Over a half century ago, the USA had many public hospitals for chronically mentally ill individuals. These folks would receive the supervision and care they needed. The system was not perfect, but instead of the complete closure that occurred in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the system could and should have been reformed. Here are suggestions for the future care of long-term mentally ill:
- Least restrictive environment can mean closely supervised longterm in-patient care for those most debilitated.
- Long-term history of personal self-neglect can be used to determine care needed.
- Loving family and objective non-family can and should be a team to make decisions for debilitated individuals.
- Homeless individuals need to be evaluated for chronic debilitating mental illness.
- Long-term commitment can be a compassionate act and does not violate the mentally ill person’s rights.