“Enough?”

by Cassie | Founder and Executive Director

The conversations were meaningful, open and real.

It’s what was so special about the small group discussions at The P.A.M. Alliance’s launch event. People took the question, “What are three things you’d like your family, friends or community to know about your experience with mental health?” and shared with their friends, neighbors and even some people they hadn’t met before.

One thought in particular stood out to me as I listened and watched:

Am I enough?

One attendee, an active member of the community, described how that nagging question can lead to feelings of self-doubt, sadness, and anxiety.

It is a common thought, sometimes made even more pervasive by the presence and increasing use of social media. By comparison to all these “perfect” influencers, am I enough? Is what I’m doing enough? Am I enough of what “society” wants me to be? Do people feel I’m contributing enough?

It also has me thinking about more “enoughs,” some of which helped inspire the foundation for The P.A.M. Alliance.

When Pam, my mom and the inspiration for this organization, was regularly meeting with her psychiatrist, he urged her to get bloodwork done because she was taking lithium, a powerful drug commonly used in the past to manage bipolar disorder. For Mom, it likely was the drug that was most helpful in her mental health journey.

It was important to keep up on how lithium affects kidneys and the liver, but my mom always put it off because those tests weren’t covered by our family’s insurance plan – a private option provided by my dad’s employer and one that really was quite good overall.

However, Mom didn’t feel we “had enough money” to pay for those tests out of pocket. She’d much rather save it to do something for my brother and me, most of the time noting she wanted to help us with our future college expenses.

Now, think about how many people in the state and country wonder, “Do I have enough money to ____________?”

That blank could be filled in by a lot of needs, like “go to the emergency room.”

Or, “start meeting with a therapist.”

Or even, “buy my prescriptions.”

The data show those tradeoffs are considered far too often, much to the detriment of people’s health care and mental health care needs.

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States have a mental illness, and about 5.5 percent of adults have a serious mental illness.

At the same time, people with severe mental illness are 2 to 3 times more likely to die early than those who do not have serious mental health diagnoses. In addition, nearly 1 in 3 adults say they haven’t taken their medications as prescribed due to costs. This is on the backdrop of people in the U.S. owing at least $220 billion in medical debt.

Which leads to another question of “enough.”

When will those statistics be enough to draw the public attention they deserve? For legislators and policymakers to invest in the well-being of children and adults through support for mental health care and health care access? Care that isn’t determined by one’s economic background, where they live, or their gender or race?

When is enough going to be enough?

When will we have had enough to ask for more?