Have you ever imagined what would happen if most people only cared about what was wrong with their bodies but ignored what would impact them mentally? If such a situation were allowed to drag on, various mental problems would emerge among people, which would worsen both the physical and psychological condition of a person and consequently result in a significant decrease in their quality of life.
Meanwhile, this condition can turn into reality not because people do not care about their mental well-being, but as a result of poverty. Despite some people believing that providing mental health services at no cost may be misused, I firmly believe that mental health services must be free because physical and psychological health are basic needs and human rights, and people deserve to receive mental health services and awareness regardless of their financial status.
One of the primary reasons that the cost of psychological services must be waived is that it considers the economic conditions of many people. Although all people will be affected by the financial costs of mental health services, the middle- and lower-class parts of society will suffer more and be deprived of them. To illustrate, if we compare two families with different socioeconomic levels, one has an established economy where they can provide various needs or facilities, but the other family is a family with low economic conditions that struggles with providing basic needs.
The second family cannot afford any mental health services, while it is way more accessible for the first family. Specifically, only 16% of individuals in the world are in high-income countries, where they can afford services regardless of the budget they have to spend; the remaining 84% of individuals are from low-income countries with limited budgets, making mental health less accessible and needing further attention (Knapp, Funk, Curran, Prince, Grigg & McDaid, 2006).
Healthcare equality is also an essential factor in why mental health service costs must be eliminated. According to the United Nations (UN, 2018), health is a fundamental right that not only means a lack of diseases but also means being mentally well, and mental health services are supposed to be provided for all without considering age, race, or socio-economic factors.
Balanced mental health can be interpreted as reducing inequality in social stigma related to cognitive issues; this provides an implied meaning that psychological health is as vital as bodily health. Indeed, this is intended to overcome the gap in getting the mental care needed by all social groups as an effort to create a conducive and mentally healthy environment where all people have the same access to psychological support services.
While many people may argue that making mental health services available may result in unnecessary use of the services by people because they will be available without any conditions or costs for all people, I think the solution to this problem is raising people’s general awareness and knowledge about mental issues so that people can handily and wisely decide if they must receive the services because this kind of service abuse is due to lack of information about the appropriate and necessary time to approach a mental health service provider, not the cost or availability of that. Mental health literacy, which means recognizing, understanding, and using information to maintain better health, will result in wise decisions in receiving relevant services (Srivastava, Chatterjee & Bhat, 2016).
To conclude, accommodating psychological health services at no cost is important because mental health cannot be separated from human life. This ensures that all levels of society have the same rights to welfare services regardless of rank or financial situation.
Nevertheless, ordinary human beings who also need mental services make an effort to be aware that the emotional problems they face have solutions and can be resolved free of charge. With these efforts, people will be adequately aware of the mental issues they face in the future, which can increase their interest in attending consultation services with mental health experts to obtain better psychological health.
Qatrin S. Shatilla is a student at the Asian University for Women, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
About The Author
Congratulation Qatrin. This is a very useful ideas to share to many people in Aceh and in the world. You are a representative of your father in writing. A bunch of love from me.
Terima Kasih Bu Prof. Salami atas doanya kepada Qatrin.