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Mental health care in America has a long, complex history.

More than one billion people worldwide live with a mental health condition, yet only about half of individuals actually receive the care they need (The Lancet Public Health, 2025; National Institute of Mental Health, 2023).

Persistent mental health care provider shortages, lack of access to therapy and medications due to the unaffordability of health insurance, inequitable distribution of providers and healthcare access in rural areas of the nation, and continuing stigma against mental illness are just a few of the contributing factors to today’s problems in mental health care.

Historically, until the mid-1900s, people struggling with their mental health were cared for in the privacy of the family’s home or ended up in almshouses or jails. With the advent of mental institutions, once referred to as “insane asylums,” these overcrowded and understaffed state hospitals quickly became centers for inhumane treatment and poor conditions (National Library of Medicine, n.d.).

The 1963 Community Mental Health Act was pivotal in dismantling institutionalized care in favor of community mental health centers; however, funding for these initiatives was often lacking. Today, we are still in the midst of an ever-evolving model of mental health care in America, one that is far from perfect. Many people still face significant barriers to treatment, and the criminal justice system continues to be a place where people facing mental illness eventually land in the absence of other systems of care (Mental Health America, 2025).

Author Hannah Thurman explores the story of a lingering........

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