Letter: Mentally ill won’t go away

Every once in a while the media, politicians and the public get interested in our country’s mentally ill population. It is so sad that it typically takes a Columbine or Sandy Hook to draw attention. There is a lot of buzz about resources for the mentally ill now, but it will fade away with time and in the din of more-potent political constituencies that are like bleating baby birds, unperturbed by the world outside their own prickly nests.

I understand it’s a competition; the sordid stuff of politics in a world of limited resources. But politics is about the tyranny of majority rule; not the pragmatic prioritization or resource allocation. The terrible economy, gun control and entitlements are the more politically potent topics.

Reductions in funding for mental health resources save money in the short term but ultimately drain the economy as neglected mentally ill citizens are more expensive to treat in jails and in the few hospitals remaining after the latest trend of deinstitutionalization. This was preceded by years of reductions in adult community mental health services and near elimination of juvenile psychiatric hospitals and detention centers for our youth.

Lafayette’s Early Childhood Services and Supports program was recently cut. Mental health centers that formerly addressed anxiety disorders, situational depressions and personality disorders (a frequent variable among perpetrators) are now limited to treating only major, chronic mental illness. These were the programs of early intervention.

Psychologists know the profiles and early warning signs of individuals with the potential to become violent actors as early as the age of five. Today there are far more mentally ill people in jails than in psychiatric hospitals, and that disparity will surely grow, along with the senseless acts of violence.

Stan Rynott

forensic social worker

Lafayette

Comments

1) Comment by twinkie1cat - 15/02/2013

Very few mentally ill people are violent and I am sure those currently being vilified and grouped with criminals as not worthy of owning a gun are quite disturbed right now by the possibility that their civil rights will be violated because there is a chemical imbalance in their brain. Further, I am sure that others who need treatment for mental conditions are going to be reluctant to seek it. Most mentally ill people are functional human beings who, while they may not always fit the norm even with medication, are able to live on their own and work. I had a pastor who had clinical depression and went through some rough spells but still did her job. I knew another with OCD. There are even some celebrities such as Howie Mandel who have that mental illness. I have had a couple who had schizophrenia and were able to function within certain limits and were never violent. While autism is not a mental illness people who have Aspergers or high functioning autism may act different but are still fine human beings and often very bright. But they do need support and someone who understands and cares about them. The important thing is that the person receives ongoing treatment and counseling that alleviates his or her symptoms, not that they be restricted as dangerous. Treatment for mental illness needs to be greatly improved in America and no one should have to go without treatment because he or she is poor. The cutting of the program for pre schoolers with mental illness was a typically Jindalesque move, because like other disabilities emotional and behavioral disorders, if treated while a child is very young can prevent the need for special education later and help the person become a taxpayer instead of a welfare receiver.

2) Comment by billynurse - 15/02/2013

Mental health programs , in regard to treating those who are dangerously ill and non-compliant with treatment , have been hand-cuffed for years by political correctness .In this litigious society , there is a fear of "violating civil rights".

3) Comment by phil - 15/02/2013

Programs in other States that support the mentally ill work well. Many mentally ill patients who stay on their medications and get treatment are even able to live on their own and be responsible citizens with the support of government programs and local people. There have been advancements in medicine in recent years that pretty well prove that mental illness is basically caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain in many (or most) cases. I believe most people who are mentally ill are not really violent by nature - not any more than the general population. From what I can see, LA is not a good place to be if you are mentally ill or have someone in your family who is. It is a shame.