Getting Appropriate Care for Mentally Ill

[bean29]

My local paper did a feature on how the Mentally Ill are Cared for in the community and how the current law fails them.

I thought it may have interest to many hear when I realized my Suicide thread from Late October was reopened and commented on by several people experiencing similar situations.

Often people who commit suicide have some Mental Health Issues.

Here is the link:
www.jsonline.com/news/law-creates-barriers-to-getting-care-for-mentally-ill-135387808.html

[mmhmm]

A very interesting article, bean. Thanks for sharing.

[roygrip]

Thanks Bean, very interesting.

[Opti]

Interesting article but I don't like the obvious slant of the title. I still think we have a ways to go in understanding what causes mental disruption and accurately treat it. The pharma answer is incomplete and the side effects will continue to be a reason for people to go off their meds whether its mental health patients or cardiac patients.

Like all laws, think the welfare safety net, unintended consequences occur and get exploited. The appropriate response IMO is to continue to strive for the right answer and not knee jerk backwards. There are documented cases of schizoprehenics(and no sorry I don't have links most of this is from study in the 1990s)
being caused by diet, exposure to chemicals, neuro issues, etc. A legal pharma cure might make the masses happy and appear to solve the problem but would IMO cause far too many people to not get the appropriate help to actually fix the issue. I really don't like legally requiring any medication or medical procedure in general. If we do require it we basically have a class of people who are "jailed" in mental instuitions or live life on "parole" on the outside while they take their meds. At least for crime the innocent until proven guilty is our guiding compass. For the mentally ill, sick because of behavior and medication is the answer is the assumption.

[mizbear]

Even though I take my meds religiously, I do not support requiring meds of all mentally ill persons. I strongly believe that certain illnesses can be controlled through non-medication therapies- such as diet and exercise, meditation, etc. It also leaves the quandary of what is to be done if someone can not take the medications available.

[bean29]

I spent a lot of time typing a response and I lost it before it posted. I have to go clean the house so I can get the tree put up. Hopefully I will have time to respond tomorrow.

[bean29]

From the article:

The problem with leaving it up to a person to decide if he or she wants psychiatric care is that not everyone with mental illness knows they have it.

Recent studies say as many as half of all people with serious mental illness suffer from a condition known as anosognosia (Greek for "no disease knowledge").

The condition was first noticed a century ago in stroke patients, amputees and the blind. Because of a neurological disorder in the front of their brains, patients with anosognosia cannot appreciate that the affected body parts do not work properly.

Amputees will swear their missing limbs are there. The blind claim they can see.

Anosognosia is not a willful denial motivated by embarrassment or obstinacy.

"It is an utter lack of insight," said Xavier Amador, professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University.

If a person can't understand he is sick, why would he agree to treatment?

MizBear: If you feel well, and don't think you need your Meds, please work with your Dr. to reduce your Meds. Some of the Meds you may be taking have very serious withdrawal consequences. Your Perception of your health may be distorted by the condition noted above.

Almost every relapse my Dad ever had was becasue somehow the Meds he took got too low. Medicine mixed up, mis prescibed, mis administered or once Dad stopped taking his mid-day dose b/c co-workers questioned the pills he was taking at lunchtime. Dad is a big beleiver that the Medicine keeps him well. You sound like you are doing well...I would hate to see you have a bad episode.