“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” Fred Rogers
A couple posts back I wrote a post titled “Mental Health & Access To Health Care“.
In the comment section Chelsea Owen wrote the following:
It all gets paid for, one way or another. The U.S. health system bothers me because health insurance companies are clearly for-profit entities yet everyone talks about them in NewSpeak like they are not. Still, a socialized system like yours gets its funding from somewhere. The medications that companies use often come from the megalithic pharmaceutical process in the U.S.; expensive, but thorough.
How do we pay for it? Save up. Does mental health get coverage? Not usually. If it does, it’s a percentage or a copay or a “you can see these doctors but not these.” A FB friend posted about how she cannot get good help for her daughter unless she pays $1600 a month…
Well that comment started me thinking. So, hello Google here I come. So the following was inspired by Chelsea Ann Owens. Thank you Chelsea!
U.S. News ranks top 10 countries with the most well developed healthcare systems
Alyssa Rege – Wednesday, January 11th, 2017
| Top 10 Countries By Healthcare | Best Country Overall | |
| Ranking | Country | |
| 10 | Switzerland | 1 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 9 |
| 8 | Australia | 5 |
| 7 | Japan | 3 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 6 |
| 5 | Germany | 4 |
| 4 | Norway | 10 |
| 3 | Sweden | 8 |
| 2 | Denmark | 13 |
| 1 | Canada | 1 |
| The United States Did Not Make The Cut |
What Is Mental Health and Mental Wellbeing
Mental Health Definition:
“Mental health is not just the absence of mental disorder. It is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”
Mental Wellbeing Index Definition
DeveloperPsychiatric Research Unit. Mental Health Centre North Zealand, Hillerød, Denmark.
Year: 1998
“The WHO-5 Well-Being Index is a questionnaire that measures current mental well-being (time frame the previous two weeks).” Originally developed to assess both positive and negative well-being, this five question version use only positively phrased questions to avoid symptom-related language.
Mental Wellbeing Index
- United Arab Emirates
- Indonesia
- Mongolia
- Kenya
- Thailand
- Israel
- Iceland
- Malta
- Canada
- United States of America
So dear reader, once again thank you Chelsea Ann Owens for inspiring this post!
p.s – *** I am tossing around the thought of writing about the word “Socialist”. There is some confusion about what that term means. I can pretty well say that what it meant when it first came into man’s vocabulary compared to today are very much different.***
Socialism is an interesting term. I see Canada as democratic socialist-leaning, and I think that’s a good thing. But I’ve seen Americans expressing the belief that the US will become communist if the Democrats win. Yet Joe Biden seems to be further right than Justin Trudeau, and Bernie doesn’t seem any further left than the NDP. It’s all very strange.
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Maybe History classes have changed since I was in high school. I remember learning about “socialist” rulers. Their names escape my memory at the moment. When I read your comment Ashley I remembered what Hitler said about a lie. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”. We need a louder bull horn to drown out the ones who are spreading misinformation. I really want to break some myths that I am seeing throughout the internet, news media, print, etc.,
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That sounds like a very good plan.
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Thank you Ashley!
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