Poverty and Mental Illness

I once worked with an intelligent, soft spoken client who was as soft and gentle as warm butter, yet had served an extended prison sentence in a maximum security prison for committing a violent, gang related crime.

What was it that caused such a person to become a brutal murderer? While it is not my intention in writing this article to undermine or discredit the place of free choice and personal responsibility, the answer seemed in large part to be a result of the eroding effects of long-term poverty on this person’s mind, heart, and soul.  Poverty had eaten away at this person’s self-esteem.  That is to say, poverty had ruined his image of himself as being a likable, intelligent, worthwhile, and ultimately, a good person.  Once he no longer felt worthwhile and capable of producing good for society; he turned to gang warfare in which his value was based on his ability to be destructive, ruthless, and cruel.

Once the effects of poverty had stripped him of his basic humanity, he had become something that resembled a monster more than a man.  In his words, “I was in a kill or be killed world…my heart of flesh became a lifeless heart of stone.”  Our work together was all about turning his “lifeless heart of stone” back into a “heart of flesh.”  During our last session together he gave me a hug and for the first time in his life cried bitter tears…his heart of stone had once again become a heart of flesh.

So what can we do as individuals with limited spheres of influence do to produce societal change and curb the tide of poverty?

It’s as simple as attuning ourselves to the pain and suffering of those living in poverty so that we interact with poverty stricken individuals, families, and communities with the sensitivity and warmth they so desperately crave.  We should discard the Puritanical view that those afflicted with poverty are bad.  Rather, we should understand that nobody wishes poverty on themselves anymore than they wish for any other form of affliction.  That will be enough to alleviate some of their suffering,  and sometimes alleviating a little suffering makes the unbearable bearable.