Note: This falls under catories of Health and Liberty:
For those with serious mental illness, it is unconscionable and utterly backward that society allows these disabled citizens to be regularly punished due to their disability. This happens because it is so difficult at every level. Criminalization adds insult to injury, compounding stigma. This medieval practice leaves individuals lost and families, broken. A new course of support is needed that combines legal and medical entities. A new program that instills pride and saves lives, instead of shamefully demonizing the fragile SMI in a jail or prison cell, or discharged to homelessness by government run or private mental facilities.
List of issues needing attention:
• Ending criminalization of those diagnosed with chronic mental illnesses.
• Subjective diagnoses are a real and complex problem needing overhaul.
• Polypharmacy is causing statistic to worsen, including it creates metabolic dysfunction.
• Ensuring facilities use the latest scientific advances individualized DNA metabolism evidence, such as pharmacogenomics, as an indisputable tool to guide appropriate and accurate treatment, to avoid harming these most vulnerable patients.
• No more violating patient (“consumer”) and Treatment Advocate rights. And end the practice of officially calling these patients “consumers” - it adds insult to injury!
• Prevent facilities from “patient dumping” i.e., discharging from psychiatric hospitals to homelessness. This common practice makes the hardship on the disabled person and their families worse, while taxing society and the system, further. Where is continuity of care?
• Finding root causes, preventing damage, and ascertaining scientifically provable, evidence-based solutions. Ruling out medical mimics that manifest as behavior issues (such as vitamin B deficiency, insulin resistance, dehydration, porphyria, or medication side effects, etc…
• Test for Activities of Daily Living (ADL) patient skill levels before inpatient discharge and placement in the community. This determines the actual needs of the individual so the patient won’t fall through the cracks and end up homeless or in jail, time and again. Performed by licensed psychologists, the ADL assessment determines if or how well the person can take care of themselves. Current practices ignore this in legal statutes.
• End the practice of “bus therapy” i.e., facilities discharging people diagnosed SMI or SPMI to homeless shelters in another city, with a bus ticket. This is unacceptable and wrong.
• Enforce laws in place, including Power of Attorney, Advanced Directives, Treatment Advocates, Next of Kin, and those that take on these difficult roles should be assisted, and possibly compensated, as it is a hard, full-time job.
Lots of other issues, but this can get the comprehensive mission going. Thanks.