Nov 12, 2014 02:13 AM
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc...286&cn=390
EXCERPT: In American Psychosis: How The Federal Government Destroyed The Mental Illness Treatment System E. Fuller Torrey argues that the transfer of responsibility for individuals with serious mental illnesses from state to federal government destroyed the mental illness treatment system, through deinstitutionalization, and led to a disastrous change in how mentally ill individuals are treated today. Fuller Torrey argues that the change began in 1962 with plans for President Kennedy's Interagency Task Force on Mental Health and federally funded community mental health centers (CMHCs).
Fuller Torrey opens with a historical overview of how the mental health system worked at the time before the shift, focusing on the Kennedy family and the mental illness of Rosemary Kennedy before moving on to the politics of deinstitutionalization of state hospitals and the "death of asylums", while arguing that none of the experts called in to work on this shift had any experience with mental hospitals.
Fuller Torrey state that yes, the previous system with state responsibility was flawed but at least there was a system in place. The new shift in responsibility actually led to a lack of leadership, the closing of many hospitals and a severe lack of hospital beds and the move of individuals with severe mental illness from hospitals to prisons, jails, boarding homes and nursing homes, to name a few consequences.
The CMHCs put strong emphasis on the prevention of mental illness, without any studies demonstrating that the type of prevention they were advocating actually worked and without definite knowledge of how to prevent mental illness or what was causing mental illness. Fuller Torrey writes that: "Unfortunately, the mental health centers legislation passed by Congress was fatally flawed. It encouraged the closing of state mental hospitals without any realistic plan regarding what would happen to the discharged patients, especially those who refused to take medication they needed to remain well. It included no plan for the future funding of the mental health centers. It focused resources on prevention when nobody understood enough about mental illnesses to know how to prevent them" (p. 58).
The author, in the coming chapters, discusses the impact of deinstitutionalization on individuals with mental illnesses, the prison system and the public, providing plenty of examples on how dangerous and flawed the current system is. In the last chapters, Fuller Torrey mentions "good news", giving examples of some of the few upsides and successes of the mental health system. Thereafter the author provides a list of solutions and lessons to be learned....
EXCERPT: In American Psychosis: How The Federal Government Destroyed The Mental Illness Treatment System E. Fuller Torrey argues that the transfer of responsibility for individuals with serious mental illnesses from state to federal government destroyed the mental illness treatment system, through deinstitutionalization, and led to a disastrous change in how mentally ill individuals are treated today. Fuller Torrey argues that the change began in 1962 with plans for President Kennedy's Interagency Task Force on Mental Health and federally funded community mental health centers (CMHCs).
Fuller Torrey opens with a historical overview of how the mental health system worked at the time before the shift, focusing on the Kennedy family and the mental illness of Rosemary Kennedy before moving on to the politics of deinstitutionalization of state hospitals and the "death of asylums", while arguing that none of the experts called in to work on this shift had any experience with mental hospitals.
Fuller Torrey state that yes, the previous system with state responsibility was flawed but at least there was a system in place. The new shift in responsibility actually led to a lack of leadership, the closing of many hospitals and a severe lack of hospital beds and the move of individuals with severe mental illness from hospitals to prisons, jails, boarding homes and nursing homes, to name a few consequences.
The CMHCs put strong emphasis on the prevention of mental illness, without any studies demonstrating that the type of prevention they were advocating actually worked and without definite knowledge of how to prevent mental illness or what was causing mental illness. Fuller Torrey writes that: "Unfortunately, the mental health centers legislation passed by Congress was fatally flawed. It encouraged the closing of state mental hospitals without any realistic plan regarding what would happen to the discharged patients, especially those who refused to take medication they needed to remain well. It included no plan for the future funding of the mental health centers. It focused resources on prevention when nobody understood enough about mental illnesses to know how to prevent them" (p. 58).
The author, in the coming chapters, discusses the impact of deinstitutionalization on individuals with mental illnesses, the prison system and the public, providing plenty of examples on how dangerous and flawed the current system is. In the last chapters, Fuller Torrey mentions "good news", giving examples of some of the few upsides and successes of the mental health system. Thereafter the author provides a list of solutions and lessons to be learned....