“Solutions Costly But Inaction Carries Price, Too”
Can America Afford to (Not) Provide the Addiction and Mental Health Care People Really Need?
This was originally published for Hazelden Betty Ford’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
By Jeremiah Gardner
In a must-read this week, Thomas Insel, former head of the National Institute of Mental Health, writes that scientific research and health care (as we conventionally think about it) are not enough to solve America’s daunting behavioral health problems.
Contrasting the stunning growth in “how much we know” with the fact that our mental health and addiction crises continue to worsen, Insel argues that the current behavioral health system is inadequate in its scope — focused mostly on relieving symptoms and not helping people recover to live full, meaningful lives. This despite mental health and addiction treatments, as well as recovery supports, that are quite effective.
“Medication is almost always necessary,” he says, “but rarely sufficient,” adding that positive outcomes are even more dependent on helping people connect with other people for support, establish a place or sanctuary to heal, and discover a purpose or mission (3 P’s).
The good news: those factors, crucial for recovery, are key aspects of the comprehensive care Hazelden Betty Ford aims to provide. But Insel, with a broader lens, rightfully asserts: they “are often not paid for by health insurance and are usually not offered as part of care. To close that gap between scientific progress and public-health impact, we need to reframe what we mean by care. … To ensure that we serve all families well, we don’t necessarily need to know more to do better. We simply need to find the will and way to deliver people, place, and purpose.”
In referring to a lack of public will, Insel puts his finger on this reality: providing comprehensive, quality individualized care that sufficiently engages and supports people over time — to all who need it — would be very expensive. Proven prevention and harm-reduction strategies cost more still. And I’ll add: investing in people and families affected by substance use disorders also requires a genuine, stigma-free compassion and love for them.
In a clear, concise summary of our addiction crisis to date, the New York Times’ German Lopez sums it up: “The solutions are costly … But inaction carries a price, too.”
The question is: which cost are we more willing to live … or die … with?
Jeremiah Gardner is director of communications and public affairs for the nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
