Insane consequences : how the mental health industry fails the mentally ill
Title:
Insane consequences : how the mental health industry fails the mentally ill
Author:
Summary:
"This well-researched and highly critical examination of the state of our mental health system by the industry's most relentless critic presents a new and controversial explanation as to why--in spite of spending $147 billion annually--140,000 seriously mentally ill are homeless, 390,000 are incarcerated, and even educated, tenacious, and caring people can't get treatment for their mentally ill loved ones. DJ Jaffe blames the mental health industry and government for shunning the 10 million adults who are the most seriously mentally ill--mainly those who suffer from schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder--and, instead, working to improve "mental wellness" in 43 million others, many of whom are barely symptomatic. Using industry and government documents, scientific journals, and anecdotes from his thirty years of advocacy, he documents the insane consequences of these industry-driven policies: psychiatric hospitals that once served the seriously ill have been closed; involuntary commitment criteria have been narrowed to the point where laws now require violence rather than prevent it; the public is endangered; and the mentally ill and their families are forced to suffer. Insane Consequences proposes smart, compassionate, affordable, and sweeping reforms designed to send the most seriously ill to the head of the line for services rather than to jails, shelters, prisons, and morgues. It lays out a roadmap to replace mission-creep with mission control and return the mental health system to a focus on the most seriously mentally ill. It is not money that is lacking; it's leadership. This book is a must read for anyone who works in the mental health industry or cares about the mentally ill, violence, homelessness, incarceration, or public policy."-- Provided by publisher.
Contents:
Foreword / E. Fulller Torrey -- Preface : how I got involved -- Introduction : overview of everything -- Infamous mentally ill adults who went off treatment -- section 1. The insane consequences -- 1. Human consequences of ignoring the seriously mentally ill -- 2. Criminal justice consequences of ignoring the seriously mentally ill -- 3. Financial consequences -- section 2. Mental health vs. mental illness : what's the difference and why does it matter? -- 4. What serious mental illness is not -- 5. What serious mental illness is and how that should drive policy -- 6. What science tells us about treatment that should be reflected in policy -- section 3. The mental health industry -- 7. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) -- 8. The mental health nonprofit complex and its critics -- section 4. The industry is in denial -- 9. The industry fights efforts to reduce violence -- 10. The industry fights life-saving involuntary interventions -- 11. The industry fights access to hospitals, medications, and electroconvulsive therapy -- section 5. Diverting funds to what doesn't work -- 12. The industry diverts funds to programs that lack evidence and don't help -- 13. The industry diverts funds to irrelevant stigma programs -- section 6. Failing the seriously mentally ill -- 14. Federal policies that fail the seriously ill -- 15. Court decisions that failed the seriously ill -- section 7. Where do we go? -- 16. Solutions -- 17. The future -- Appendix A. Serious mental illness defined -- Appendix B. Studies on violence and mental illness -- Appendix C. Studies correlating anosognosia with violence -- Appendix D. Studies on Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) in New York and elsewhere -- Appendix E. HIPAA reforms.
Physical Description:
363 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher:
Prometheus Books,
Publication Date:
2017
ISBN:
9781633882911
Publication Information:
Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2017.
Call Number:
362.2 JAFFE