Getting help for people with mental illness
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Loading ...According to CNN, the man who took hostages at Hillary Clinton did so because of his “inability to get mental health treatment.” People in his town say that this has been a problem for a long time.
This country does not do enough for people with mental illness. There are not enough clinics, not enough hospitals, and too much stigma. Even in jail, there’s not enough help for people with mental health problems.
I hope that the government sees this as a reason to have more mental health care in clinics and elsewhere. But more likely they will use it as an excuse to just throw more mentally ill people in jail and not offer them any help at all.
Arrest ends standoff at Clinton campaign office
A man complaining about his inability to get mental health treatment held hostages for more than five hours Friday inside Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign office in Rochester, N.H., before surrendering to police. Police identified the man as Leeland Eisenberg. Five hostages were released unharmed. full story
Filed under: Election 2008, Featured Stories, FrecklesCassie, Government, Health, Mental Illness
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I work for a Police Department in California (I’m a Dispatcher, have been since I was 16, and have been with the Police Department since I was 14, this is why I feel like I’m 35 years old…because I work and have grown up around older people :mrgreen:)
Anyways…I have often noticed that patients with mental health (in California at least) are always being dumped off at “Crisis” Centers that are funded by the state. These centers are staffed by poorly school therapists that release patients when they know perfectly well they are still 5150 (penal code for mental health - basically means they could potentially hurt themselves or others). We had a recent case where one of our local 5150’s was taken by our Police Department to Crisis, who sent him to the hospital because he complained of stomach pains…They told the hospital he was their responsility and an hour later, I got a call from the Hospital saying he had jumped out of the back of thr ambulance. The worker at Crisis was so inept that they couldn’t see that he was lying about the stomach pain, knowing the procedures Crisis would take (like I said, he’s a regular). Even if they thought his claim was valid, they didn’t have a police officer escort him (which is procedure) or anything! It blew my mind, allowing someone so mentally ill to be back out on the streets. We came across this individual several times after this incident and each time when we attempted to take him to Crisis, they said he was not 5150…Even after he had made a gun shape with his hand and pointed it at workers at a local grocery store, even after he told a woman he wanted to do bad things to her, even after he spent all day following a woman…We have taken all legal action on him, but what’s the use of him going to jail? He is going to get out and do the same thing…It is disheartening, seeing our nation at this point…Not even able to take care of our own.
At the same time, throwing them in some institute (as third-world countries do) is not the answer…So what is? Treatment and care…Making sure everyone is cared for like they deserve…We mock these people and think less of them, when all they did was be born into a broken country.
Practice what you Preach America…