The Progression of Mass Release: A Man-Made Disaster
People with mental illness die early for a variety of reasons. Some are victimized by violence, and others are too sick to take care of their health. On average, people with serious mental illness die up to 23 years sooner than other Americans, giving them a life expectancy on par with people in Bangladesh. (Szabo, “The Cost of Not Caring: Nowhere to go,” (Szabo, 1)
State mental health facilities and medical establishment were the primary place where the American people’s tax revenue found itself in the years of 1980 and prior. State mental health facilities were looked upon as a “snakepit,” or somewhere that few people were in favor of existing or being funded by their tax dollars in the …show more content…
Thousands of patients were released from mental institutions due to the misdiagnosis’ of mental illnesses that were happening more frequently. These misdiagnosis’ exposed that many people did not actually require treatment from the wards. In the state of California, the state that is considered the “poster child” of American culture, the release was already happening in larger numbers than what was considered “normal.” In 1959, there were approximately 37,500 patients that were receiving treatment in state hospitals. Within the next 8 years, over 10,000 patients had been released from the facilities in total, leaving the amount of people inpatient at the wards at 22,000 in 1967 (Lyons, 1). The many psychiatrists that were responsible for the overcompensation, understood the consequences for what they had underestimated. But due to the Lanterman-Petris Short Act (LPS) was passed in 1967, abolishing involuntary hospitalization for the exception of extreme cases, it made it almost impossible for mental health providers to readmit patients unless they did so under compliant means (Lyons, 1). Deinstitutionalization varied among states, and the amount of tax dollars that were going to this type of federal health service program, created “an act of …show more content…
The federal government not allowing more money (in order to save it) to the states to fund these institutions caused the state’s financial problems to heighten. It left the states no choice but to close the homes of the mentally ill due to the rejection of community-run clinics in the legislature. Dr. M. Brewster Smith was a known professor at the University of California. He was also Vice President of the Joint Commission of Mental Health, an organization that played an influential part in the idea of community clinics opening, following the close of state hospitals. He stated, “The professional community made mistakes and was overly optimistic, but the political community wanted to save money” (Lyons, 1). The professional community was convinced that government would not defund the wards, and they were overly-optimistic that the government officials that made the decisions were educated enough to know it was a problem that needed funding in order to fix. The political community, however, was way too concerned on the large amounts of spending that the government allowed, and neglected the idea that mental health care be funded due to its lack of importance in the eyes of society. When Ronald Reagan entered the oval office and took over as the United States’ Commander in Chief in 1980, he
People with mental illness die early for a variety of reasons. Some are victimized by violence, and others are too sick to take care of their health. On average, people with serious mental illness die up to 23 years sooner than other Americans, giving them a life expectancy on par with people in Bangladesh. (Szabo, “The Cost of Not Caring: Nowhere to go,” (Szabo, 1)
State mental health facilities and medical establishment were the primary place where the American people’s tax revenue found itself in the years of 1980 and prior. State mental health facilities were looked upon as a “snakepit,” or somewhere that few people were in favor of existing or being funded by their tax dollars in the …show more content…
Thousands of patients were released from mental institutions due to the misdiagnosis’ of mental illnesses that were happening more frequently. These misdiagnosis’ exposed that many people did not actually require treatment from the wards. In the state of California, the state that is considered the “poster child” of American culture, the release was already happening in larger numbers than what was considered “normal.” In 1959, there were approximately 37,500 patients that were receiving treatment in state hospitals. Within the next 8 years, over 10,000 patients had been released from the facilities in total, leaving the amount of people inpatient at the wards at 22,000 in 1967 (Lyons, 1). The many psychiatrists that were responsible for the overcompensation, understood the consequences for what they had underestimated. But due to the Lanterman-Petris Short Act (LPS) was passed in 1967, abolishing involuntary hospitalization for the exception of extreme cases, it made it almost impossible for mental health providers to readmit patients unless they did so under compliant means (Lyons, 1). Deinstitutionalization varied among states, and the amount of tax dollars that were going to this type of federal health service program, created “an act of …show more content…
The federal government not allowing more money (in order to save it) to the states to fund these institutions caused the state’s financial problems to heighten. It left the states no choice but to close the homes of the mentally ill due to the rejection of community-run clinics in the legislature. Dr. M. Brewster Smith was a known professor at the University of California. He was also Vice President of the Joint Commission of Mental Health, an organization that played an influential part in the idea of community clinics opening, following the close of state hospitals. He stated, “The professional community made mistakes and was overly optimistic, but the political community wanted to save money” (Lyons, 1). The professional community was convinced that government would not defund the wards, and they were overly-optimistic that the government officials that made the decisions were educated enough to know it was a problem that needed funding in order to fix. The political community, however, was way too concerned on the large amounts of spending that the government allowed, and neglected the idea that mental health care be funded due to its lack of importance in the eyes of society. When Ronald Reagan entered the oval office and took over as the United States’ Commander in Chief in 1980, he