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Knowledge is power. Imagine living in poverty and not understanding or knowing that you need help. Mental Illness can include addiction, depression, schizophrenia, and more. Having mental health problems can be tricky, sometimes it can be hard to spot the symptoms, which is why having the knowledge and resources can be very helpful to those in need. The government provides many programs to help the underprivileged: food stamps, shelter, child support, etc. But you never really hear about the government helping those with a mental illness. Mental Health America says that “76% of youth are left with no or insufficient treatment.” (Mental Health America) The government should make it a priority to help those living in poverty with mental illnesses. The underprivileged don’t have access to information or resources about mental illnesses. People don’t get treatment for what they don’t know or understand.
Mental Illness was a major theme in Hamlet, it was seen as fake and real. Hamlet fakes his madness to get revenge for his father, but you can also tell that he is depressed due to the loss of his father. During that time, it was typical to look down upon those with a mental illness. They thought that if you had mental health problems then a demon was possessing you. After King Hamlet died, Hamlet made it his mission to get revenge for his father. His plan was to pretend he was going mad, collect information from Claudius, and then avenge his father. “The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” (Shakespeare 24) Claudius caught wind of Hamlet’s plan and decided to spy on him with Hamlet’s two best friends. In the book, the two characters who suffered were Ophelia and Hamlet. Ophelia had depression and/or PTSD. After her dad died she becomes overwhelmed, she realized that Hamlet, her true love, has killed her father, which leads to her mental breakdown. Ophelia starts to sing about death and lost love. “I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say a’ made a good end” (Shakespeare 175) Ophelia is saying that death can be a good ending, this quote can be seen as a foreshadowing of her own death. No one knew why she kept singing about death, maybe she wanted to escape the pain and suffering. Hamlet suffered from insanity and borderline personality disorder. His symptoms were: hallucination, mood swings, explosive anger, and feeling out of touch with reality. Hamlet thought about suicide, his famous quote “to be, or not to be” (Shakespeare) was when he was contemplating if he should live or not.
Since no one checked on Hamlet and Ophelia they both did irrational things which caused pain to many including each other. Hamlet almost hurt his mother “I will speak daggers to her but use none” (Shakespeare). He also killed Polonius, which led to a series of unfortunate events. Ophelia started to go crazy and took her own life, Laertes came back to avenge his father but ended up dying at the end along with Claudius, Hamlet, and Gertrude. Because no one cared about Hamlet and Ophelia due to their mental health issues I feel like this resembles how the government acts towards those in poverty. Someone could have talked to them or gave them positive attention. Like the poverty, they really didn’t know what was going on.
If the government helped those in poverty with a mental illness they could help the society. Not all who have a mental illness can get help. “56.5% of adults with mental illness received no past year treatment, and for those seeking treatment, 20.3% continue to report unmet treatment needs” (Mental Health America). Some people don’t know they need help, a lack of understanding can cause harm to some. People who do not get can end up in bad places, like death, or harm to themselves and others. “The mentally ill who have nowhere to go and find little sympathy from those around them often land hard in emergency rooms, county jails, and city streets” (Social Solutions).
Just like Hamlet, we question the actions of a mentally ill person. What kind of punishment should they get for committing a crime? Should they be punished or go to treatment? “The general population is concerned with public safety and often finds it difficult to accept the possibility that a mentally ill individual who commits a crime can be hospitalized and eventually discharged” (Melamed, AAPL). My opinion would be both, depending on their mental state. They can go to jail for part of their sentence, and then get psychiatric help for the rest of their sentence. If their mental state improves then I believe they should be able to go back out into the real world, with check-ins. There can be many reasons why they acted out, like lack of attention.
People who do not receive help can have suicidal thoughts, their illness could get worse, and treating other medical issues can be harder. ‘There’s no question that untreated depression can lead to longer episodes,'(Kramer, everyday health). Some people have trouble coming out to their friends and family cause they are scared they will be looked down upon.
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