4 ms·

For one thing, we frequently see many of the same patients again, back on the street or in their communities, which is pretty definitive reason to think they're

For one thing, we frequently see many of the same patients again, back on the street or in their communities, which is pretty definitive reason to think they're not locked up indefinitely.

imperio59 6y ago
In your experience, do they get better after their stint in the psych ward, or are they pretty much the same, or are they worse? My experience dealing with the homeless on the streets of Seattle is they seemed to either stay the same or get worse. I never saw one person get better from a stay in the psych ward, it seems at best a place to keep them locked up for a little bit and then turf them back out on the street. Notice how psychiatrists and psych hospitals don't really advertise much anything about "cure rates" or percentages cured. You compare that to any other field of medicine which often talks about percentages of outcomes, especially for fields like surgery, infectious diseases, oncology, etc... and you find the primary reason why I personally (and many others) do not find the field of psychiatry to offer much beyond "medicate and manage" while syphoning insurance money and government funding, and while also causing potentially horrible side effects.
sokoloff 6y ago
If the primary exploit is siphoning insurance money, is it possible that your frequent fliers have worse insurance than the subjects in the contra anecdote?
- GavinMcG 6y ago
  Yes, as I acknowledged in another comment.[0] But it's not especially relevant to the point I was responding to: this program, where police are replaced by healthcare professionals, primarily deals with people who lack housing or income, which makes the commenter's concern a lot less relevant to this particular discussion. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033144

4 ms·

For one thing, we frequently see many of the same patients again, back on the street or in their communities, which is pretty definitive reason to think they're

by GavinMcG 6y ago

For one thing, we frequently see many of the same patients again, back on the street or in their communities, which is pretty definitive reason to think they're not locked up indefinitely.

imperio59 6y ago
In your experience, do they get better after their stint in the psych ward, or are they pretty much the same, or are they worse? My experience dealing with the homeless on the streets of Seattle is they seemed to either stay the same or get worse. I never saw one person get better from a stay in the psych ward, it seems at best a place to keep them locked up for a little bit and then turf them back out on the street. Notice how psychiatrists and psych hospitals don't really advertise much anything about "cure rates" or percentages cured. You compare that to any other field of medicine which often talks about percentages of outcomes, especially for fields like surgery, infectious diseases, oncology, etc... and you find the primary reason why I personally (and many others) do not find the field of psychiatry to offer much beyond "medicate and manage" while syphoning insurance money and government funding, and while also causing potentially horrible side effects.
sokoloff 6y ago
If the primary exploit is siphoning insurance money, is it possible that your frequent fliers have worse insurance than the subjects in the contra anecdote?
- GavinMcG 6y ago
  Yes, as I acknowledged in another comment.[0] But it's not especially relevant to the point I was responding to: this program, where police are replaced by healthcare professionals, primarily deals with people who lack housing or income, which makes the commenter's concern a lot less relevant to this particular discussion. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26033144