Have you ever had to deal with a clinically insane person? What was it that made you get involved?
41-45, M
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greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
Fernie · F
@greenmountaingal That "hospital" must be gone now..hopefully...I was very involved in the De-institutionalization in the late 70's and thought they were all closed down nationally. I can't imagine the things you saw in those ten years
greenmountaingal · 70-79, F
@Fernie What "deinstitutionalization" amounted to, at least in the US and in California, is putting people on the streets with no community backup or alternative plans for them, thus creating a class of homeless mentally ill people wandering the streets. It wasn't originally supposed to be this way, but that is how it turned out.
Meanwhile, all the state institutions lost a lot of their patients and therefore their funding and were about to close down. To prevent that, they decided to accept mental patients they had never accepted before, those with personality disorders like borderline personality disorder. The reason they had never accepted such patients before was twofold; for one thing, there is no known cure or generally accepted therapeutic protocols for borderline personalities. For another, they have not been perceived by most mental health professionals as needing institutional care. But needing the funding, the institutions changed their policies.
In other words, the delusional mentally ill were now out on the streets without food, shelter, meds or any care while those who were not as much in need of institutional care wound up locked up.
When I worked there, I started out in the adolescent program which was a real mess and got shut down after several suicides (two by young patients, one by a staff person). Later, I worked in the Forensics section of the hospital which was a much better job for me. It was a corrupt and badly run section of the hospital, but the only deaths were two corrupt drug dealing night staff who got killed by patients in drug deals gone wrong.
Meanwhile, all the state institutions lost a lot of their patients and therefore their funding and were about to close down. To prevent that, they decided to accept mental patients they had never accepted before, those with personality disorders like borderline personality disorder. The reason they had never accepted such patients before was twofold; for one thing, there is no known cure or generally accepted therapeutic protocols for borderline personalities. For another, they have not been perceived by most mental health professionals as needing institutional care. But needing the funding, the institutions changed their policies.
In other words, the delusional mentally ill were now out on the streets without food, shelter, meds or any care while those who were not as much in need of institutional care wound up locked up.
When I worked there, I started out in the adolescent program which was a real mess and got shut down after several suicides (two by young patients, one by a staff person). Later, I worked in the Forensics section of the hospital which was a much better job for me. It was a corrupt and badly run section of the hospital, but the only deaths were two corrupt drug dealing night staff who got killed by patients in drug deals gone wrong.
Fernie · F
@greenmountaingal Yes, a lot of people were just left out on their own. At least in Massachusetts we tried to avoid that and fought hard to develop residential situations for everyone. There are still so many who need help and shelter. Many prefer the streets to the hospital or a shelter as well. They would gas the mentally challenged if they could get away with it
MissPriscillaPrim · 70-79, T
@Fernie I'm fairly confident they will start doing this soon. After all, no one's entitled to anything, some people are lucky because [insert name of a god here] loves them, and nobody's gonna tell them they have to share one cent or one kind thought for another person. If someone's suffering, they should just curl up and die. Welcome to the mindset that is taking over America. What's worst is that America was founded as a better alternative to that troglodyte mindset. (I'm a lying evil queer, of course, America was founded to be Jesus-stan.)
Fernie · F
@MissPriscillaPrim Sadly, I know this could happen. I'm glad I'm on my way out and not just getting here...I do NOT want to see it
MissPriscillaPrim · 70-79, T
@Fernie I like the bittersweet cool of: "Keep smiling, as it's all we have left!"