Has Canada lost its heart?
Letter to: Canada.
Canada, I am ashamed of you. I thought you were a kind, caring country. I am embarrassed to call myself a Canadian. I thought you cared about people, about your citizens. I am not sure that you do. You don’t show it enough. Recent events like the truckers convoy show that you don’t do anything about people who are lost and aimless, like many who were in the convoy. Instead you ignore them or treat them like criminals. True, their behavior was despicable, but you have to look beyond their behavior to see the people underneath. Not everyone in the convoy was a criminal. Many were lost, aimless souls, looking for attention. But you didn’t pick that up. You thought most were criminals or terrorists. They are not. Canada, you used to have a heart. I am devastated. I am beginning to think that the protesters at the convoy were right to turn the maple leaf flag upside down, and I never thought that I would say that. But you sure seem upside down, Canada. Where is your heart?
I am writing this to Canada because it seems to have lost its heart. Or its mind. Or both. The articles on the lack of mental health services in the Globe and Mail on Saturday April 2, “Bill of Health” and “Home Remedies”, which cover 3.5 full pages in its Opinion section (and many other events and articles) suggest that is the case. Canada leaves many people with mental health afflictions and psychological traumas to the wolves to suffer and even be destroyed, as Saturday’s articles suggest. Where is the universal, comprehensive care? In Canada, you leave your mentally ill citizens to suffer, it seems. Or you call the police on them because they are mentally ill and cannot control their behavior. And then the police take them to court who then send them to jail to suffer some more. Without treatment. You are cruel, Canada. Have you lost your heart? Sure, this is exaggerated, but it happens, too much as the articles describe.
Canada, your governments, especially the federal and provincial branches, fight back and forth about who will care for and pay for treatment of the mentally ill and the psychologically traumatized, without actually funding their treatment. And it’s not just governments. Talk is cheap, Bell, so let’s act. Bell, let’s act. Clinical psychologists are still lacking coverage although research shows that it is effective mental health treatment that saves the governments money, even including the cost of this care. It shows that for every $1.00 spent, the government then saves $2.00. This is because people who become psychologically healthy through treatment will then need fewer health services and fewer police services, including related services like hospitals, physicians, diagnostic services, courts, judges, probation officers, jails. Governments need to save money and yet they still don’t provide this money-saving coverage, although mental health care costs us over $50 billion a year. The money is there, but it’s not used to treat mental health care properly. Mental illness is front and centre these days and still we don’t see much done. Money is thrown at it without developing a system, without including psychologists to provide sufficient psychological care for outpatient psychotherapy.
This contributes to the contagious cynicism that spreads through society, leading us to believe that governments don’t care, leading us to vote emotionally and vote against a government instead of voting for one. And cynicism causes us to lose hope. Governments have previously promised universal, comprehensive health care, which means complete mental health care to all citizens, aboriginal, mentally ill, queer, gay, straight, black, brown, white, working class, unemployed, alcoholic, schizophrenic, where do I stop the list? The words “universal” and “comprehensive” suggest access to psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, counsellors, free therapy, free choice of providers, no waiting lists for anyone, no matter what their diagnosis of mental illness. This is ideal and impossible, words that belong in the past. Mental health treatment is two-tiered. Many who can afford it or who have coverage from employment have access to effective treatment from clinical, counselling or health psychologists, but those who lack coverage or lack the funds do not have access. Why doesn’t the Canadian government admit it is two-tiered?? Again, this adds to contagious cynicism which lowers morale. Morale is going down, Canada.
But maybe this is because you, Canada, are not thinking very well. There, I said it. Psychological care including publicly-funded outpatient psychotherapy will save the government money but they don’t fund it much or even try to work out a smart system to cover it for all citizens. The federal government doesn’t even seem to know what is going on in their own country, even when it is right in front of them. A few weeks ago we had a convoy of truckers in Ottawa, right in front of parliament, and in places across the country. The bridge to the U.S.A. was blocked. Now that it is gone, out of sight, we seem to think the problem is solved. No, it is still festering. It has gone underground. That was the tip of the iceberg. We may think of these people as criminals. Some probably are. But in my opinion, as a trained and experienced psychologist with over 50 years of experience, a substantial number of protesters in the convoys and occupations shown on TV appeared to be experiencing a significant psychological problem, a problem that was untreated. There are many more out there. It was typical that many there could not articulate clearly what the protest was about. They expressed anger, confusion, aimlessness, hopelessness, bitterness, frustration and delusional beliefs but not any logical way forward. They were rebelling. They were seeking help by attracting attention to themselves. They were stating that a problem existed, their needs weren’t being met, but they couldn’t solve it. They tried but they didn’t understand how government worked. But the government paid $30 million for security to control people in the convoy, the vast majority of who were psychologically maladjusted.
A recent article by Josh Fullan in a recent Globe and Mail edition states that the problem is lack of civic and political literacy. It is also because of psychological instability producing lack of resourcefulness in the people affected who don’t attend to how government runs when presented with this information in schools. Many may lack the interest or cognitive ability, are unable to focus attention on detail, are overwhelmed with emotional needs, or are cynical about government, as many of us are. They were reaching out for attention and help. They couldn’t articulate that need, for many reasons, such as pride, shame, distrust, lack of awareness and education, poor articulation, lack of intellectual prowess and mental illness, but it was obvious to many people. The help they need includes psychological care, assessment, management and treatment, including outpatient psychotherapy and counselling, but they probably can’t afford it, wouldn’t think of it, would feel needless shame in seeking it, because of the stigma of mental illness, perpetuated by many in society. They have what we call “lack of coping resources.” That is not a put-down, that is a fact. There is no place for put-downs here. Comedians, are you listening?
This deterioration of the psychological and psychiatric well-being of many Canadians is very apparent, as seen in the convoy. Two long years of living under the stress of the pandemic has worsened it. In the long-term it will cost the country both in lost opportunities for its citizens and increase in costs to provide essential services, including mental health and psychological health services. While psychological health and mental health are not mutually exclusive, they are also not harmonious, concordant concepts. There are many vulnerable people whose strong emotional needs overwhelm their decision-making abilities, but yet they are not classically mentally ill. The result is that both they and society suffer. This can be prevented. Psychologists and other therapists can help them with drug-free therapy to work through their problems and help them resolve underlying issues. Funding mental health services services should include more funding for out-patient therapy from clinical, counselling and health psychologists. Publicly funded coverage would benefit everyone. Research shows money spent on psychological therapy saves money, even including the costs of providing it. This is money that can then be used for other long-term needs. It would also save physician’s times, as at least 60% of physicians’ times are spent dealing with issues related to stress, because stress affects the body, but psychologists treat stress-related conditions. So there could be more physicians available to treat true physical and medical ailments.
People with psychological needs often are unable to advocate for help. Perhaps this is because they do not realize that there is help. Perhaps they are cynical also. It is time for all of us to overcome this cynicism, stand up and say that mental health and psychological services are an essential public good. And it saves the governments money in the long-term.