I'm not writing this article to sway your opinion on Trump, at all. I'm also not writing this article to try to convince you to not vote for Trump. Your opinion is your opinion. I'm simply trying to write this article to present Trump's views on mental health, which are not that great. Mental illness is something we definitely need to fix in this country, but it somehow repeatedly seems to fall to the back burner to more "important issues." I for one believe that mental health is one of the most important issues that there could be to talk about. We do talk about mental illness for sure, but when do you normally see politicians talk about it? After mass shootings. By almost exclusively talking about mental health after mass shootings, you directly make a link between people with mental illness and mass shootings. That's not fair considering most people with mental illness are not violent, at all. Yes, there are some people with mental illness who are violent, but would greatly benefit from care that we don't currently supply enough of. The media and politicians continue to create a stigma around mental illness that we've all come to accept, but that isn't the way things should be. Mental illness is an illness that is no different from other illnesses. Do you get shamed for having the flu? No. Then why should you be shamed for seeking treatment for mental illness?
I'm not saying that Donald Trump wants to shame people with mental illness, but the way he goes about talking about mental illness is severely lack luster. For example, Donald Trump has made the statement, "'I feel that the gun-free zones and, you know, when you say that, that's target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill. . .They look around for gun-free zones.'" What makes it ok for him to compare the mentally ill to sickos? And why label an entire group as sickos and murderers? His lack of compassion when talking about the mentally ill is truly astounding to me. Once again, do I think he is purposefully trying to shame all people with mental illness? Not entirely, but his word choice when it comes to talking about the mentally ill is severely lacking. But I do think that he is ill informed about mental illness itself.
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When you go on his campaign website, you would think that you would find his stance for mental health underneath his views on healthcare. Nope, guess where you find it? Underneath the subheading "Protecting our Second Amendment Rights Will Make America Great Again." Yes, you're reading that correctly. His mental health stance can be found mixed in with his views on gun rights. While he does acknowledge that we do need a mental health reform in this country, he basically says that this reform is necessary so that we can get the mentally ill who are violent off the streets so that "they can't terrorize our communities"with guns. Of course we need to get them "off the streets," but not because they're all mass murderers. We should get them "off the streets" in order to help them and treat them like we would do with any other illness, not because of gun rights. He later uses the term "deranged madmen" to describe the mentally ill, which once again shows his poor and limited vocabulary when talking about those Americans who suffer from mental illness.
Why am I spending so much time talking about this? First, because it's important that we talk about mental health more in the media. Like I said, mental illness should be treated just like any other illness and the stigma that still surrounds it is very much outdated. It's also important that we don't just talk about mental health after a mass shooting, like Trump and other politicians do. Second, with Trump doing so well in the polls, his viewpoints say something about the overarching viewpoints of other Americans. By accusing the mentally ill as the dominate group in America who commits mass murders, you are alienating an entire group of innocent people to be labeled as "murderers." Now am I saying that Hillary Clinton's views on mental health are much better? Not entirely. I mean her views are much more progressive than Trump's in terms of the vocabulary she uses and the plans that she has for substance abuse in particular, but they are certainly not revolutionary by any means. In order to change the way we speak about, view and treat those with mental illness, we will need a revolution in the mental health care system. Unfortunately, I don't see this revolution taking place in the coming four years whether you vote for Clinton or Trump.
