We had asylums where we locked up mentally ill peopl. They were treated in a most horrible way in general. I have seen pictures and documentaries and a lot of

We had asylums where we locked up mentally ill peopl. They were treated in a most horrible way in general. I have seen pictures and documentaries and a lot of them were nightmares. Then we tore down the asylums and set the inmates free. Good job. You are free. Live your lives in happiness. Nobody will force treatment up on you. In fact getting treatment is close to impossible in the US. Many people without treatment get progressively worse. A lot of start using alcohol or other drugs to try to manage their lives. For most people that does not turn out all that well over time. They had added a component that will give them even more problems. Now prison is full of people with mental illness who ought not to be there. They have become the new asylums. The prison cannot provide the care and treatment required. This is not progress. What was needed before, and is needed now is appropriate treatment for each person. Some can do well with speech therapy. Some need to be tied to a bed. A lot. Between those extremes there is a near infinite palette of mental problems. No two people are the same, even if they are given the same diagnosis. (Diagnosis in itself is a difficult thing to get right, and requires observation / follow up over a long period of time. Not just when they are having an episode. ) Treatment of mental illness is almost universally a part of healthcare with low funding.