North Country Forum
Dr. Carney’s most recent posts are to be found here. He is in the process of compiling a complete archive of all articles he has written since his retirement from professional social work practice in 2010. All his blogs have as their focus issues pertaining to social justice; are generally placed in their historical context; and, ultimately, are subjected to in-depth analyses whose aim is to promote a full understanding of the issues being addressed.
Poverty & Mental Illness: You Can’t Have One Without the Other
If you’ve spent any time in the public mental health system, you know that folks diagnosed or labeled as having serious mental illnesses are poor. If you’ve been poor or worked with poor folks, you know that many poor folks suffer from affective and cognitive disorders or, to quote Bentall, “complaints” (1,2). But what comes first, the poverty or the presumed mental illness? Does poverty play a role in causing a person’s mental illness or does a person become ill and simply drift down the socioeconomic ladder into poverty? And how many people are we talking about?. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (3), 4.1 million persons aged...