American Psychosis by E. Fuller Torrey

Author:E. Fuller Torrey [Torrey, E. Fuller]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2014-12-11T22:00:00+00:00

7

DIMENSIONS OF THE PRESENT DISASTER: 2000–2013

In the fall of 1941, Joseph Kennedy arranged for his daughter Rosemary to have a lobotomy. He did so because she had become psychotic, was behaviorally out of control, and was in danger of becoming pregnant. The operation was a disaster, leaving Rosemary profoundly brain damaged. Twenty years later, Jack Kennedy assumed the presidency and authorized a new mental health and retardation program to honor his sister, although he never publicly acknowledged her connection to these programs. The program involved closing state psychiatric hospitals, shifting outpatient care to federally funded community mental health centers, and preventing mental illnesses. As implemented, the new federal program effectively lobotomized both the existing and the emerging state mental health programs. The federal program has been a disaster, and the current chaotic, dysfunctional mental health system is, in one sense, Rosemary’s baby.

It is important to recognize that this failed federal mental health program was not merely a one-time disaster. By aborting the development of emerging state systems and replacing them with a potpourri of uncoordinated federal programs, it set in motion an ongoing disaster that continues today. With each passing decade, the situation has become progressively worse, and it will continue to do so until corrective action is taken.

THE GOOD NEWS

As described in the previous chapter, the federally initiated mental health disaster has not affected all individuals with mental illnesses. Many of those with less severe symptoms and with awareness of their need for medication have done reasonably well, especially if they live in areas where rehabilitative programs are available. The employment of mentally ill individuals by state or county mental health agencies has been especially successful. In approximately one-third of the states, there are active programs to train and employ mentally ill individuals as “peer counselors” in outpatient treatment teams, substance abuse programs, and housing programs. Studies of the effectiveness of these “peer counselors” have been positive, and it is a promising line of employment for mentally ill individuals who are stable.1

Another generally positive development for mentally ill individuals has been the recent “recovery movement.” This movement focuses first on the needs and treatment goals of the patient, so that treatment becomes a shared endeavor between the patient and the treatment team. As characterized by one summary, “recovery requires reframing the treatment enterprise from the professional’s perspective to the person’s perspective.” The major problem, of course, is that many people with serious psychiatric disorders have anosognosia, meaning that they are not aware they are sick, because of their brain disorder. The concept of “recovery” is meaningless to them, because they believe they have nothing to recover from. The “recovery movement” thus is useful for some individuals with mental illnesses but not for many others. In large measure, “recovery” is simply a restatement of what should be the optimal relationship between a patient and doctor, and it is unclear at this point whether the movement is merely an anodyne of hope or a fad.2

Unfortunately, both the employment of mentally ill

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.