The Fault in the Mental Health System Mental health issues effect more lives than a murder. They can effect grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers, fathers, siblings, and friends. A person with a mental illness, does not choose their disease, symptoms, job loss, burden to family members, or actions including murder. There has been an increase in attention towards the faults in America’s metal health care with the horrific acts of mass violence. Institutions were destroyed after the truth of the neglect some patients faced came to the surface, but this left a void in society. There needs to be mental health care reform in this country because it is more difficult to hospitalize the mentally ill against their will when it is beneficial, there is
…show more content…
One of the difficulties lies in convincing people to trust the system because, “Today, deinstitutionalization is viewed by most experts as a policy failure, and the mental health system more broadly is recognized as unable to meet the needs of persons with SMI”(Teich). This results in new issues such as, “The dramatic and continuing reduction in the number of impatient state psychiatric beds in recent decades [is] a source of concern and alarm among many observers in the field”(Teich). A person who is severely mentally ill can rarely be placed in an institution that they need. Families who can win the struggle to convince a patient to receive care cannot get them into the treatment that they need. The old mental health care system allowed family members to have a loved one put into an institution were they could receive the care they needed. Now, helpless family members are limited to invectively urging a person that is not in their right mind to get help. Reforms could reinstate institutions that will relieve the heart ache for families of the victims of mental …show more content…
According to the Mental Health America 18.19 percent is the “percentage of US adults suffering from a form of mental illness” (Adult Population). That percent can also be transformed to mean that “there are about 40 million people in the United States with a mental illness” (“How the Mental Health System Struggles”). The system cannot haddle that amount of patients as a result “the number of persons with SMI seen in hospital emergency departments […] incressed form 5.4% of total visits in 2000 to 12.5% in 2007[…] [and] the average wait time for psychiatric admission in general hospitals is currently more than 18 hours, compared with just under six hours for non-psychiatric admissions” (Teich). These startling statics show how this system need to be reformed to properly care for the plethora of patients. This flood of patients and that cannot receive treatment promptly can be catastrophic. People who suffer badly enough to go to the hospital for mental illness are a risk to themselves and others. The inadequacy of the system to handle the large volume of patients result in death which is not acceptable. As stated above there need to be an overhaul of the mental health system in America because it is very challenging to the mentally ill when they are not competent to make the decision for themselves, homelessness among the mental ill is on the rise, and mental
One of the difficulties lies in convincing people to trust the system because, “Today, deinstitutionalization is viewed by most experts as a policy failure, and the mental health system more broadly is recognized as unable to meet the needs of persons with SMI”(Teich). This results in new issues such as, “The dramatic and continuing reduction in the number of impatient state psychiatric beds in recent decades [is] a source of concern and alarm among many observers in the field”(Teich). A person who is severely mentally ill can rarely be placed in an institution that they need. Families who can win the struggle to convince a patient to receive care cannot get them into the treatment that they need. The old mental health care system allowed family members to have a loved one put into an institution were they could receive the care they needed. Now, helpless family members are limited to invectively urging a person that is not in their right mind to get help. Reforms could reinstate institutions that will relieve the heart ache for families of the victims of mental …show more content…
According to the Mental Health America 18.19 percent is the “percentage of US adults suffering from a form of mental illness” (Adult Population). That percent can also be transformed to mean that “there are about 40 million people in the United States with a mental illness” (“How the Mental Health System Struggles”). The system cannot haddle that amount of patients as a result “the number of persons with SMI seen in hospital emergency departments […] incressed form 5.4% of total visits in 2000 to 12.5% in 2007[…] [and] the average wait time for psychiatric admission in general hospitals is currently more than 18 hours, compared with just under six hours for non-psychiatric admissions” (Teich). These startling statics show how this system need to be reformed to properly care for the plethora of patients. This flood of patients and that cannot receive treatment promptly can be catastrophic. People who suffer badly enough to go to the hospital for mental illness are a risk to themselves and others. The inadequacy of the system to handle the large volume of patients result in death which is not acceptable. As stated above there need to be an overhaul of the mental health system in America because it is very challenging to the mentally ill when they are not competent to make the decision for themselves, homelessness among the mental ill is on the rise, and mental