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Much was written when tennis superstar Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open in May following the tournament’s decision to fine and potentially suspend her because she skipped a post-match news conference to preserve her mental health.
The same goes for Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, who pulled out of the women’s team final in Tokyo, telling the world, “I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being.”
We’ve seen elevated coverage of mental health over the past 16 months as Americans have faced COVID-related death, illness, job loss, isolation and other traumatic events.
While it’s positive that these conversations are happening, it shouldn’t take world-class athletes or a global pandemic to bring the issue to the table.
We should talk about mental health the same way we talk about physical health, and there shouldn’t be any stigma about it. (Or armchair social media quarterbacks chastising actual sports stars for putting their health first. If you haven’t landed a Yurchenko double pike, kindly step away from your keyboard.)
Moreover, it should be a public-policy priority to continue expanding access to mental health support. The Affordable Care Act expanded access to services under certain insurance plans, but significant gaps remain, with respect to both coverage and the ability to find a quality provider.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey in April, 27.4% of Hoosier adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder. Of that population, 19.9% reported needing counseling or therapy but not receiving it in the past four weeks.
Some companies are stepping up to the plate, offering increased mental health support as employees come back to the office after more than a year working remotely. Some schools, likewise, are using their pandemic funding to make sure students returning to the classroom have support after more than a year when many were remote-learning and potentially falling behind, all while physically separated from their friends and teachers.
The thing about tending to your mental health, though, is that, just like physical health, it’s not a one-and-done thing. But far too often, that’s how we treat it. We encourage people who are having suicidal thoughts to call a helpline. We send counselors into a school after an act of violence. But what are we doing the rest of the time?
Therapy as a preventive measure is expensive, but it’s worth every penny to have what has been described to me as a “paid friend,” someone with lots of training who not only helps patients understand why they’re feeling a certain way but provides empathy and coping mechanisms to help them be more successful navigating those feelings and their causes.
You don’t see a therapist because there’s something wrong with you—think Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi. You see a therapist because you want to be the best version of you, and sometimes the only way to do that is to have someone else help you heal your wounds, set expectations and boundaries, and realize your full potential.
Again, though, it’s expensive. Which is the reason I’m writing this column.
Whether via public funding, insurance coverage or employer benefits, we need more ways to pay for consistent, high-quality mental health support, so it’s not just available to people who can afford to pay the hourly rate, and Hoosiers can access the support they need long before a critical escalation.•
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Wagner is a lifelong Indianapolis resident and owner of Mass Ave Public Relations. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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