. They only seek medical attention when things have aggravated. This is one serious problem Americans need to look into. Perhaps it will be necessary for them to be vigilant enough to notice signs of anxiety, depression and other mental health-related symptoms.

Stigma

In America like in other parts of the world, people still look low on people with mental problems. They kind of stigmatize patients and this causes them to shy away from treatment centers. Once a mental health patient thinks of going to a treatment center and then considers the fact that people seeing him/her enter that center will know that they a mental health problem, the patient will likely withdraw for fear of being stigmatized.

Insurance

This is another glaring reason why Americans struggle to mental health care. Many of them are not covered by mental health insurance. It could be that these people do not consider mental health insurance important, or it could be that they are not quite aware of its existence. It could also be that they cannot afford mental health insurance. Whatever the case, insurance is one reason why Americans cannot easily get mental health care.