In the podcast “The problem with the solution”, it talks about a special treatment for mental health issues, which leads to a discussion that how not having a solution is probably the best solution to a problem. Severe mental health ills in America are normally sent to a psychiatric hospitals, and treated with excess amount of medication. However, over-medication is not only ineffective, but also worsens the problem sometimes. Ellen Baxter, whose mother is over-medicated because of mental health issues, is dedicated to find a more humane treatment of mental health issues. Ellen goes to a small town called Geel in Belgium, where the residents accept strangers with severe mental health issues into their homes and take care of them. Mental health patients who go to Geel are not treated as patients, but as guests or boarders. They do not receive any kind of medication, and the hosts do not know about the guests’ diagnoses. Therefore, the guests are just there, sharing a life with the hosts. It turns out that after living that way for more than 10, 20 years, it is possible that the patients are healed from mental health diseases.

One of important points the podcast raises is that when a person do not care about the patient so much, then it is probably the best way of treating their mental health diseases. When mental health patients are surrounded by those who deeply care about them, they feel the burden of getting better, and they are scared of disappointing those they love. The caring that people give to the mental health patients can sometimes be a burden to them. People always try to find solutions to problems, however, solutions are never universal, and sometimes they are not even helpful. A problem here is not necessary a problem elsewhere, just like mental ills in America can be treated as normal people in Geel. So, how do we define a problem? And what is a good solution? Is not having a solution is probably the best solution to a problem? Is the way patients are treated in Geel a better solution than over-medication in America? If it is a better solution, then why aren’t patients in America treated the same way as those in Geel? Those are important questions to be answered because people are always dedicated to find the solution, but they do not always think about if those solutions are actually useful and effective in a long-term. Therefore, those questions are imperative to the ways people can find sustainable solutions to problems.

Works Cited

Rosin, Hannah. “The Problem with the Solution.” Invisibilia, NPR, 2016.