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Hi, thank you for sharing. My question is, do you think your brother is better off now than he would have been had he been institutionalized?

GuiA 14y ago
That's a very hard question to answer, as I don't know what exactly would have happened if he had been institutionalized. French psychiatrists has a very different approach than US ones (although that might change) when it comes to diagnosis, so it's really hard to say. A question could be - what would have been the goals of institutionalizing him? To make him more fit for life in our society with our standards; or to prevent him from harming others and himself? Since you're asking specifically if he would have been better off, I'm assuming the former of the two- in which case no, I don't think he'd have been better off. I do think he's physiologically incapable of sitting at a desk, taking orders, living in an extremely codified manner where one has to respect certain hierarchies, hide certain feelings, etc. - and that perhaps he has now found a way to detach himself from it. I don't think that any institution could have addressed that. But I'm sure that there are some people (former teachers, classmates, etc.) who think it'd have been better if he had been institutionalized.
gregsq 14y ago
In Australia the policy has been to essentially close institutions and make mental health a community care based solution. Once upon a time the methodology for dealing with schizophrenics and other more severe cases of mental illness was to sedate, blast neural connections with electricity, and if that didn't work, cut it out. With more modern drug regimes, extreme behaviour by these poor souls is more 'manageable'. And in many cases I think, that's the best you can hope for. The effects of this policy are varied. On one hand, it can make the polices' job more complex. There was a period some time back where the police were being confronted regularly by dangerous behaviour, which lead to deaths by police shootings. It spawned a rash of confrontations and corresponding shooting deaths, which appeared to be escalating. It soon became obvious that these mentally unstable people were getting a fast ticket to pain relief, assisted by police action. This lead to improved education for the police, in respect of resolution and firearms training. The situation deescalated after that, and the cycle of depression, anger and suicide by proxy was broken. Australia is a large country, only a little smaller than the United States, with a population of only 20 or so million. So there are regional areas separated by reasonable distances from the major capitals. Two regional cities near to Melbourne that I am aware of have become the nexus for individuals that are part of this community care attitude. Like attracts like in this instance, and a natural clustering has occurred so that the proportion of the population with mental health issues is greater than the average. To get an inkling of the degree of organisation involved as a result of these policies, just google 'bendigo mental health'.

GuiA 14y ago

That's a very hard question to answer, as I don't know what exactly would have happened if he had been institutionalized. French psychiatrists has a very different approach than US ones (although that might change) when it comes to diagnosis, so it's really hard to say. A question could be - what would have been the goals of institutionalizing him? To make him more fit for life in our society with our standards; or to prevent him from harming others and himself? Since you're asking specifically if he would have been better off, I'm assuming the former of the two- in which case no, I don't think he'd have been better off. I do think he's physiologically incapable of sitting at a desk, taking orders, living in an extremely codified manner where one has to respect certain hierarchies, hide certain feelings, etc. - and that perhaps he has now found a way to detach himself from it. I don't think that any institution could have addressed that. But I'm sure that there are some people (former teachers, classmates, etc.) who think it'd have been better if he had been institutionalized.

gregsq 14y ago

In Australia the policy has been to essentially close institutions and make mental health a community care based solution. Once upon a time the methodology for dealing with schizophrenics and other more severe cases of mental illness was to sedate, blast neural connections with electricity, and if that didn't work, cut it out. With more modern drug regimes, extreme behaviour by these poor souls is more 'manageable'. And in many cases I think, that's the best you can hope for. The effects of this policy are varied. On one hand, it can make the polices' job more complex. There was a period some time back where the police were being confronted regularly by dangerous behaviour, which lead to deaths by police shootings. It spawned a rash of confrontations and corresponding shooting deaths, which appeared to be escalating. It soon became obvious that these mentally unstable people were getting a fast ticket to pain relief, assisted by police action. This lead to improved education for the police, in respect of resolution and firearms training. The situation deescalated after that, and the cycle of depression, anger and suicide by proxy was broken. Australia is a large country, only a little smaller than the United States, with a population of only 20 or so million. So there are regional areas separated by reasonable distances from the major capitals. Two regional cities near to Melbourne that I am aware of have become the nexus for individuals that are part of this community care attitude. Like attracts like in this instance, and a natural clustering has occurred so that the proportion of the population with mental health issues is greater than the average. To get an inkling of the degree of organisation involved as a result of these policies, just google 'bendigo mental health'.