As shitty as the Mental Institutions were. And many of them were fairly shitty places.

They served a purpose in society. Keeping the severely mentally ill and potentially dangerous contained from the people who were treatable or at least could function in modern society with assistance and the general population.

People who inevitably “Had good intentions”. Campaigned for the institutions to be shutdown. With tenuous plans for community/family level treatment. With ample funding from the Government.

The institutions were money sinks. So the Governments jumped at the chance to shut them down. And rather predictably. Once the institutions shutdown. Some of the people with their good intentions called it mission accomplished and went home. The rest realized that while their plans sounded good on paper. And to their credit were somewhat beneficial to some of the severe cases. Overall they weren’t particularly well equipped to actually handle many of the individuals. And rather predictably Government funding either failed to materialize or was a fraction of what was promised.

One by one these smaller facilities and families either closed or were left unable to afford to treat their loved ones. So tens of thousands ended up homeless. Scrounging for food and living in the gutter. And that number is only skyrocketing as theres not enough beds at the facilities that are left for long term cases. And the facilities are usually simultaneously dealing with funding issues and staffing problems. So the solution most of them adopted is to drug people and shove them back out the door as quickly as possible. Regardless of the inevitable outcome for the patient.

Leaving Law Enforcement and Security Companies who by and large aren’t trained to deal with the mentally ill the people who inevitably end up coming into contact with them the most. With rather predictable results.

To further compound the situation. The closures also came with legislation that passed. Heavily regulating the criteria in which people can be forcibly confined by family. If not outright eliminating it as an option for families. And heavily restricting and regulating the legal system’s ability to forcibly confine people. That’s why you see so many shooters who have a history of problems without any accompanying history of confinement in any of the handful of remaining institutions or hospital wards.

As shitty as the Mental Institutions were. And many of them were fairly shitty places.

They served a purpose in society. Keeping the severely mentally ill contained from the people who were treatable or at least could function in modern society with assistance and the general population.

People who inevitably “Had good intentions”. Campaigned for the institutions to be shutdown. With tenuous plans for community/family level treatment. With ample funding from the Government.

The institutions were money sinks. So the Governments jumped at the chance to shut them down. And rather predictably. Once the institutions shutdown. Some of the people with their good intentions called it mission accomplished and went home. The rest realized that while their plans sounded good on paper. And to their credit were somewhat beneficial to some of the severe cases. Overall they weren’t particularly well equipped to actually handle many of the individuals. And rather predictably Government funding either failed to materialize or was a fraction of what was promised.

One by one these smaller facilities and families either closed or were left unable to afford to treat their loved ones. So tens of thousands ended up homeless. Scrounging for food and living in the gutter. And that number is only skyrocketing as theres not enough beds at the facilities that are left for long term cases. And the facilities are usually simultaneously dealing with funding issues and staffing problems. So the solution most of them adopted is to drug people and shove them back out the door as quickly as possible. Regardless of the inevitable outcome for the patient.

Leaving Law Enforcement and Security Companies who by and large aren’t trained to deal with the mentally ill the people who inevitably end up coming into contact with them the most. With rather predictable results.

To further compound the situation. The closures also came with legislation that passed. Heavily regulating the criteria in which people can be forcibly confined by family. If not outright eliminating it as an option for families. And heavily restricting and regulating the legal system’s ability to forcibly confine people. That’s why you see so many shooters who have a history of problems without any accompanying history of confinement in any of the handful of remaining institutions or hospital wards.

As shitty as the Mental Institutions were. And many of them were fairly shitty places.

They served a purpose in society. Keeping the severely mentally ill contained from the people who were treatable or at least could function in modern society with assistance and the general population.

People who inevitably “Had good intentions”. Campaigned for the institutions to be shutdown. With tenuous plans for community/family level treatment. With ample funding from the Government.

The institutions were money sinks. So the Governments jumped at the chance to shut them down. And rather predictably. Once the institutions shutdown. Some of the people with their good intentions called it mission accomplished and went home. The rest realized that while their plans sounded good on paper. And to their credit were somewhat beneficial to some of the severe cases. Overall they weren’t particularly well equipped to actually handle many of the individuals. And rather predictably Government funding either failed to materialize or was a fraction of what was promised.

One by one these smaller facilities and families either closed or were left unable to afford to treat their loved ones. So tens of thousands ended up homeless. Scrounging for food and living in the gutter. And that number is only skyrocketing as theres not enough beds at the facilities that are left for long term cases. And the facilities are usually simultaneously dealing with funding issues and staffing problems. So the solution most of them adopted is to drug people and shove them back out the door as quickly as possible. Regardless of the inevitable outcome for the patient.

Leaving Law Enforcement and Security Companies who by and large aren’t trained to deal with the mentally ill the people who inevitably end up coming into contact with them the most. With rather predictable results.

To further compound the situation. The closures also came with legislation that passed. Heavily regulating the criteria in which people can be forcibly confined by family. If not outright eliminating it. And heavily restricting and regulating the legal system’s ability to forcibly confine people. That’s why you see so many shooters who have a history of problems without any accompanying history of confinement in any of the handful of remaining institutions or hospital wards.

As shitty as the Mental Institutions were. And many of them were fairly shitty places.

They served a purpose in society. Keeping the severely mentally ill contained from the people who were treatable or at least could function in modern society with assistance and the general population.

People who inevitably “Had good intentions”. Campaigned for the institutions to be shutdown. With tenuous plans for community/family level treatment. With ample funding from the Government.

The institutions were money sinks. So the Governments jumped at the chance to shut them down. And rather predictably. Once the institutions shutdown. Some of the people with their good intentions called it mission accomplished and went home. The rest realized that while their plans sounded good on paper. And to their credit were somewhat beneficial to some of the severe cases. Overall they weren’t particularly well equipped to actually handle many of the individuals. And rather predictably Government funding either failed to materialize or was a fraction of what was promised.

One by one these smaller facilities and families either closed or were left unable to afford to treat their loved ones. So tens of thousands ended up homeless. Scrounging for food and living in the gutter. And that number is only skyrocketing as theres not enough beds at the facilities that are left for long term cases. And the facilities are usually simultaneously dealing with funding issues and staffing problems. So the solution most of them adopted is to drug people and shove them back out the door as quickly as possible. Regardless of the inevitable outcome for the patient.

Leaving Law Enforcement and Security Companies who by and large aren’t trained to deal with the mentally ill the people who inevitably end up coming into contact with them the most. With rather predictable results.

To further compound the situation. The closures also came with legislation that passed. Heavily regulating the criteria in which people can be forcibly confined by family. If not outright eliminating it. And heavily restricting and regulating the legal system’s ability to forcibly confine people. That’s why you see so many shooters who have a history of problems.

As shitty as the Mental Institutions were.

They served a purpose in society. Keeping the severely mentally ill contained from the people who were treatable or at least could function in modern society with assistance and the general population.

People who inevitably “Had good intentions”. Campaigned for the institutions to be shutdown. With tenuous plans for community/family level treatment. With ample funding from the Government.

The institutions were money sinks. So the Governments jumped at the chance to shut them down. And rather predictably. Once the institutions shutdown. Some of the people with their good intentions called it mission accomplished and went home. The rest realized that while their plans sounded good on paper. And to their credit were somewhat beneficial to some of the severe cases. Overall they weren’t particularly well equipped to actually handle many of the individuals. And rather predictably Government funding either failed to materialize or was a fraction of what was promised.

One by one these smaller facilities and families either closed or were left unable to afford to treat their loved ones. So tens of thousands ended up homeless. Scrounging for food and living in the gutter. And that number is only skyrocketing as theres not enough beds at the facilities that are left for long term cases. And the facilities are usually simultaneously dealing with funding issues and staffing problems. So the solution most of them adopted is to drug people and shove them back out the door as quickly as possible. Regardless of the inevitable outcome for the patient.

Leaving Law Enforcement and Security Companies who by and large aren’t trained to deal with the mentally ill the people who inevitably end up coming into contact with them the most. With rather predictable results.

To further compound the situation. The closures also came with legislation that passed. Heavily regulating the criteria in which people can be forcibly confined by family. If not outright eliminating it. And heavily restricting and regulating the legal system’s ability to forcibly confine people. That’s why you see so many shooters who have a history of problems.