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Not just the ongoing stigma of mental illness, but the near-total destruction of our mental health infrastructure in the US since the 80's. We've seemingly made

Not just the ongoing stigma of mental illness, but the near-total destruction of our mental health infrastructure in the US since the 80's. We've seemingly made the choice that unless you're fabulously wealthy or connected and can afford exceptional private treatment, your major options are to be a family burden, in prison, or indigent.

pasbesoin 10y ago
And, we make physical health care harder and harder to access. Physical injuries and illnesses get poorer or no treatment, many then resulting in mental and emotional burdens. There is no "social contract" anymore. So yeah, every poor bastard for themself.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  I keep wondering how long it's going to take before even the super-rich remember the kind of world that inevitably creates for everyone, the festering instability.
phren0logy 10y ago
This is absolutely true, but many of these patients are at best ambivalent about treatment. They do not believe they are sick.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  Which is why you need an infrastructure other than prisons and the streets to manage people who cannot manage themselves.
  - vonmoltke 10y ago
    Agreed, but the system you bemoan the dismantling of was basically a prison system by another name, and arguably less humane than what they have now.
    - Aelinsaar 10y ago
      I agree, and I'm not suggesting that we turn the clock back to pre-1980's. The solution though, was no more to throw open the doors and say "To hell with this", than it would be with our broken prison system now, right? We needed to reform it, replace it, alongside our prisons. We have to get over our need to punish, and start to count the dollars, realize that they can improve and save lives, and start rehabilitating. We can't do that when we have pathological cases mixed in with petty criminals, passionate "one-timers" and the like. By the same token, we can't stop mass shootings when our standard treatment for schizophrenics without money is, "Find a nice streetcorner buddy." Most will die miserably, but of course a few will snap.

pasbesoin 10y ago

And, we make physical health care harder and harder to access. Physical injuries and illnesses get poorer or no treatment, many then resulting in mental and emotional burdens. There is no "social contract" anymore. So yeah, every poor bastard for themself.

Aelinsaar 10y ago
I keep wondering how long it's going to take before even the super-rich remember the kind of world that inevitably creates for everyone, the festering instability.

phren0logy 10y ago

This is absolutely true, but many of these patients are at best ambivalent about treatment. They do not believe they are sick.

Aelinsaar 10y ago
Which is why you need an infrastructure other than prisons and the streets to manage people who cannot manage themselves.
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  Agreed, but the system you bemoan the dismantling of was basically a prison system by another name, and arguably less humane than what they have now.
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    I agree, and I'm not suggesting that we turn the clock back to pre-1980's. The solution though, was no more to throw open the doors and say "To hell with this", than it would be with our broken prison system now, right? We needed to reform it, replace it, alongside our prisons. We have to get over our need to punish, and start to count the dollars, realize that they can improve and save lives, and start rehabilitating. We can't do that when we have pathological cases mixed in with petty criminals, passionate "one-timers" and the like. By the same token, we can't stop mass shootings when our standard treatment for schizophrenics without money is, "Find a nice streetcorner buddy." Most will die miserably, but of course a few will snap.