The Two Faces of Mental Illness

 

 

 

THE TWO FACES OF MENTAL ILLNESS

 

 

PHOTO A:

A coddled multi-millionaire star athlete with the best medical care and treatments in the world, 24/7 access to mental health professionals, a huge mansion, a personal agent, a chauffeur, financial advisors, a generous retirement plan, celebrity friends, and a rap music contract has a public meltdown after half a dozen previous meltdowns.

Reaction — Non-stop discussion and debate on every sports and news network; hundreds of thousands of tweets and posts; pleas for more understanding; pledges of support from teammates and associates, etc.

 

 

 

PHOTO B:

A regular person (actually millions of women, men, and children) tossed out of homeless shelters onto the street every single day because of budget cuts to social welfare programs and mental health treatments which are sorely inadequate.

Reaction — Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (crickets)