A sick society

I read somewhere recently that there were 14,500 psychologists in Australia.

Last month, John Howard signed the first significant increase in funding for mental health in more than a decade, for $1.8 billion over 5 years.

From those numbers, you’d think that the Australian Psychological Society has been looking out for the mental health of Australians pretty well

Of those 14,500 psychologists, 4400 are teachers; another 5600 are forensic psychologists – because that’s where the money is. You see, forensic psychologists are employed as consultants to advise courts on Family Law issues. There’s a lot of money in that; and almost no standards or oversight.
Would you think that would be an issue for the Australian Psychological Society?
I would too. But it’s a problem all over the world in Family Law.

Lazy Professionalism

As anyone can see from the lazy professionalism demonstrated by the sources Mr Montgomery cited for his sexist, discriminatory press release, the APS has been having a great time following advertising and propaganda celebrations.
IOW, they’ve been having a good time partying with the politicians.
They’ve been partying with the politicians while the children of the country, families, and people of the country suffered with wholly treatable illnesses.

Now, consider that proportionally Australia spends less than half per capita than the UK, the US, or any other OECD country. Most of the treatment is done by what are euphemistically called in government reports, NGOs – non-government agencies – otherwise known as poorly funded community support groups.

Now, let’s add the (purported) fact that between 76% and 87% of men in relationships in Australia are abusive. At least that’s what the courts and legal system use to explain their “err on the side of caution” decisions and actions.

That would mean Australia was a truly sick society.

Abuse affects all members of a family, and even friends. Many who work with it constantly, like Erin Pizzy, consider it an addiction. And it is best treated like an addiction, with addicts and enablers -- the traditional AA model for Alcoholics Anonymous and Al Anon. Based on the positions taken in recent articles, the APS hasn't gotten that message yet.

So few psychologists

Now with so few psychologists left to treat every day mental illness, what could be done?
Maybe … more psychological nurses? So how could the APS responsibly act to respond to such a crisis? Politicians…
Where would politicians turn to find the answers? Maybe the Australian Psychological Society? -- or their more distinguished members, at least.

Let’s see. In the US, it takes a minimum of three years for a nurse to qualify as a pysch nurse: two years of postgraduate training in a university, then at least one year of clinical experience. In Australia, it takes only 6 months of mostly clinical experience.
And with so few psych clinics, that means mostly taking a few hours from other duties to sit in on group sessions. It’s not professional training; it’s vocational. It’s cheap.

What else could be done?
Well, maybe the GPs. Now who’s idea was it to train GPs in a couple of seminars to do extended sessions with the mentally ill? Sure, that’s an idea. After all, GPs are halfway there already. They’re doctors; and they’ve been prescribing psychotropic drugs for years.
So they did that. It’s cheap; it’s vocational for them, right?
Why waste 6-8 years to train a psychiatrist? And the drug companies will tell them what to sell.

Is it a sick society?

It makes a person wonder about that statistic that says 8 out of 9 (87%) men in relationships in Australia are abusive. Abuse is commonly considered to be the result of abuse; meaning the abusers were first abused themselves.
A reasonable conclusion is that Australia is an abusive society that has created an enormously disproportionate number of abusive men -- because of the failure of consecutive governments to adequately treat the mentally ill.
Where is the Australian Psychological Society?

And where is the same APS when the many institutions that train lawyers, teachers, police, and volunteers across Australia are teaching this perverse statistic?. A statistic created by the prejudice in the legal system of the courts under the influence of radical feminist dogma.

The National Council of Women of Australia spell it out pretty well in their Revised Resolutions, references and all.

RESOLUTION 12 – Mental Health Funding
Submitted by NCW SA, NCW CTI and NCW ACT

THAT this Conference of NCWA urges the Federal and State Governments to implement immediate action to increase the funding allocation for mental health to a level reflecting the extent to which mental health problems have been shown as likely to affect the population, in order to provide the supportive policies essential to deinstitutionalisation and rehabilitation of sufferers, which include the following:

• Respite facilities for both carers and sufferers


• Community housing with appropriate services


• Appropriate training for service providers


• Continuation of education programs to reduce stigma


• Early intervention programs for young people suffering mental illness and


• Innovative workplace employment schemes,

all of which require a coordinated approach between State and Federal Governments and NGOs and other local community groups.

Rationale:
Mental health is the major health challenge of our time and may affect one fifth of the population in any year. Mental disorders account for nearly 30% of non-fatal diseases. About 800,000 adults and 100,000 young people live with depression which, particularly in the young, is often not diagnosed ad is a major contributor to youth suicide.

Australia’s investment in mental health care is proportionately about half that of the UK, New Zealand and comparable OECD countries. Recent improvements in attitude have to be seen against an appalling record of leaving sufferers isolated, unemployed and dependent on welfare.

The Mental Health Council of Australia estimates that effective intervention can result in up to 70% of sufferers getting back to work. The present rate is less than 30%, which compares with over 50% in other OECD countries. New and improved initiatives are estimated to be capable of reducing the cost to Australia of mental health problems from the current level of $13 billion per year to $9 billion.

Studies show there is a good deal of public ignorance concerning the causes of mental illness and this results in stigmatisation and isolation of sufferers together with their families and friends. This can be mitigated by delivery of appropriate services and education programs through State agencies with the help of national funding.

The role of non-Government organisations has for too long had little recognition or encouragement. They have borne the brunt of mentally ill people in the community, as have also the carers. However funding is minimal, which limits their work and needs to be addressed urgently, as their work complements that of Government service providers.

References:
The Mental Health Council of Australia Report 2004 “Investing in our future: the benefits of good mental health in Australia.
The Canberra Schizophrenic Fellowship Sept. 2004 Newsletter article “A tragic tale of medical neglect and community indifference”.

Good plan

Sounds like a good plan. I wonder if Mr Mongomery over at APS has read any of this stuff?