Another month, another 30 or so days when the general population suddenly brings awareness to conditions that plague millions.
It may seem insincere to those who dedicate their lives to addressing mental illness, those who are forced to live with it or those who experience both in tandem.
But in an era defined by discrimination and hatred, the themes of Mental Health Awareness Month this May are more imperative than ever as minorities and those deemed “abnormal” are ostracized and have their rights threatened.
Racial minorities disproportionately face a lack of access to mental health care, and a nation built upon the commodification of their labor paints them as inferiors.
Sexual minorities are told their feelings and identities are themselves a sign of mental illness. Their love interests are deemed taboo; their gender identity is dismissed.
The systems that fail them drive them into despair, exacerbating any existing mental conditions that already put them at a disadvantage in the search for contentment.
“Just cheer up,” many say. “It’s your choice to be happy. Just be normal.”
But what is normal? Surely, the proliferation of mental illness and its consequences can’t be.
About 20% of American adults experience a mental health condition in a given year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
In addition, about 17% of young individuals have experienced a major depressive episode, and roughly 5% live with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression.
Those factors are strong drivers of suicide, by which more than 48,000 died in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In total, the suicide rate has increased by about 36% over the past two decades.
In 2021, the most recent CDC data available, 12.3 million American adults had “serious thoughts” about suicide; 3.5 million made a plan to commit suicide; and 1.7 million attempted suicide.
The struggles that come along with depression and other forms of mental illness are unavoidable, and their impact is shown across the board regardless of ethnicity.
In fact, the country’s white population has historically had some of the highest suicide rates.
But when looking at some of the country’s minority populations, particularly the LGTBQ+ community, one will see an even more prominent mental health crisis.
Members of that community are four times more likely to commit suicide, according to the nonprofit Trevor Project. It just so happens they are also frequent targets of conservative politicians and their policies.
In 2022, the organization released a survey showing that more than 50% of non-binary and transgender youths considered suicide, The Guardian reported.
Using data from a statewide survey of nearly 34,000 queer and transgender youth, it found “alarmingly high rates of suicide attempts, depression and anxiety across liberal and conservative regions.”
In addition to those findings?
“States where lawmakers have aggressively pursued anti-trans legislation, including Texas and Arkansas, have extraordinarily high levels of suicide risk, though the rates are nearly as high in some progressive states, including New York, California and Oregon,” the news outlet reported.
It’s no surprise that being targeted by the public and by lawmakers claiming to represent the best interests of their constituents would greatly influence the mental health of the victims.
Yet, as states such as Montana have recently shown, conservatives in particular do not care. If anything, they’ve only shored up their attacks on members of the LGBTQ+ community.
This past week, Republicans in the Montana House of Representatives banned Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender woman, from speaking during floor sessions, NPR reported.
While it fell short of expulsion — a legislative move that last month briefly ousted two Black lawmakers in the Tennessee House — Zephyr will only be permitted to vote remotely for the remainder of the session.
The Democrat had already been blocked by Republicans from speaking for allegedly violating chamber rules during a debate over legislation about gender-affirming care for minors.
Whatever the excuse, the phrase “sit down, shut up” seems to better fit the bill of the Republican Party as it attempts to do away with the rights of minorities.
It seems as though many are unaware of — or simply don’t care about — the repercussions of policies that impact the lives of those who don’t look like the average politician.
That “look” would be white, male and old. In other words, a spitting image of the beloved Uncle Sam.
But it won’t be until these individuals are voted out, or in many cases die off, that the tides will change and a more progressive zeitgeist will bring the country closer to equality.
There is no doubt that more federal and state funds need to be directed toward mental health care and related programs for all ages and ethnicities.
That includes free health care for all, which would allow everyone to access mental health treatment and the required medications.
But in a country founded upon social, racial and gendered hierarchies, resources need to be proportionately directed toward the demographics that need them the most.
Until then, many will live their lives feeling like outsiders. They will hope for change and try to find solace in the select few people in power who look like them or feel like them.
Either those people will work to create change and buck the status quo, or the mental health of certain communities will continue to deteriorate at an inordinate rate.
Those suffering from mental illness will fight. They will struggle. Some will break through barriers and be a catalyst for change.
But some, as the statistics show, will die. And many will do so of their own accord.
But the blood won’t be on their hands. It will be on the hands of those whose “conservative values” reject the humanity of people considered different.
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