3 ms·
> If people don't want treatment, we should ask what's wrong with the treatment This reasoning works with most illnesses, including most mental health problems
by retrac 4y ago
> If people don't want treatment, we should ask what's wrong with the treatment
This reasoning works with most illnesses, including most mental health problems. But it sort of falls apart with psychotic illness. A common symptom of schizophrenia is a denial of any illness, or ill-functioning. In extreme cases, an individual may show no appreciation of the fact that e.g. being socially isolated and with no income will probably quickly kill them. I'm usually the advocate for the agency of people -- I do point out the opposite in another post in this thread, that many people with schizophrenia are aware of their illness and impairments, because many are. But many are not. Even with truly perfect treatments with no side effects that completely cleared delusions and clouded thinking, many, because of their illness, would choose not to take such treatment.
- shkkmo 4y agoThe awareness can also wax and wane within a single individual. A friend of mine has been forcibly hospitalized several times and the trauma inflicted severely impacted his desire to seek treatment during his more aware periods. When I finally got him to reach out to care providers (since as just a friend, there was no way to setup inpatient care as an intermediary) they made it so difficult for him to enroll that no only did that moment of clarity pass without getting treatment, it also burned up whatever status as an ally that I still had with him. So while changes to commitment laws absolutely can be part of a solution, they must be paired with deep introspection into the despicable failures of our mental health system to provide appropriate care. Otherwise we risk inflicting additional trauma that will make managing future crises far more difficult.
- baremetal 4y ago>When I finally got him to reach out to care providers (since as just a friend, there was no way to setup inpatient care as an intermediary) they made it so difficult for him to enroll that no only did that moment of clarity pass without getting treatment, it also burned up whatever status as an ally that I still had with him. That is tragic. There is no ready alternative when health care providers fail.