Mental Health in America; How It’s Changing and How itis Working.

Jessica Price, LiCSW

May 19, 2023

Mental Health in America 2023

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” Mahatma Gandhi

There have been some positive changes that have taken place in mental health in America in 2023. Telehealth has allowed for access in areas that struggle due to geographic location, the stigma of mental health has decreased, and there is increased knowledge and attention to diversity, inclusion, and equity. There is increased integration between physical health and mental health, and there is an increased focus on prevention. These strides in mental health come at a time when America faces a very real crisis in its larger systems. The health care system, the mental health system, the child welfare system, the school system, the prison system, and many other large systems working with people in the United States are feeling the strain and hardship of crisis. This crisis has a long history in America.

Mental health has begun the journey to focus on diversity, inclusion, and equity in the areas of research, training, and practice. This movement includes awareness and movement away from the historical racism, misogyny, heteronormative, agist, and ablest practices that have plagued the field. In the 1960s systematic discrimination was beginning to shift. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the movement toward deinstitutionalization in 1963 were two laws that attempted to address the discriminatory practices taking place in the United States. The field of mental health has a long history of inequity, intolerance, bigotry, bias, and prejudice. The DEI movement is a positive change that gives hope at a time when Mental Health is experiencing significant crises.

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”

-Audre Lorde

The DEI movement is an initiative intending to address the current and historical discrimination embedded in business, school, and government agencies. This initiative is attempting to move toward inclusion and advocacy for marginalized individuals and communities. The current movement is moving from awareness to action. This process can be seen in the cultural shifts toward DEI as well as the cultural conflicts about DEI. This progress should come with a warning that there is far more work to do, however, the embracing of the DEI movement within the therapeutic community is an encouraging sign. DEI is a change, and it is working to unite us.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

-Barack Obama