We had plenty of Mental Asylums and institutions at one point. And the ability to easily confine people. But “Well intentioned” activists at least in part are responsible for their closure. Both Right and Left. And the State saw an opportunity to get a net drain on resources off their balance sheets and seized it.
The lefties attacked it from Empathy and post WW2 psychology. The right attacked from the perspective of the Constitution.
It was also right about the time people started getting exceptionally paranoid about Government powers. And naturally saw the ability of the Government or the ability of Families to confine people as a stepping stone that could easily become a hazard to the rights of those who were still mentally sound.
Combined that with a few well timed horror stories about the more poorly run and staffed institutions. The frankly brutish nature of what passed for mental healthcare at the time. And the stories of people who were confined by family for selfish reasons.
Initial visions for what was supposed to replace Asylums a ‘decentralized’ community focused model with small care facilities near families would be better for overall treatment rates.
And to their credit it did help some of the less severe cases. But it ran face first into reality. As the money rapidly dried up when activists stopped being interested. Because mission accomplished for the activists they closed those big scary asylums. And greatly restricted the ability of both families and Government to forcibly confine people.
And it turned out the community focused models were poorly suited to deal with the paranoids and violent cases. As surprise, surprise there is a reason some of those large institutions more resembled fortified prisons.
Now Americas mentally ill had nowhere to go. In many cases their families couldn’t care for them even if they wanted to. And so they end up on the streets. With many turning to hard drugs or booze in attempts to self-medicate. Or drown their sorrows. Or they encounter Law Enforcement and Private Security. Who at most get a spark notes tutorial on dealing with nutcases and end up either in prisons or dead.
And what institutions are left are often not particularly well-funded, poorly staffed with high turnover, and can’t actually hold people as long as they may need. Because demand for space is so high, and there are laws now that prevent holding people without jumping through a billion hoops. Even if said person could potentially be a risk to others.
We had plenty of Mental Asylums and institutions at one point. And the ability to easily confine people. But “Well intentioned” activists at least in part are responsible for their closure. Both Right and Left. And the State saw an opportunity to get a net drain on resources off their balance sheets and seized it.
The lefties attacked it from Empathy and post WW2 psychology. The right attacked from the perspective of the Constitution.
It was also right about the time people started getting exceptionally paranoid about Government powers. And naturally saw the ability of the Government or the ability of Families to confine people as a stepping stone that could easily become a hazard to the rights of those who were still mentally sound.
Combined that with a few well timed horror stories about the more poorly run and staffed institutions. The frankly brutish nature of what passed for mental healthcare at the time. And the stories of people who were confined by family for selfish reasons.
Initial visions for what was supposed to replace Asylums a ‘decentralized’ community focused model with small care facilities near families would be better for overall treatment rates.
And to their credit it did help some of the less severe cases. But it ran face first into reality. As the money rapidly dried up when activists stopped being interested. Because mission accomplished for the activists they closed those big scary asylums. And greatly restricted the ability of both families and Government to forcibly confine people.
And it turned out the community focused models were poorly suited to deal with the paranoids and violent cases. As surprise, surprise there is a reason some of those large institutions more resembled fortified prisons.
Now Americas mentally ill had nowhere to go. In many cases their families couldn’t care for them even if they wanted to. And so they end up on the streets. With many turning to hard drugs or booze in attempts to self-medicate. Or drown their sorrows. Or they encounter Law Enforcement and Private Security. Who at most get a spark notes tutorial on dealing with nutcases and end up either in prisons or dead.
And what institutions are left are often not particularly well-funded, poorly staffed with high turnover, and can’t actually hold people as long as they may need. Because demand for space is so high, and there are laws now that prevent holding people without jumping through a billion hoops. Even if said person could potentially be a risk to others.