Link – How The Loss Of U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Led To A Mental Health Crisis

Another example of the road to hell being paved by good intentions.

A concerted effort to grow community-based care options that were less restrictive grew out of the civil rights movement and a series of scandals due to the lack of oversight in psychiatric care, Sisti says. While those efforts have been successful for many, a significant group of people who require structured inpatient care can’t get it, often because of funding issues.

Truthfully, there were good reasons to try things other than inpatient care for everyone, there were some examples of horrific practices and it was just a poor system. But, there were reasons to have inpatient care available, so as society moved further and further away, we sort of threw the baby out with the bathwater and forgot that there are people who need good inpatient care, and it’s not available for them.

The system needed an overall then, but, unfortunately, it still does.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/how-loss-us-psychiatric-hospitals-led-mental-health-crisis#stream/0