Posted by ChrisK on June 18, 2001, at 5:30:23
In reply to future of asylums, posted by juniper on June 17, 2001, at 19:58:10
I work in a day program for our county ARC ( Assoc. for Retarded Citizens .. and yes retarded is till used in this day of political correctness). Our clients have varying degrees of mental illness but all are able to live in group homes. They are integrated into the community as opportunities exsist and do quite well. I work with people that can be anywhere on the spectrum. Some are highly functional, some autistic, some nonverbal, some just pace in circles all day and some just want to listen to the radio and do nothing else. We try to initiate projects with them - anything from arts and crafts to keep their hands and minds busy to community outings where they can go bowling or to the park or grocery shopping.
My point is that these are the people who were formerly in asylums and gov't run hospitals. They can function with a lot of staff assistance in homes. Unfortunately the money isn't always there to staff enough homes. I see our system of handling the mentally ill heading more and more in this direction. Some of our clients came from Willowbrook which was a hospital in NY that was featured in a Geraldo expose on the decline of care for the mentally ill. These people are scarred for life but are able to make adjustments and assimilate within their own community.
I think that large gov't run hospitals or assylums will only be used as stop gaps for people that need temporary help. We don't pretend that these people are going to ever be fully integrated into the community (and end up on the streets). They will always need to live in a supervised community. I just see that our future will be in more small homes and not in the asylum type structures that exsisted in the past.
All of that said, I still don't know what needs to be done with the mentally ill who are a threat to harm themselves and others. Too many will end up in jail when they should be getting medical care. My own experience is that most forms of psychosis can be treated medically and the people who are a threat to others can be, for lack of a better word, brought under control.
Interesting subject, thanks for bringing it up.
poster:ChrisK
thread:6505
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010611/msgs/6514.html