From
the Cradle to the Grave
The
Delusion
By
Rodolfo
F. Acuña
I have read and reread 17th
century Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s La vida es sueño countless times to remind me that my
life is an illusion, and that false dreams prevent my waking up -- so much so
that my illusions become delusions.
The United States is not the greatest nation in the world.
This is a dream that prevents change. Americans believe, for example, that they
have the best medical care in the world, which is true only if you have money
or the standard is the worse.
Our bodies are chemistry labs, and we ignore patterns that
are dangerous to society’s health. Everything is cured as long as there is a
pill that will cover up or “aleve” the symptom. In the past 50 years, I have
seen an increasing number of my students suffering from anxiety and depression.
Everyone knows it, but Americans remain ignorant of mental health to the point
that I have I heard explanations such as “It’s All a State of Mind.” True but
what is causing the pain? Why won’t it go away?
In 2013 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) reported that there were 41,149 suicides in this country, the 10th
leading cause of death for Americans. Someone died by suicide every 12.8
minutes. Most were not high profile suicides such as that of Robin Williams,
and went unnoticed. TPublic awareness of the risk of suicide poses is similar
to some Americans who have a gay child and rationalize it is all a state of
mind.
Middle-class Americans live under the illusion that their
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) provider will take care of the pain. They
never awaken to the reality that health care in the United States is based on
profit, the maintenance or the management of illness, and not the cure.
As I have mentioned the number of my students suffering
from depression and anxiety has grown. We know that "Both depression and
anxiety carry a high risk of suicide." Mark Pollack, MD, ADAA President
and a Grainger Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry at Rush University
Medical Center, says that "More than 90 percent of those who die by
suicide have a diagnosable illness such as clinical depression …. often in
combination with anxiety or substance use disorders and other treatable mental disorders."
At CSUN we have a good counseling center that is overwhelmed.
Dr. Jose Montes reaches out to students, but a limited staff prevents adequate
care for thousands of Latino students lacking insurance. Resources are diverted
to programs that benefit the few.
Suicide affects all age groups. The Centers for Disease Control reports that
more people die from suicide than from automobile accidents. The problem is
that it is only the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, and Americans
seem to be waiting for it to reach the top three for it to become important.
The tragedy is that few diseases are as preventable; more than 40,000 deaths a
year is not just a state of mind.
I was under the illusion that my family was getting good
health care. Over the years I have been a member of Ross Loos, Cigna, Blue
Shield and the granddaddy of the HMOs Kaiser Permanente. They all manage health
care and do just enough to keep you alive; however, for the most part they are
not in the business of curing you. Even prescription drugs are dispensed
according to the profit margin with generics used even when ineffective.
At Kaiser the response to mental illness is to try to manage
it. In a recent case, a patient sought
help on four separate occasions: he committed himself, pleading with the
provider that he needed help, fearing that he would commit suicide. In each
instance he was sent to a mental health care facility, kept for three days and
released. They told him to go to a
Kaiser Outpatient facility where he would receive care. In each case he went
and asked for a psychiatrist. He initially saw one but only to get meds. He was then assigned to a psychiatric nurse
who led classes and group sessions. He was not given individual therapy,
although he requested it as did his father.
The patient became discouraged, his cries were ignored
and he ceased attending. Meanwhile, his family waited for the next relapse.
There was no follow up by Kaiser. Totally discouraged he drifted between his
parents’ homes. Kaiser did not respond to complaints and the pain grew
intolerable and the young patient jumped off a bridge.
Kaiser is not the only failure. The patient had a brilliant
mind. He was a talkative and a happy child until middle school when he grew
quiet. The schools did not challenge him; they did not stop bullying although
his father complained nothing was done. The failure was the failure to
communicate – it was not a state of mind – pain never is. “People do not die
from Suicide. They die due to sadness or hurt”
But death does not end the pain for loved ones. Death was
very important to Mexican workers and their families. The principal reasons they joined mutualistas
(mutual aid societies) was a burial insurance that insured the socio would not
be buried in a potter’s field and that his family would be sent back to Mexico.
Driving along a Southwestern or Mexico highway, you often
see makeshift graves marked by crosses and flowers indicating where life had
ended. Often people do not have enough money to even cremate the deceased.
Today a burial on consecrated ground (a Catholic cemetery) is to too expensive for
the average worker. Death has been privatized.
In 2013, the Los Angeles
Times wrote “Los Angeles Archdiocese Gutted Cemetery Fund to Pay Sex Abuse
Settlements.” (Feb 11, 2013). Allegedly
the Los Angeles Archdiocese gutted cemetery fund to pay sex abuse settlements. Since at least the 1990s Catholic cemeteries
in Los Angeles have leased out mortuary services, and they have been converted
into fast food-like franchises. Just to buy
in, it costs $7000 depending on where your new barrio is located. Then the
incidentals are tacked on --- th total $12,000 or more.
The illusion of a premier or even adequate health system
is exposed as a delusion. When medical establishments cannot recognize simple
symptoms like a patient losing interest in things he/she used to care about,
makes comments “about being hopeless, helpless, or worthless, talks about suicide”,
and the system’s response is routine with the psychiatrist prescribing pills,
assigning him/her to a class, and has him attend group therapy instead of
talking about the causes of the pain then the nightmare begins – and if we can
afford it, we move to a new barrio in a green cemetery. The more you pay, the better the neighborhood.
We are unequal even in death. The only equality is in our
dreams.
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