We should certainly look at present conditions, and do what we can to ameliorate them. That "one crazy guy" was rather emblematic of the times -- people instit

We should certainly look at present conditions, and do what we can to ameliorate them. That "one crazy guy" was rather emblematic of the times -- people institutionalized were subject to horrific treatment and abuses. OP said "look no further" for reasons that the system was dismantled. It wasn't this one "bad apple", the rot had spread far and wide and the system needed to be purged. Unfortunately, it also needed to be rebooted with a different culture rooted in humane care, and that has not happened on the scale that our society needs. But there's the rub. The American way is to scale things up, and industrialize them. I've seen the inside of a few mental health wards when friends of mine have been committed. They can still be pretty awful, and I don't want to see them scaled up. I don't think that is a problem that can be solved with bigger, more industrial, institutions. I look to Geel[1] as an aspirational model, but I'm not sure such a thing is compatible with American culture. To properly address mental health problems, we need a profound cultural shift. Bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, really. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484083305/for-centuries-a-small-town-has-embraced-strangers-with-mental-illness https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/4840833...