I’ve seen first hand in my family and in my wife’s family how mental illness destroys marriages, upends livelihoods and infects children as if it were a generational contagion.

It’s not something that responsible people would treat flippantly, and yet our rulers knew the panic they fomented over the Wuhan virus would generate an unprecedented crisis for those with or susceptible to mental illness.

Help lines around the country have seen as much as a 900% increase in calls, resulting in busy signals for those in the most danger.  Suicide, spousal abuse, severe child abuse and drug and alcohol abuse have jumped dramatically in the last month and will likely get much worse as foreclosures, repossessions and evictions begin.

Of course, therapists and counselors’ offices are closed.

At least 30 million people are unemployed now and their stimulus checks will replace only a fraction of their lost earnings.  Given that most households have just $400 on hand, how will they buy food or pay their water and electric bills next month?  Where will they find new jobs with most businesses shut down?  How will they get the unemployment benefits they’ve paid for given that unemployment offices are closed and/or their websites are offline due to the unprecedented volume?

This completely avoidable crisis demonstrates that neither our rulers nor their cheering disciples among our families, friends and neighbors care about our welfare.  See the quote below for a rather typical response when contrarians dare to ask about the pain and suffering for families that results from this panic:

It’s amazing how many people would rather serve the golden calf of Wall Street than protect the common good and save the lives of the vulnerable. The latter being, of course, the traditional Christian approach. -Spencer Mead

One thought on “ They Created a Mental Illness Crisis….and For What? ”

  1. I don’t doubt for a minute that your description of the situation for people with degrees of mental illness already, or who are drifting into mental illness with the onset of the crisis, is quite accurate. But measures taken (or not taken) have nothing to do with catering to Wall Street — the corporate and financial sector have taken monstrous hits, and have done so before these things filtered down to the employment line. In fact, the “corporate sector” IS the workers sector — everything from factories to corner stores are corporations, with owners and employees. In 1939 it was the stock-brokers who were first to jump out the window — what they saw would reach the wider society with some delay.

    Also, one cannot blame the government or the unexpected crises for the fact that many people have no savings to fall back on — nobody forced them to blow the bank on vacations and multiple cars and fast food and electronic goodies with every kind of subscription service, and to put no money away. Our disciplined, frugal, and foresighted grandparents would barely recognize those among us who have opted to live entirely for things and entirely for today— this has never been wise, or excusable, and once upon a time everybody knew that.

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