Mental Health

Mental health is not merely the absence of mental illness, but it also the ability to cope with the challenges in life. Mental health is as important as physical health to everybody. Youths usually experiment with attitudes, appearances, and behaviors. Most of their experiments are harmless, but some experiments may have terrible results. Children and youths experience mental health problem such as stress, anxiety, harassment, family problems, depression, learning disability, etc. Serious mental health problems, such as self-injurious behaviors and suicide, are increasing among youth.

A good mental health is essential for leading a good life. Youth cannot succeed in academic and personal life effectively if they are struggling with a mental health problem, such as depression or unsteady feeling due to academic, social or family pressures.

Failure to detect youth’s mental health problem may result in negative consequences such as increased risk for academic failure, social isolation, unsafe sexual behavior, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide attempt, unemployment, and poor health. A recent report says, The rising rates of mental and emotional problems among U.S. children and youngsters signal a crisis for the country.

Depression, anxiety, attention deficit, conduct disorders, suicidal thinking, and other serious psychological problems are striking more and more children and youths. Conservative estimates say one in every ten children and adolescents now suffers from mental illness severe enough to cause impairment. Even if detected earlier, unfortunately many children and youth do not receive the help they need. Some reports are there that most children and youth who need a mental health evaluation do not receive services and that the rates of use of mental health services are also low.
Parents and adults must take care of the youth’s mental health. The parents and adults must talk with the youth, be a good role models to them, advice them to choose good friends, and monitor their activities.

There is a growing and unmet need for mental health services for children and youth. Mental health services are important for student’s and youth’s success. Prevention programs help in early identification of mental health problems in youth. These programs provide education on mental health issues, violence prevention, social skills training, harassment prevention, suicide prevention, conflict resolution, and screening for emotional and behavioral problems. The Family Guide Web sites are designed for parents and other adults to emphasize the importance of family, promote mental health, and help prevent underage use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.

Good mental health is very important for youth’s success. In order to emphasize the importance of mental health in youth, the following steps can be taken Create awareness of child and youth mental health issues; provide a comprehensive guide for effective and meaningful youth meetings for organizations and professionals; and Conduct programs to generate awareness about youth’s mental health in each communities. Awareness about the importance of mental health issues among youth equally important to other physical issues, such as heart disease, AIDS, cancer, etc. Local and state health officials must draw more attention to the importance of mental health treatment of affected children and youths.

Attention to youth’s mental health will more effectively improve their life standard. This also positively impacts their academic and personal life achievements. The families, society and youths benefit only when mental health problems in youths are identified and prevented earlier.

Improving the Mental Health System

According to a news release that was dated May 9, 2006, the Standing Senate Committee On Social Affairs, Science and Technology in Canada recommended the creation of a Canadian Mental Health Commission that will be responsible for significantly upgrading the Canadian mental health system. As stated by Senator Michael Kirby, the Chair of the Committee, The Senate Committee is committed to improving the range, quality and organization of health and support services that are required by the tens of thousands of Canadians who are living with mental illnesses and addictions.

Funding The Proposed Change

Based on an extensive three-year study on mental health and addiction, the Committee determined that it will cost $5.36 billion over a 10-year period for this mental health system upgrade. Where will these funds come from According to the Committee, the revenue will come from raising the excise tax on alcoholic drinks by 5 cents per drink.

Part of the rationale for the 5-cent increase per drink was obviously the goal of raising the needed funds for the proposed changes in the mental health system. Another justifying factor for the price increase, however, was the fact that since each alcoholic drink will cost more, Canadians will be more inclined to drink lower-alcohol products such as beer and wine instead of liquor.

Let’s Do the Math

At first glance, this proposal seems to make sense. Why shouldn’t those who drink help finance a program that will provide them with a better mental health system Why not let those who are part of the problem become part of the solution This logic seems sound until you do the math. If $5.36 billion is needed to help finance the upgraded mental health system, then how many drinks will have to be consumed in a ten-year period to reach $5.36 billion dollars The answer 107,200,000,000 drinks. That’s 107 billion, 200 million drinks.

To arrive at how many drinks this is per year, all we have to do is divide this number by 10 (for the ten-year program) and the result is 10,720,000,000. This is still a huge number that fortunately can be massaged even more. According to The World Factbook website, the population of Canada was estimated to be 33 million people in 2006. Dividing 10,720,000,000 by 33,000,000 equals 325. Putting this in terms that the average person can understand, every man, woman, and child in Canada will have to consume 325 alcoholic drinks per year for the next ten years to finance the new mental health system! Simply put, these numbers are not realistic.

More Flaws

The logic of this proposed mental health program also breaks down when it is examined more deeply. For instance, why would people drink lower-alcohol products such as beer if the increased excise tax applies to all alcoholic drinks To help understand this better, let’s use an example. Let’s say that the average shot in Canada currently costs $3.00 and the average beer costs $1.00. Based on the proposed price increase, if Joe drinks an average of 5 shots per week, his weekly average alcohol expenditure will be $15.25. When the numbers are calculated, this figures out to be 1.7% more than Joe would have spent before the proposed tax increase. Let’s do a similar exercise with beer. Based on the projected price increase, if Pete drinks an average of 5 beers per week, his weekly average alcohol expenditure will be $5.25. When the numbers are calculated, this figures out to be 5% more than Pete would have spent before the proposed tax increase. The point since the proposed price increase affects higher-alcohol products (such as shots) proportionately less than their lower-alcohol counterparts (such as beer), why would Canadians switch to lower-alcohol products

Alcohol and Mental Health

Another question. What if tens of thousands of Canadians, realizing that drinking alcohol is not good for their mental health, significantly reduce their alcohol intake or quit drinking alcoholic beverages altogether Where will the money come from to offset this lack of revenue In a similar manner, what if thousands upon thousands of Canadians who drink alcoholic beverages decide that they don’t want to pay the extra excise tax and, as a result, stop drinking alcoholic beverages If this happens, where will the government get the money needed to transform the mental health system In other words, does the Canadian government have a realistic plan B for this major transformation

A Logical Contradiction

From a different perspective, isn’t it rather ironic that those who drink alcoholic beverages will pay for the revamped mental health system Isn’t there a contradiction in logic somewhere in this proposal Stated differently, if tens of thousands of Canadians have mental illnesses or are addicted to alcohol or drugs, wouldn’t the government want Canadians to drink LESS alcohol in order to reduce the existing alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol-related mental health problems Yet according to the current mental health proposal, from strictly a financial standpoint, it would appear that the Canadian government is banking the entire mental health system upgrade on historical data that strongly suggests that Canadians will continue to drink at their current or even higher levels of consumption.

Budgetary Miscalculations

What happens, for instance, if there are cost overruns in the proposed mental health system There are, of course, two easy solutions to this problem increase the excise tax on each drink or motivate Canadians to drink even more alcoholic beverages. Either solution, however, is predicated on the fact that in order to work, the upgraded mental health system needs to be funded by Canadians who continue to drink alcoholic beverages.

Conclusion

It appears logical to conclude that the Canadian mental health system is in need of a major overhaul. As with most comprehensive government programs, however, the issue of funding becomes a major obstacle to overcome. The proposed Canadian mental health system upgrade is no exception. Based on the reasons given above, it seems obvious that the Canadian government needs to come up with alternate sources of revenue generation for this worthwhile project. Indeed, to point out one of the major flaws in the current proposal, consider the following question When is more drinking a good thing Answer when it finances a nationwide mental health system upgrade. Something tells me that Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes would have a lot of fun with this.