Why We Need Hope

Sunday’s scripture readings all point to the importance of hope.   When challenged by the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead, Jesus explains that those who rise from death will be like children of God, and can no longer die.  Hope is more than just optimism or a positive attitude, it is the result of faith in the Word of God and belief in the Truth as revealed by Jesus.  “The three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love dispose us to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity.  These three virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity, enabling us to act as Children of God.  They are the pledge of presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.”(Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) - #1812-1813).  “Hope is the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promise, not relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit .” (CCC #1817)

In other words, hope is the virtue by which we place our trust in God, not ourselves. This coming week the liturgical calendar calls for reading the Book of Wisdom in which we will hear how foolish it is to place our hope in ourselves and in worldly rulers.  We will be reminded that “God formed man to be imperishable; and in the image of God’s own nature.” (Wis 2:23)  This is our destiny and our final destination.  What happens here and now in this world is of little consequence, as long as we remain faithful to God.  We will also hear that, “All men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing Him who is, and from studying the works, did not discern the artisan;” (Wis 13:1-2)

When we place our hopes in earthly things, we are easily led astray from God.  Worse yet, when our earthly possessions and sources of happiness fail us, we are prone to depression or worse.  Perhaps this is why more than 20% of all Americans take medication to treat depression, and millions more probably should be.   Don’t misunderstand my meaning here, I’m not minimizing the horrible impact depression has on people, or the fact that it is very, very real.  I also know that it can be caused by many things and that the human mind is an incredibly complex organ, capable of producing a wide variety of chemical compounds that can alter moods and affect behavior.  But the things we do can also cause our minds to produce many powerful chemicals, for example:  exercise releases endorphins and sexual encounters cause the release of oxycotin, to cite just a couple of the thousands of compounds our brains can conjure up. 

The treatment of behavioral health illness in America is deplorable.  Most of the prescriptions for anti-depressants are written, not by mental health professionals, but by primary care doctors, most of whom are neither trained nor willing to be the patient’s counselor.  In most other countries, the administration of these drugs is limited to mental health professionals, and renewal of prescriptions is attached to the requirement that the patient be attending counseling.   Here in the USA, patients take these powerful drugs for years, even decades, without ever receiving mental health treatment, perhaps avoiding or simply unaware of the underlying causal of their condition. 

This past week the federal government announced that it will now require all insurance plans to treat all mental health treatment the same as any other illness.  While this may sound wonderful because so many people are in need, it is fraught with problems.  There are already numerous state and federal laws requiring insurers to cover mental illness similar to the way it treats other health benefits, but these statutes also define what constitutes mental illness according to careful guidelines.  The problem with the new announcement is that it covers behavioral health in general, with no limits on coverage.  Unlike the cognitive impairment of serious mental illness, or biologically based mental illnesses, behavioral health illness includes a broad spectrum of conditions from mild to extreme, based not necessarily on measureable medical fact, but opinion.   There are of course many behavioral health diagnoses, but the degree of illness is difficult to ascertain, and therefore easily misdiagnosed and subject to fraud and abuse.   For example, when is a person so incapacitated by depression, anxiety, or grief that they should be hospitalized?   With unlimited coverage for inpatient behavioral health treatment, how long will people be cared for, based on the “opinion” of the provider (who by the way makes their living caring for these patients)?   In the past, even with limited coverage for behavioral health care, we had a very difficult time monitoring, detecting, and dealing with fraud and abuse.  With unlimited coverage, this holds the potential to be phenomenally expensive, at a time when healthcare costs are already skyrocketing to the point of being not only unaffordable, but clearly unsustainable.

At a time when health care is such a hot button topic, with so many intractable problems to be addressed, we need hope in something better, something everlasting.  Pray for Faith, Hope and Love.