How do you think the US mental system could improve?

The first thing that comes to my mind is engagement. The executives need to know what is happening in their institution at its lowest tier. There needs to be thorough watch over these all people in positions of power, and by a competent management. The standards of what is considered competent need to significantly rise. Too often does it seem any idiot with an AA/BA can do whatever he wants to a group of sick people without any repercussions.

What specifically do you believe can be improved in the US mental health system and why?

cntbelivit wrote:The first thing that comes to my mind is engagement. The executives need to know what is happening in their institution at its lowest tier. There needs to be thorough watch over these all people in positions of power, and by a competent management. The standards of what is considered competent need to significantly rise. Too often does it seem any idiot with an AA/BA can do whatever he wants to a group of sick people without any repercussions.

What specifically do you believe can be improved in the US mental health system and why?

I think this is an excellent question, and I wholly agree with you. Accountability with checks and balances are needed throughout the system. Psychiatry often gets away with its crimes because abuse is never documented, captured or believed. Those working in facilities become desensitized to it becoming an acceptable norm of operation. Mistakes are quietly swept under the rug. Anyone with a degree can do as they please because the law is written that way. Patients are left with little rights without any means to defend themselves.

Where such unchecked power is rampant its bound to corrupt, giving the corrupter complete impunity. The concept its self corrupts as well, since psychiatrists are taught the patient is ill (needing restrictions in order to be safe) while witnessing them frequently in a state of crises or at their worst. Being exposed to this over and over can create the sense of patients being inferior humans.

I believe the system should be overhauled from the ground up both in function and treatment. IMO its not only those at the bottom but those at the top drafting rules and treatment. I have no doubt in my mind those dictating it are not only ignorant as to what mental illness is actually is*, but also interested in making as much profit as possible off human suffering. Its not essential the treatment work, all its required to do is reliably bring in profit.

* I think that everyone should be aware of this, as perhaps this is the biggest mechanism behind psychiatry's wrong doings. At its heart psychiatry is nothing more than relative observation. Psychiatry is not an exact science, nor even true medicine. Any philosophy or mental discipline acted upon without evidence and based upon inexact relative observation intertwined in a person's own feelings (bias) will lead to failure. Allow such to govern life changing dictions against people without any checks/balances and you will end up with a machine of wrong doing.

For this reason I believe psychiatry should be changed to have accountability, with checks and balances to prevent any human being, regardless of what they are struggling with, from becoming a victim. Everyone deserves to have their rights honored. Everyone deserves the right to respect, empathy and safe treatment. Everyone.

Educate everyone from top to bottom about the fraud of the medical model.

I was helping out at a dual diagnosis center and over and over people talking about "chemistry"...

In the entire history of psychiatry medical science has never proven any problem has anything to do with chemistry ! Everyone's chemistry is different... STFU with that word !

The medical model itself is the stigma of mental illness.

Copy_Cat wrote:Educate everyone from top to bottom about the fraud of the medical model.

I was helping out at a dual diagnosis center and over and over people talking about "chemistry"...

In the entire history of psychiatry medical science has never proven any problem has anything to do with chemistry ! Everyone's chemistry is different... STFU with that word !

The medical model itself is the stigma of mental illness.

I have to agree. In truth that chemical model can not be tested or confirmed, so as a whole what is being said has no supporting evidence. To this day as a whole the chemical model is just a theory yet to be proven. Also take into account a growing number of professionals who believe some mentally illnesses are a result of trauma rather than chemical imbalance, and that's assuming the person is "ill" to begin with, again, all determined by relative observation.


I cant speak for others, but in my case I was severally bullied in school which made me depressed. Rather than address the root cause of my depression (trauma) psychiatry used the chemical model against me to inflict more trauma, which in turn made me worse. The root problem was never addressed in my case, psychiatry simply made it worse. Total fail in my case, but one more example of how IMO psychiatry needs to be improved.

I am going to get this question "How do you think the US mental system could improve?" Right


The answer is Housing not Haldol !


Five-year Study Re-affirms that Housing Stabilizes People

http://www.madinamerica.com/2014/06/five-year-study-re-affirms-housing-stabilizes-people/


Think of the cost of the drugs

Abilify 20mg 30 tablets $1,011.76


http://www.truemedcost.com/abilify-price/


That's a ######6 mortgage payment !!!


The cost of the psycho pharmas drugs is a NEW HOUSE !


Add up the price of the Rx drugs the system pays out then goto http://www.mortgagecalculator.org/ and see what you could get with that money.


So that's my answer, housing not drugs.

Thank you!

That is neat With a little bit of effort anything is possible. BTW, those homes look comfy

I still believe self empowerment is the best medicine of all. Rehabilitation, (not punishment, pills or imprisonment) is the answer.

Hi Riccola & Copy_Cat, wanted to say thanks for your passionate and detailed posts. It's cool to know I'm not the only one who thinks the MHS could use some improving.

Riccola wrote:Psychiatry often gets away with its crimes because abuse is never documented, captured or believed. Those working in facilities become desensitized to it becoming an acceptable norm of operation. Mistakes are quietly swept under the rug. Anyone with a degree can do as they please because the law is written that way. Patients are left with little rights without any means to defend themselves.

Ah, you put it specifically into words. Bless you.

Where such unchecked power is rampant its bound to corrupt, giving the corrupter complete impunity. The concept its self corrupts as well, since psychiatrists are taught the patient is ill (needing restrictions in order to be safe) while witnessing them frequently in a state of crises or at their worst. Being exposed to this over and over can create the sense of patients being inferior humans.

This to me is what's so strange. Psychiatrists are human beings are they not? How can so many be so clueless as to basic *human* rights and empathy? Are they so egotistical? Are they so stupid?

I believe the system should be overhauled from the ground up both in function and treatment. IMO its not only those at the bottom but those at the top drafting rules and treatment. I have no doubt in my mind those dictating it are not only ignorant as to what mental illness is actually is*, but also interested in making as much profit as possible off human suffering. Its not essential the treatment work, all its required to do is reliably bring in profit.

This... this might be it.

* I think that everyone should be aware of this, as perhaps this is the biggest mechanism behind psychiatry's wrong doings. At its heart psychiatry is nothing more than relative observation. Psychiatry is not an exact science, nor even true medicine. Any philosophy or mental discipline acted upon without evidence and based upon inexact relative observation intertwined in a person's own feelings (bias) will lead to failure. Allow such to govern life changing dictions against people without any checks/balances and you will end up with a machine of wrong doing.

Yep, thank you for bringing that up. Ignorance is a dangerous weapon, and in the middle of the most communicative age, why are we so far behind?

Riccola wrote:For this reason I believe psychiatry should be changed to have accountability, with checks and balances to prevent any human being, regardless of what they are struggling with, from becoming a victim. Everyone deserves to have their rights honored. Everyone deserves the right to respect, empathy and safe treatment. Everyone.

We need to have this printed in the paper somewhere, aha.

Copy_Cat wrote:Educate everyone from top to bottom about the fraud of the medical model.

I was helping out at a dual diagnosis center and over and over people talking about "chemistry"...

In the entire history of psychiatry medical science has never proven any problem has anything to do with chemistry ! Everyone's chemistry is different... STFU with that word !

The medical model itself is the stigma of mental illness.

I do have a question about this--isn't in some ways the theory of chemical imbalances correct? Take an illness such as schizophrenia, for instance. Or people who are born /with/ a personality disorder. There is something abnormal at work then, is there not?

But yes I agree EVERYONE needs to be aware of the medical model. Why is it people automatically know who to go to when they sprain a wrist but are clueless when they can't get out of bed in the morning?

Riccola wrote:I cant speak for others, but in my case I was severally bullied in school which made me depressed. Rather than address the root cause of my depression (trauma) psychiatry used the chemical model against me to inflict more trauma, which in turn made me worse. The root problem was never addressed in my case, psychiatry simply made it worse. Total fail in my case, but one more example of how IMO psychiatry needs to be improved.

I too was put on medications I had no business being on--scary stuff, to be quite frank. But I don't know if I'd necessarily blame the meds in that case, but the judgment of the doctors. I've also been in situations where all my T wanted to do was rehash whatever *they* wanted to talk about, and that wasn't helpful. So, overall, it seems to boil down to the wisdom of the T/Pdoc.

Copy_Cat wrote:The answer is Housing not Haldol !

I like this idea, at first glance, but how could we efficiently differentiate who could handle self-housing? Some folks might not be functional enough yet to participate.... UNLESS (I'm thinking as I compose this might sound crazy) they live in the homes but are more or less taken care of by the folks who have "graduated" to house management. Not quite a like a halfway house, but something more communal, people keeping themselves in check, and those people being the ones who've been there before.

Although, there's like a million reasons why that wouldn't work, legal and otherwise. Just a thought.

To truly improve mental health treatment in the United States, I believe we need to toss all of the existing paradigms and begin again. People are not wired to be entrusted to have power over other people. <-- period.

Power changes a person. My wife did twenty-four years in prison. I did twenty-four years waiting for her to come home. The human rights abuses in prisons by the powers that be are not any different than the human rights violations in mental health facilities. In fact, in the prison system, there is a growing realization that we need to rotate correctional officers out of special management units and even general population after a set time period (many places have implemented a two year rotation).

The reason for this is because it has been observed that these otherwise capable officers begin to change and become sadistic without realizing it. They go home, love their families, volunteer at local events, and then come to work and exhibit cruelty that they are unaware of. If you have not done so before and are interested, I would recommend the reading up on the Stanford Prison Experiment. Fascinating stuff.

I know I've spoken about the prison system almost exclusively, but there is very little difference. People in charge of people create monsters. A new system needs to be found.

@Sonseearae:

Beautiful post, I agree 100%. The Stanford prison experiment is what I believe a perfect demonstration of absolute power corrupting. I believe this is to the norm in many mental health facilities due to the unchecked atmosphere.

@cntbelivit: Welcome And thank you for your input.


I wonder too why psychiatrists act the way they do. I would not be surprised if in part deep seeded desires to control other people play a role. Ignorance is also valid, psychiatry still knows little about the brain. I see psychiatrists assuming perhaps more than any other negative quality. They just don't know how to interpret information.

Updated: 05/13/2015

Sam Tsemberis, who serves on the faculty at Columbia University Medical Center, is credited with heralding the “radical” concept of housing first. It’s the model successful cities attribute to enabling them to end chronic homelessness.

The approach supports giving people on the streets housing and then addressing their addiction, unemployment or mental health issues afterwards.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/0 ... 26218.html

I found this stuff buy searching "housing first" then clicking on news. http://www.google.com/search?q=housing+first