POVERTY & MENTAL HEALTH

The Public Medical Library also mentions another program called Head-Start. Head Start has an amazing dream to support lower-income homes get ready for school. Head Start faces not only funding troubles, but also questions on whether the long-term outlook is truly worth it. Although this is true, the cause is still apparent and the need for more people to be educated on the topic remains.

Modern and Older Aspects Surrounding Mental Health

To this day a stigma still hangs around the topic of Mental Health. Many believe that this stigma is what leads to the 29% of the general public who feels too ashamed to open up about their own mental health. These statistics also vary when studying a specific demographic or environment. For example, the American Psychological Association’ study on “Beliefs about mental health have evolved, but the stigma remains” states, “While most Americans say there is no shame in mental illness, 35% of adults admit they’d view someone differently if they knew they had a mental health condition.”

For this next segment, my co-writer, Julianna LaPoint, and I (Morgan Keller) interviewed a person in a specific age group, whose upbringing possibly influenced their own mental health. We inquired about the background the person rose from to dive in deeper about coinciding mental health with poverty, as well as the aspects formed from it.

I interviewed Catherine Cox (46 y/o F) Friday, September 18th, 2026.

Morgan Keller: “As a child, were you aware of, like, your financial situation?”

Catherine Cox:

“I feel like I became aware of our financial situation when I was probably about seven years old, and my parents went through a divorce, and I had a single mom at home. And I knew that we didn't have a lot of money. Then my mom had two more kids, so there were four of us.
And she was on WIC, which is women with infants and children, and I knew that we had to go grocery shopping and look for certain items in the grocery store, so I looked for those little tags in the grocery store that said WIC. We ate a lot of juicy juice, and certain cheese, and we had a lot of cereal, and there were just certain foods that were always present.

 I think that's when I kind of clued in that something was different. And something was up. 
And then suddenly we didn't have enough money for certain things. For instance, I was always in dance classes, from maybe five years old on, and then when I was in fourth grade. So probably nine years old. Halfway through the year, we ordered costumes for our recitals that would be in the spring, and when it came time for ordering those costumes, we didn't have the money for a costume that year. And that's when my mindset started to change. I started putting myself last, naturally.

I knew we couldn't afford it. And so, I didn't even ask. I just quit dancing and never took another dance class. 
It really affected me later on, because I was a cheerleader as well, and the other girls took tumbling classes, dance classes, and extra gymnastics, and all kinds of things, and I couldn't afford that.”

Morgan Keller: “Where did you fall in birth order?”

Catherine Cox: 

“I'm second, but for a long time I was the youngest. It was just me and my older sister. 
And I think she [her sister] really kind of shielded me from a lot and protected me for a long time, which is maybe why I didn't notice until I was in, like, upper elementary.

Then we had two more so I had to start being one of the responsible ones and had two little kids to take care of. 
They are 13 and 15 years younger than me. So by the time I was in middle school, I was changing diapers, and I was, you know, helping get little toddlers off to preschool . . .”

Morgan Keller: “Would you say the environment you grew up in as a kid affected the way you raised your own children?”

Catherine Cox: 

“I was like, initially, I gotta have a boyfriend. I gotta have a man in my life. 
I gotta have a husband. And so that's how I started out. And then I got a divorce when my baby's really little. 
And I was like, By God, I am gonna be strong and independent, and I'm gonna raise these boys on my own. Teachers don't make a lot of money when they're starting out. I was making, like, $30,000 a year. And to raise two boys and to pay for a house on your own, it's really hard on that kind of salary. Our electricity would be turned off, and, you know, I'd come home from school from teaching all day at Normal Park Museum Magnet School, and I'd walk in the door and try to turn the lights on, and there's no electricity.

I would have to shuffle things and pay bills late or pay bills right on time in order to make ends meet. Those were hard years. I learned how to stretch and make ends meet in creative ways because of how I was raised. 
But by golly, I'm not asking anybody for money. It was me and my kids . . .”

Morgan Keller: “So would you say that you are hyper independent?”

Catherine Cox: 

“Absolutely. 

Morgan Keller: “When you graduated and went off to college, how did that go for you?”

Catherine Cox: 

“First of all, neither of my parents went to college, so that was a big deal to be a first generation college student.

So, no one helped me get into college, and I only applied to one place, even though I was a National Marriage semifinalist, and, like, I had a really good ACT score, and all the application credentials that you could want. I was really just kind of on my own. So I picked the school I was gonna go to. 
And I said, I'm gonna get into their honors program, and I interviewed for it, and I did it.

Getting into that program involved, I had a full scholarship, and they even paid me each semester with my scholarship. So, I got a little check each semester that helped pay for things, but I always had to have a job because there was nobody else to help. Even all the way through college, I worked at least one job all the time . . . ”

Morgan Keller: “Do you go to therapy?”

Catherine Cox:

“I have been in therapy before, especially, like, the last few years. Probably like two solid years of the last five. I had a wonderful therapist who helped me tremendously. 
I have really, really bad anxiety and depression, but the anxiety has been worse in the last few years. And, um, she helped me learn some, some of the things that I do naturally that have caused me some big issues. Um, I am extremely self reliant. 
And so when I become anxious, I push people away and become more independent. And that's not really healthy. Um, especially, like, in a marriage, if I want my marriage to be healthy. 
I can't push my husband away when I'm anxious. So, she helped me to, like, lean into the people that I can trust. But I think that's a product of my childhood, of having to be independent and strong.

In a big, big family, I had to be strong and defend, 'cause I wasn't allowed to close problems. Like, there were enough problems going on that if I started causing problems, it would . . .  it would have been really bad. So, my, um, way of existing, and my coping mechanism for my childhood was to be self sufficient, and to never get in trouble, 'cause that's the scariest thing ever.

Therapy helped me learn that it's okay to depend on people. One of the hardest things in the world for me to do is to ask someone for help.”

Morgan Keller: “Do you feel like you know yourself better, after therapy?”

Catherine Cox:

“Definitely. Yeah. Therapy helped me really see a lot of patterns of behavior that I was like, "Oh, I do that.”

Morgan Keller: “Have you always been open to discussing your experiences and mental health?”

Catherine Cox: 

“Never been ashamed of any of it, for sure. I don't think I noticed how much it has affected. how I act and how I, like, my patterns of behavior until I was older, maybe in my 30s and 40s, um, but, yeah, I'm an open book. I can't even hide my emotions.

I'm cool about talking about it [Mental Health], but that doesn't mean that everyone else has to be. It's very private for some people, and I totally respect that. Um, just because I'm comfortable talking about it does not mean that everyone else is. And that is okay. As I've gotten older, even more so, I feel like I try very hard to respect other people's boundaries, and I'm not perfect. I'm gonna mess up. 
But I'm trying very hard to provide space for people, and to allow them to exist in their own journeys, and whatever that means for them, as far as... a lot of things go.

Mental health specifically, in this discussion. You know, if a person is dealing with depression or anxiety or whatever they have, that's their journey. If they don't want to talk about it, that's cool. But I would never judge a person's mental health journey.”

 Representation in Media

The correlation of poverty and mental health can be seen in every level of our world, including media. People often don’t realize that poverty and poor mental health coexist in a cycle with one another, each one the outcome of the other. While many books have shown the effects that poverty and mental health have on individuals for over one hundred years, representation in television is just beginning to become more popular in the last few years. Media depiction often falls into three portrayal frameworks; the vicious cycle, individual vs. structural fault, and sensationalism and violence, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

Common Portrayals and Consequences

The vicious cycle showcases the media’s difficulty to capture the nature of the relationship between poverty and mental health, and often separating the relationship or oversimplifying it. Narratives in media often rely on one or the other, and the effects that it has on a person, rather than the combination of two and the way that they feed off of each other. In tv media, the person watching usually only sees the “big break,” or the mental breakdown of the character, while in reality that is only half of the story. There are smaller everyday issues that depict the reality of the character. It rarely shows how a lack of financial resources and stability prevents access to proper healthcare, which worsens the symptoms presented, in turn making stable employment or housing more difficult to come by or maintain.

Secondly, it is the individual vs. structural fault. Media is often divided between the two choices, and people have to decide whether a situation is considered a personal failure or a systemic problem. Individual fault attributes poverty and poor mental health to personal choices and the lack of strength or willpower a person has. It implies that if a person were to just “try harder,” they could overcome their issues. Structural fault attributes the problem to systemic issues, such as a lack of healthcare and minimum wages that don’t match the cost of living. The problem itself lies in the media’s ideas shifting more to personal blame in individuals rather than to a systemic problem or the idea that the issue lies in the interdependence of health and income. While systemic issues are usually the cause of the problem, media narratives that portray it are less common because they are harder to solve in a standard movie or short form of media.

In addition, it is the sensationalism and violence. This portrayal does depict the relationship between poverty and mental health, but not in a productive way. It is considered to be one of the most harmful portrayals because it exaggerates the link between poverty, poor mental health and violent crimes. (This is used in news media, in which hyperfixates upon people in poverty who experience mental illnesses, specifically those committing severe acts of violence more than people that are considered in a more stable situation, financially and mentally. News reports show that statistically, a person with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than the one committing the act and those with mental health issues that do commit acts of violence are more likely to do so in residential areas. Focusing on extreme cases that do not align with the majority of the people going through both poverty and poor mental health because it is a “more interesting story” attempts to justify poor treatment to those in these poor situations and makes the subject more taboo and harmful.

The poor  depiction of how poverty and poor mental health intersect in media causes harmful real world consequences  When media such as movies, shows, news, and books misrepresents the relationship and correlation, they reinforce barriers that deepen the social gap. Since the meanings and true ideals behind media are often consumed subconsciously, people don’t  realize that they are creating  oppressive mindsets that fit people into a box, rather than grasping the true relationship between the two concepts and doing it without prejudice.

Good Representation and its Impact

A well done example of representation in media is the tv show “Shameless”. Shameless follows a family living in poverty in the South side of Chicago and the troubles of their everyday lives. This show is one of the best representations in media  because of the depiction of poor mental health in a state of poverty. The family portrays a lack of diagnoses and therapy because they can’t afford health care, as well as a lack of focus on mental health because the family is in a constant state of survival, so they “don’t have time” to pay attention to what they consider smaller issues such as mental health. It shows the slope of falling into certain mental illnesses and the effect that this has on income and poverty, while also depicting the way that living in poverty causes mental health symptoms to worsen.

While people often think about television when looking at representation, books have been showing this relationship for far longer. Starting as early as the mid 19th century, books began to include more about the inner workings of poverty and mental health and how they fed off of each other. Many revolutions happened during this time period, including the industrial revolution, in which revolutionized psychiatric medicine and the rise of social awareness. Poor working conditions and the effects that it had on the human mind allowed people to begin to see the connection between poverty and poor mental health.

Media representation of the struggles people in poverty and poor mental health status face is extremely important because it reduces the double stigma faced by lower income people who face mental illness. Highlighting the endless cycles that society has pushed people into accurately brings awareness to the subject and it replaces stereotypes with accurate representation. USC Annenberg states, “Viewers of mental health storylines that followed best practices, or were informed by experts and those with lived experience, had greater knowledge of mental health topics, reduced stigma toward those receiving treatment, and greater willingness to seek help.” Representation is something that all groups seek in media, and it actively improves the conditions and a feelings of validity in viewers. 

How Mental Health Relates to Women in Poverty

As mentioned earlier, a considerable number of Americans live in poverty, roughly 10.6%, meaning there are currently thirty five million people in the US who do not have enough to meet the standard of living. People of oppressed racial groups, women, and individuals with disabilities face a higher likelihood of poverty.  

Those in poverty experience not only the struggle for physical needs but mental and chronic issues at a far higher rate to those living above the poverty line.

This overview will discuss women in economic hardship and how this impacts their mental health.

First of all, according to case studies, women in the United States are thirty five% more likely to experience poverty. This contributes to a wide range of social injustices women experience,  making them even more susceptible to economic instability. ​One is the gender pay gap-the difference in earnings between a woman and a man, even when they hold the same position.

“The Equal Pay Act passed in 1963 was created to abolish the wage disparity between men and women, but sixty years later, the gender pay gap continues, with today’s women only earning 84 cents to every dollar earned by men.”

Although it has significantly improved since the Equal Pay Act was passed, like all of these issues being covered, it continues to persist. This treatment denies them a fair chance. As a result, women must overcompensate to fill in the disproportionate gap in pay, especially when the job already pays significantly less. Furthermore, along with being paid less, women in financial distress often do not have the financial stability to access additional education, or, in some situations, complete their education.

As a result of limited options, they are put into “pink-collar” jobs, female-dominated occupations. Caregiving roles like teaching, nursing, and administrative work. Moreover, the term “pink collar” reinforces gender stereotypes as these caregiving roles are associated with housework responsibilities traditionally done by women. Additionally, most of these “pink-collar” jobs, especially for those without the required education, are more mentally exhausting, pay less, and do not provide medical assistance or paid time off. Pink-collar jobs are undervalued and discriminated as “easier” simply because they are women-dominated positions. In conclusion this environment can contribute to burnout and difficulty prioritizing mental health.

Beyond the workplace environment, the home environment also impacts the decline in women in poverty's mental health. Hardworking women in poverty, specifically mothers, are generally made the primary caretakers of a large household. They don't only have to worry about themselves, they have to care for the whole household.

“Women are dealing with issues like education, housing, and transportation. They are attempting to overcome those barriers to improve the life circumstances for themselves and their children.”

My own family's mental health history is a good example. My own grandmother suffered from hereditary bipolar disorder. At eight-teen, she became pregnant with my mom, and a short five years later she got divorced. Not only did it leave her destitute without her primary financial dependence, he also did not pay the owed child support. Not only was he fully capable of paying the allotted amount, he was able to remarry and have another child. This left her with no health insurance and between jobs to afford the needed medication. She had been left as a single mother with a five year old and an alcohol addiction. When my mom was thirteen, my grandmother killed herself. This is one of many stories of women in poverty, one of the many voices of the injustices women in poverty face. 

This issue must be and continue to be addressed as long as this issue continues to persist. It needs a total systematic change. One way you can personally be involved is through the many organizations prioritized to support women's mental health. 

You can support organizations such as The Atlanta Women's Foundation who are advocating for women in poverty. Their overall goal is gender equality which they contribute by supporting women in unfortunate situations; “Dedicated exclusively to advancing gender equality by providing necessary funding to women and girls serving nonprofits”

The Usage of Lobotomies

A lobotomy, by definition, is a “discredited brain surgery that cuts or destroys nerve pathways in the frontal lobes to treat mental illness.” Surgeons would drill holes into the skulls and use tools to slice brain fibers, which is called the prefrontal lobotomy. On the other hand there was the transorbital lobotomy, in which neurologists hammered an instrument akin to an ice pick through the eye socket to pierce and scramble brain tissue.

Dr. Walter Freeman carried out many lobotomies, and is credited with creating the transorbital lobotomy, which was a “new and improved version of the original procedure.” Reasons why include leaving no scars, save for two black eyes; taking less than ten minutes; capable of being performed outside of operating rooms; and, according to Dr. Freeman, produced better results.

Dr. Freeman’s statistics between the two sexes evidently favor women, as an article reads saying: “By 1942, 75% of the lobotomies Freeman and Watts had performed were on women.” Freeman is reported to have favored the transorbital technique as reported in the above paragraph. He also states, "At a time when women were expected to be calm, cooperative and attentive to domestic affairs, definitions of mental illness were as culturally bound as their treatments.” 

Women were often lobotomized for reasons such as disagreeing with her husband, or being rebellious towards him, not finding interest in domestic chores such as housework or taking care of the children. These simple acts of perceived “rebellion” by these women’s husbands led to their lobotomies. They were silenced for simple things such as feeling too tired to care for the children or the home, even if it was a mutual job.

The abuse of lobotomies is nothing to brush beneath the rug. It is a serious matter that has essentially brought many people, and unfortunately primarily women, right to a halt mid-life. Freeman’s perspective on this operation was positively connotated. He believed that patients’ lives improved after surgery. His way was popularized to, and quote, “”liberate” patients from the hopelessness of therapeutic nihilism and the probability of lifelong custodial care.”

In the mid-50s the execution of lobotomies began to decline due to the introduction of effective antipsychotic medications, psychotropic medications, and antidepressants. These offered safer alternatives. At the same time in the world, economic realities ushered women into the workforce, eventually compromising 33% more of the American labor force by the end of that decade. Progress has been made, but we have to continue to push for more.

Mental health is a multifaceted subject; in this investigative journalism piece, we conducted an in-depth investigation into each subtopic related to it. To begin was an in-depth discussion on the negative consequences of a lack of education of those in poverty, and how it affects mental health. We also discussed how mental health is viewed now vs in the past alongside an interview with an older teacher who shared their personal experience of financial and mental health struggles during a time when mental health was not taken seriously. Then with an article on how the media handles mental health struggles of those in poverty by looking at widespread media and tv shows and how media portrays can be harmful. As well as a discussion of the ways gender affects mental health, specifically women and the struggles they go through. At last we concluded with a well researched article about the history of gender struggles by use of lobotomy.