A better path to guiding mentally ill

Who would ignore a child who is bleeding?

Yet we routinely disregard children who suffer from mental illness.

Many children in anguish are commonly labeled as having behavioral issues. Their pain is not simply ignored, but they are condemned for it. They may as well be blamed for bleeding.

In the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown more than five years ago, Connecticut became a national leader in the crusade for sensible gun legislation. Opponents dismissed such measures, favoring improvements to mental health services.

While virtually any gun legislation remains polarizing across the United States, few elected officials have taken a stand against enhancing help for the mentally ill.

Despite this, Connecticut has been anything but a leader on mental health. As the state’s fortunes reached a crisis point, budget cuts dug deep into services for the most seriously ill among adolescents.

Susan Kelley, director of the Alliance for Children’s Mental Health, estimates about 125,000 kids lack mental health care in Connecticut.

If that statistic doesn’t rattle you, experts in the field fear the true figure is considerably higher, reasoning it is skewed by the frequency of behavioral misdiagnoses.

If opposition to common-sense gun legislation is all about the money, so is solving the mental health crisis. Insurers offer a low reimbursement rate to mental health providers, which discourages them from joining networks. Thus, a Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry study determined that while 90 percent of physicians in most specialties accept insurance, that percentage sinks to roughly half in the mental health community.

In the face of hefty out-of-network costs, many families immediately surrender or eventually run out of resources.

The child in need is left to navigate a highway with foreboding exits. One might be an emergency room, which at least holds the potential of an accurate diagnosis. Another follows a billboard luring them to drugs. Down the road, the juvenile justice system is a mere exit ramp away. Meanwhile, misguided adults point them to the wrong exit, one labeling them as behaviorally misdirected.

Even if it were only about the money, none of this makes sound economic sense for the child, the family or the state.

Connecticut legislators are weighing Senate Bill 384, which seeks to address the issue in promising ways. It would require insurance companies to broaden the network of mental health providers, a change that is long overdue. It would also aim the X-ray machine at insurance companies — requiring them to provide more data to the state — and drug companies — forcing them to justify price increases greater than 25 percent.

We are also intrigued by the bill’s concept of requiring mental health screenings at physical exams. That wouldn’t be easy to execute, but could catch many undiagnosed issues.

Mental illness may be harder to recognize than physical distress, but it causes intense pain for families as well as primary sufferers. This bill can staunch invisible bleeding.

Many children in anguish are commonly labeled as having behavioral issues. Their pain is not simply ignored, but they are condemned for it. They may as well be blamed for bleeding.