It is a travesty there are more mentally ill in prisons than in hospitals. Part of that is there are few state hospitals and often the money disappeared. It, often, did not go for the necessary community services to provide the support some people needed. In fact, the budget for service for the mentally ill already bare bone keeps getting trimmed. What ever happened to the idea we are our brothers’ keeper. Now the jails are being forced to treat the mentally ill. And they want to use as little money as possible, use the cheapest drugs when other new ones would be more appropriate. If you are manic they force you to take Thorazine for it is a cheap but is an outmoded treatment. If you are a prisoner and happen to be mentally ill you have no civil rights or say about the matter. It is really disgusting and inhumane.
Tags: civil rights, community services, jails, medications, mental illness, our brothers' keeper, prisons, state hospitals, the mentally ill in prison, Thorazine
Posted in knowledge&learning, life, mental health, money, politics, time |
What I remember about Greystone (going back forty years) is the locked doors. Each one led to another dismal ward. Of course, I did not have any of the keys. I had no freedom. Everything was taken away from me. I was told when to get up, when to eat and what medications I had to take. In those days when you were in a manic state they always pumped you up with Thorazine, which was a real “downer”. It felt like punishment. It was not even my fault. Almost all the drugs to treat bipolar disorder now did not exist then. I remember very well having almost all my civil rights taken away from me. There was not even a phone on the ward. I needed special permission to go downstairs and make a call. I was treated like a prisoner. Those were some of the memories I had of my hospitalization.
Tags: 40 years ago, bipolar disorder, civil rights, dismal ward, Greystone, locked doors, manic state, manic-depression, medications, no freedom, no keys, no telephone, prisoner, psychiatric hospital, psychiatric institution, Thorazine
Posted in life, mental health, time |
