A Freedom Refreshment of Mental Health

As we embark on Independence Day, a day that saw us break from the tyranny of an increasingly repressive England, we reflect on how important freedom is and how it should be cherished. 

I have had the fortunate gift of knowing a man born in the old Soviet Union. Having become a successful entrepreneur here in the USA, he reflected one day on how fortunate we are as Americans, despite some recent challenges, to have the freedom to do as we want, say what we want, become what we desire and for most, to get physical, emotional and mental treatments we require.  He would bristle as how Americans take for granted what he now cherishes.

Back in his native Soviet Union none of this was possible. There were no freedoms. No freedom of expression, the press, religion, assembly and on and on. In terms of health, people would wait many months to see a doctor and often with no remedy. He then mentioned a plethora of town “institutions.”  I heard of these as a child but never spoke to someone who witnessed these in action. 

Anyone who defied the government was considered mentally incapacitated and put into these retraining centers for reprogramming. If one had a legitimate mental condition needing care, there was none. Zero. It was viewed as a weakness. Not an illness. Not a condition. It was a threat to the state. Conditions as common as anxiety or Tourette’s Syndrome, which could be treated here, would often get a person in those same reprograming centers, with zero real care and a political gas lighting. It was essentially a prison.  To this communist state you were a detriment—feeble and considered a liability. Someone who could not be trusted. Mental health treatment just did not exist. Nor acknowledged. It was a dark, hopeless, dreary existence with nothing to offer.

However, in a free and open society, freedom allows us to make choices, express opinions, get treatment, and pursue our aspirations and religion without undue restrictions. While in a restrictive oppressive society, there is little innovation and progress, open societies foster creativity, technological, medical, and scientific advancements. The Openness and tolerance freedom affords has immense implications on mental health, and health in general. There is little stigma to seeking help for a mental disorder, or just to visit a professional to discuss issues of concern. You are considered valued by seeking help and treatment, not a detriment or threat to a political or social ideology. If there is a need to be institutionalized for a challenging mental condition, institutions are more transparent and accountable today, with an end game for improvement, where the person is the focus. 

Mental health is indeed a health condition not an affliction that is a threat to society. There must be nothing more debilitating than an individual’s simmering condition within mental health, with absolutely no chance for improvement. Freedom we all enjoy allows us the dignity and respect to treat mental conditions as an illness that can be improved and sustained over time. 

For all our warts, let us not take for granted the Freedoms the United States of America, and other countries like us, affords its people. The alternative is frightening. Happy Independence Day!