America 2025
EDITED TO ADD: A few days after I wrote the post below, I listened to an interview with Kate Woodsome, who studies the relationship between mental health and democracy, examining the social and political forces and narratives that keep people isolated and unwell.
In order to become a licensed professional counselor you are required to fulfill 300 hours at a practicum site and 600 hours at an internship site. I did both of mine at a community based correctional facility in rural Ohio. I met some of the most interesting and thoughtful people during my time there. For many of my fellow Americans, and lots here in Ohio, life is filled with poverty, neglect, abuse, addiction, illness, and trauma. People are struggling with significant pain, both emotional and physical, and in many cases, drugs and alcohol are ways to make that pain go away. The stories from the people I met were like many other stories of people struggling with depression, anxiety, and substance use. They could no longer stand the pain which never goes away for them or their loved ones.
A lot of those people had the deck stacked against them from the start; born into poverty and not having access to health care. Often their felony convictions are barriers to earning a living wage to support themselves and their families. One in 5 American adults— nearly 53 million people — had a mental illness in 2020, from anxiety to depression to bipolar disorder. Almost 28 million adults had an alcohol use disorder. Furthermore, 61 percent of adults in the U.S. experienced abuse or neglect, grew up with poverty, hunger, violence or substance abuse, experienced gender-based discrimination and racism or lost a parent to divorce or death.
We’ve organized our society from a perspective of scarcity, punishment, and cruelty. Don’t believe someone who tells you we can’t help people who are sick, hungry, or homeless. We live in the richest nation on Earth, right? What is preventing us from extending empathy and compassion to those in need? A lack of imagination for what is possible is certainly one of the biggest barriers, even bigger is the sense of enormity in finding resolutions to these issues our country faces. And that’s intentional. Those who benefit politically and economically most from our current systems (greedy, wealth-hoarding billionaires) WANT you to give up, so they turn your eyes towards things that keep you distracted from forming coalitions and organizing with those whom you share struggle. Until we are ALL free, none of us is free. Surely, we can create a world where we care for one another, especially our most vulnerable.
What you can do is find people who share the same values as you and work towards mutual goals. Together, you can help reduce the suffering of others and make the world a more compassionate place. I have been able to find those relationships and communities, but it hasn’t been easy. While I can’t control every unfair thing in our world, I, along with my friends and family can take steps to reduce pain where and when we see it. An unexpected benefit of this endeavor is discovering there can be so much JOY in the struggle and without struggle there is no progress.
As a psychotherapist I am aware that many of the challenges people face are out of my control. I can’t find them better housing, or a higher paying job, or a dentist appointment for the root canal they need. What I can try and do is assist with the crushing feelings of helplessness and desperation because I KNOW personal growth and systemic change are possible.