Consider what it would mean if that economic analysis of mental illness determined that treating it was not profitable. What then? If easing suffering is not profitable, are we willing to allow people to suffer?
Have you ever been frustrated with an organization of which you were a member? Have you wanted to change an ineffective process, had solutions people agreed were good, yet still failed to get the organization to implement the change?
Due to my insecurities, it struck me a bit odd that I could tell a class of twenty-year-olds to write a thirty-page report, and they would do it. I could form them into teams they did not want to work with, and I could make them stand in front of the class to give presentations despite their dread of public speaking. It was like I had this magic wand that allowed me to make people do things they hated and then thank me for it at the end of the semester.
Why do we accept that you will trust your judgement over science when merging into traffic, but criticize parents who trust their judgement over science when withholding vaccinations from their children? Why is merging into traffic something that requires personal discretion whereas, with vaccinations, science trumps personal discretion?
Our problems are complex. So complicated, in fact, they defy the ability of any single person to fully understand them, let alone solve them. Luckily, we're not alone.