{"id":9135,"date":"2014-06-05T12:45:20","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T19:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=9135"},"modified":"2014-06-11T09:16:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T16:16:00","slug":"open-space-mental-health-no-longer-a-shunned-topic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2014\/06\/05\/open-space-mental-health-no-longer-a-shunned-topic\/","title":{"rendered":"<em>Open Space<\/em>: Mental health no longer a shunned topic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mental illness is perhaps the least understood, the most highly stigmatized, and the most neglected of all illnesses. Despite recent advances in standardized diagnostic criteria and increasingly well-researched treatments, stigma continues to cloud mental health.<\/p>\n<p>If you disagree, Victoria-born Ted Talk presenter Kevin Breel challenges you with this question: \u201cWould you rather make your next Facebook post about having trouble getting out of bed because of your back, or because of your depression?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to a 2012 survey by Stats Canada, approximately 10 percent of the population had experienced a mental illness in the past year. In addition, the World Health Organization projects that depression will become the second leading cause of global disability by the year 2020.<\/p>\n<p>So, if mental illness is remarkably prevalent, with new incidences on the rise, then why does it not receive more attention? In Victoria, mental health services receive a mere tenth of the funding allocated to acute care services. And basic services, such as respite for parents whose children are experiencing severe mental illness, simply don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, the lack of consensus concerning the root cause of mental illnesses contributes towards the difficulty in addressing the lack of mental health services. The five broad explanatory models for mental illness are spiritual, moral character, biological, learning and developmental, and sociological. The public may differ in the extent to which they subscribe to each of these models, which in turn influences their perspective on where, if at all, resources should be allocated within mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Proponents of the developmental model are more likely to suggest further research in the area of cognitive development, whereas someone with a spiritual background may endorse pastoral counselling. These different perspectives, which exist in both professional and public spheres, don\u2019t have to be a source of tension.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of pretending mental health isn\u2019t an issue, because it is, and instead of arguing over where services should be allocated, there ought to be aspects of each of the explanatory models present in our care system. It\u2019s time to consider increasing not only tertiary services, but primary and preventative services as well.<\/p>\n<p>Certain approaches will work better for certain people than others, and a combination of primary, secondary, and tertiary services is essential for managing any illness.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, all of this begins with Canadians who are willing to engage in this type of discussion and confront the stigma associated with mental health.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mental illness is perhaps the least understood, the most highly stigmatized, and the most neglected of all illnesses. Despite recent advances in standardized diagnostic criteria and increasingly well-researched treatments, stigma continues to cloud mental health. If you disagree, Victoria-born Ted Talk presenter Kevin Breel challenges you with this question: \u201cWould you rather make your next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-views","category-june-11-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9135"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9148,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9135\/revisions\/9148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}