Quote:
Originally Posted by destroycreate
Now for the mental illness component--FUCK REAGAN (and capitalism). We need more mental health resources all around in this country that are free or affordable.
|
I’ve posted something like this many times on this site in different contexts but here we go again: The “Reagan did it” theory is by now an almost universally believed myth but much of it is a myth and San Francisco is the proof by exception.
The myth says Reagan caused the problem—some argue nationwide on absolutely no basis at all—because during his time as Governor of California the state mental hospitals were largely closed and the patients turned out. The myth says this was entirely to save money but in reality there was a confluence of reasons that appealed to both the right and the left. Saving money definitely did appeal to the right. But the civil liberties concerns related to keeping people who’d committed no crime locked up involuntarily appealed to the left. What made consensus possible was the development for the first time of truly effective drugs for both schizophrenia and depression. For the former there was Thorazine, Melaril, Stelazine and others. For the latter there was Elavil and othe tricyclics. These drugs teally did make large numbers of deeply psychotic people functional and so the politicians were convinced they could release them on medication and continue treatment as outpatients . . . Which might have worked to some degree if a network of outpatient treatment centers adequate to the job had been funded and if there had been a mechanism to forcibly medicate those who would not or could not voluntarily seek and take medication.
But as I said, I think San Francisco shows that this plan probably could never have worked because San Francisco DOES have facilities for outpatient treatment of the mentally ill and does extensive outreach to find them and try to get them into treatment, yet its streets are still overflowing with mumbling madmen (and women) who have no willingness to be treated.
Still, it just wasn’t all Reagan’s fault in California—he just eagerly bought into the hope along with legislators on both ends of the political spectrum—and he had nothing to do with other states where almost the exact same factors brought about the same result.
As it happens, I was in medical school and post-grad training as all this was happening and actually worked for a few months in an old style state mental hospital in North Carolina while such existed. In that sense, I’ve seen the before and after and watched the transition.