Regardless, America has become a pill popping nation. No one wants to deal with their problems anymore, they just want to medicate their emotions and pretend everything is okay. The insurance companies love that because it's cheaper in the long run to pay for pills than therapy or inpatient treatment. And don't EVEN get me started on the way children are drugged. Many parents are so involved in their lives that they don't pay attention to their children, much less raise them themselves! These kids are brought up by strangers in group conditions(infants and toddlers in daycare-God help us!), taught no framework for self-discipline and living in the world, and get no quality time from their parents. They are starved for attention. We used to say that many children act out and misbehave because 'negative attention is better than no attention at all'. Now when they misbehave they are given a label and a prescription. So sad.
Personally, I'm not gone forever from this arena, just taking a little break and incubating ideas;) I will be going back for my Master's in counseling or some integrative/alternative health field. You're correct, I do have some ideas on how health care can change for the better, specifically psych. It's just a matter of getting the right people together and initiating change. I do think things are happening in this direction already.
Well, that's it for my rant tonight:)
--gsg