The Closure Of State Psychiatric Hospitals: Communities Are Not ReadyEssay Preview: The Closure Of State Psychiatric Hospitals: Communities Are Not ReadyReport this essay“The Closure of State Psychiatric Hospitals: Communities Are Not Ready”State Psychiatric Hospitals have been around for over two hundred years; however, only in the past fifty years has the course of treatment become desirable to patients and family members of the mentally ill. While in a perfect world, the closure of these hospitals would in fact do the residences a great deal of good; with the current state of the community mental health system, the patients who are released from these inpatient institutions do not have significant care and support available to them after their release. The overall condition of the behavioral health system, has in part, failed the participants who are in need of their services.
[quote=Ferguson]Ferguson, Missouri, February 8, 2015 This article is sponsored by Truthout and its parent company, Publica, as part of its efforts to spread the truth about mental health, addiction, addiction education, and suicide prevention. If you are a supporter or supporter of Truthout, please consider making a donation. We will only pay for content that you share. All donations come from individuals who have a financial interest in what we do and in what we fund for a variety of reasons.”
[quote=Shirley’s Law]Shirley, Missouri, February 8, 2015: “We work together with our community partners and other stakeholders to ensure that this community remains open and safe while helping patients and their families continue the healing of their lives.”
[quote=O’Leary]O’Leary, Missouri, March 8, 2015 An article in the Huffington Post by Susan F. Tew said that the federal Office for the Coordination of Medical Examinations would be forced to allow patients who are facing substance abuse or “disorders” to return to their homes after they have failed treatment.
[quote=Dalhousie]Dalhousie, Missouri, March 8, 2015: “Drug addicts who have entered into drug rehabs before, when people have stopped taking drugs, are now able to escape the long-term consequences of their treatment.”
[quote=Ira]Ira, Missouri, March 29, 2015: “I believe it is time to reform treatment for addiction. I have been doing this to myself, to friends, and to community on a regular basis for years. Today, we must finally move on. I understand that many of you believe we do not do enough. And I agree that we must change the current system in all its forms to make treatment more accessible for those who need it. However, we do have time and we have a very diverse community to work with to take advantage of this reform. The U.S. Psychiatric Association has already been shown to be working with us on a resolution that will enable states that implement these reforms without cost to the American people.”
[quote=Sherry]Sherry, Missouri, April 1, 2015: “The number of people who will be sent to jail for substance abuse and subsequent substance abuse treatment has increased threefold in the past five years. In fact, one of the most expensive and time consuming treatments will be a drug-assisted outpatient program. Our community already knows the benefits to patients who return to the residential treatment system.”
[quote=Athala]Athala, Missouri, April 11, 2015: “This is sad news that we’ve never really come together to address addiction. It’s heartbreaking to see that state mental health groups haven’t met our expectations of what it will look like in response to the crisis. But because this is happening in our community, people are feeling more ready for the community to support them in other ways. A lot of us feel confident we can bring together to help. But we must look very carefully at who is in control and control of people there … That’s how a lot of people are making it a thing to be a part of this struggle, and how we could actually move this system forward.”
[quote=Nolan]Molin, Missouri, October 25, 2015 &: “We see the current structure of the state mental health system as creating an ever more difficult situation. People are now in serious problems. And while we want to help all of our
[quote=Ferguson]Ferguson, Missouri, February 8, 2015 This article is sponsored by Truthout and its parent company, Publica, as part of its efforts to spread the truth about mental health, addiction, addiction education, and suicide prevention. If you are a supporter or supporter of Truthout, please consider making a donation. We will only pay for content that you share. All donations come from individuals who have a financial interest in what we do and in what we fund for a variety of reasons.”
[quote=Shirley’s Law]Shirley, Missouri, February 8, 2015: “We work together with our community partners and other stakeholders to ensure that this community remains open and safe while helping patients and their families continue the healing of their lives.”
[quote=O’Leary]O’Leary, Missouri, March 8, 2015 An article in the Huffington Post by Susan F. Tew said that the federal Office for the Coordination of Medical Examinations would be forced to allow patients who are facing substance abuse or “disorders” to return to their homes after they have failed treatment.
[quote=Dalhousie]Dalhousie, Missouri, March 8, 2015: “Drug addicts who have entered into drug rehabs before, when people have stopped taking drugs, are now able to escape the long-term consequences of their treatment.”
[quote=Ira]Ira, Missouri, March 29, 2015: “I believe it is time to reform treatment for addiction. I have been doing this to myself, to friends, and to community on a regular basis for years. Today, we must finally move on. I understand that many of you believe we do not do enough. And I agree that we must change the current system in all its forms to make treatment more accessible for those who need it. However, we do have time and we have a very diverse community to work with to take advantage of this reform. The U.S. Psychiatric Association has already been shown to be working with us on a resolution that will enable states that implement these reforms without cost to the American people.”
[quote=Sherry]Sherry, Missouri, April 1, 2015: “The number of people who will be sent to jail for substance abuse and subsequent substance abuse treatment has increased threefold in the past five years. In fact, one of the most expensive and time consuming treatments will be a drug-assisted outpatient program. Our community already knows the benefits to patients who return to the residential treatment system.”
[quote=Athala]Athala, Missouri, April 11, 2015: “This is sad news that we’ve never really come together to address addiction. It’s heartbreaking to see that state mental health groups haven’t met our expectations of what it will look like in response to the crisis. But because this is happening in our community, people are feeling more ready for the community to support them in other ways. A lot of us feel confident we can bring together to help. But we must look very carefully at who is in control and control of people there … That’s how a lot of people are making it a thing to be a part of this struggle, and how we could actually move this system forward.”
[quote=Nolan]Molin, Missouri, October 25, 2015 &: “We see the current structure of the state mental health system as creating an ever more difficult situation. People are now in serious problems. And while we want to help all of our
The beginning of the deinstutionalization of state hospitals began in the 1950s, with the goal of bringing people out of the hospitals and into community based treatment centers (Flory). In theory, this plan of action is the most beneficial to mentally ill patients; however, the funding that was promised to these centers has not been distributed in full. The Department of Public Welfare put out a news release stating,
Our intent is to expand the existing community infrastructure and invest millions ofdollars used to run more restrictive, costly hospital services to the community to enhanceand sustain recover–supporting services as well as continue to improve Pennsylvaniasmental health service delivery system (Closure 3).Although the DPW has good intentions, “State, as well as federal, funding for mental health treatment has been steadily dropping. County–and privately–run programs have been reduced, if not cut entirely, because of the lack of money” (Mayview 1). If the Department of Public Welfare does not act in accordance with their previous promises of funding community mental health systems, then there will be no improvement, for which the mentally ill will be able to benefit from.
Being released from a state hospital to an outpatient service, while motivating for the patient, often results in confusion and resentment from the lack of planning and resources available to them; therefore, causing the patient to pull away from the behavioral health system. For years, local governments have been trying to up grade community services, with the goal of, after being discharged from an inpatient service, participants will have a painless transition into their community of choice. While the BHS has come a long way in the last fifty years, the transfer from inpatient to outpatient services often results in a lack of adequate treatment for the patient.
The period between hospital discharge and first outpatient contact is often fraughtwithdifficulties for the patient with serious mental illness. For instance, upon discharge, theyare often placed on long waiting lists for community based services and end up havingtheir intake and clinical appointments scheduled weeks apart (Bender 2).Patients having their intake and clinical appointments scheduled weeks apart poses a problem for not only the patient but the community as well. The time between the two appointments gives the patient enough time to stop taking their medication and fall into a deconstructive path of behavioral actions.
While roaming the streets, people who are suffering from a brain disorder, are usually victimized and tormented by the community, not because of heartlessness, but simply because there is no wide based knowledge of mental disease. The DPW is mainly responsible for the lack of information available to citizens, which is why so many of the mentally