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In reply to the discussion: The Reagan deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the incredible increase of crime in the US [View all]Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)39. Here ya go!
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/29/ronald_reagans_shameful_legacy_violence_the_homeless_mental_illness/
In November 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan overwhelmingly defeated Jimmy Carter, who received less than 42% of the popular vote, for president. Republicans took control of the Senate (53 to 46), the first time they had dominated either chamber since 1954. Although the House remained under Democratic control (243 to 192), their margin was actually much slimmer, because many southern boll weevil Democrats voted with the Republicans.
One month prior to the election, President Carter had signed the Mental Health Systems Act, which had proposed to continue the federal community mental health centers program, although with some additional state involvement. Consistent with the report of the Carter Commission, the act also included a provision for federal grants for projects for the prevention of mental illness and the promotion of positive mental health, an indication of how little learning had taken place among the Carter Commission members and professionals at NIMH. With President Reagan and the Republicans taking over, the Mental Health Systems Act was discarded before the ink had dried and the CMHC funds were simply block granted to the states. The CMHC program had not only died but been buried as well. An autopsy could have listed the cause of death as naiveté complicated by grandiosity.
President Reagan never understood mental illness. Like Richard Nixon, he was a product of the Southern California culture that associated psychiatry with Communism. Two months after taking office, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, a young man with untreated schizophrenia. Two years later, Reagan called Dr. Roger Peele, then director of St. Elizabeths Hospital, where Hinckley was being treated, and tried to arrange to meet with Hinckley, so that Reagan could forgive him. Peele tactfully told the president that this was not a good idea. Reagan was also exposed to the consequences of untreated mental illness through the two sons of Roy Miller, his personal tax advisor. Both sons developed schizophrenia; one committed suicide in 1981, and the other killed his mother in 1983. Despite such personal exposure, Reagan never exhibited any interest in the need for research or better treatment for serious mental illness....
(CONTINUED AT THE LINK AT THE TOP)
In November 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan overwhelmingly defeated Jimmy Carter, who received less than 42% of the popular vote, for president. Republicans took control of the Senate (53 to 46), the first time they had dominated either chamber since 1954. Although the House remained under Democratic control (243 to 192), their margin was actually much slimmer, because many southern boll weevil Democrats voted with the Republicans.
One month prior to the election, President Carter had signed the Mental Health Systems Act, which had proposed to continue the federal community mental health centers program, although with some additional state involvement. Consistent with the report of the Carter Commission, the act also included a provision for federal grants for projects for the prevention of mental illness and the promotion of positive mental health, an indication of how little learning had taken place among the Carter Commission members and professionals at NIMH. With President Reagan and the Republicans taking over, the Mental Health Systems Act was discarded before the ink had dried and the CMHC funds were simply block granted to the states. The CMHC program had not only died but been buried as well. An autopsy could have listed the cause of death as naiveté complicated by grandiosity.
President Reagan never understood mental illness. Like Richard Nixon, he was a product of the Southern California culture that associated psychiatry with Communism. Two months after taking office, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, a young man with untreated schizophrenia. Two years later, Reagan called Dr. Roger Peele, then director of St. Elizabeths Hospital, where Hinckley was being treated, and tried to arrange to meet with Hinckley, so that Reagan could forgive him. Peele tactfully told the president that this was not a good idea. Reagan was also exposed to the consequences of untreated mental illness through the two sons of Roy Miller, his personal tax advisor. Both sons developed schizophrenia; one committed suicide in 1981, and the other killed his mother in 1983. Despite such personal exposure, Reagan never exhibited any interest in the need for research or better treatment for serious mental illness....
(CONTINUED AT THE LINK AT THE TOP)
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The Reagan deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the incredible increase of crime in the US [View all]
Sarah Ibarruri
Apr 2014
OP
He appealed to older white Americans who pined for their uncomplicated lives and teens because he
Boomerproud
Apr 2014
#21
And if you're depressed and have no addictions to drugs or alcohol, they have no groups for you
Manifestor_of_Light
Apr 2014
#2
Hmm. Must be miserably bad programs. Here's where the mentally disabled is being treated now
Sarah Ibarruri
Apr 2014
#26
The roots of deinstitutionalization (aka community-based out-patient treatment) are pre-WW2
HereSince1628
Apr 2014
#7
Geraldo on Willowbrook was 1970...Wiseman's doc on Bridgewater (Titticut Follies) was 1967
HereSince1628
Apr 2014
#18
There has been an incredible increase in "mental illness-related" calls to police, not
pampango
Apr 2014
#5
Medicine is heading in a highly customizable direction and it is sorely needed for medicine for
liberal_at_heart
Apr 2014
#19
well of course it would be better if the profits were taken out of it. I'm just saying that
liberal_at_heart
Apr 2014
#30
Untreated mentally ill are dangerous. There are groups such as Scientology, who are against
Sarah Ibarruri
Apr 2014
#29
Thanks to St. Ronnie and his acolytes prison is the new mental health system.
raouldukelives
Apr 2014
#9
The answer for some is institutionalization. Not like that in the Middle Ages, but one in which
Sarah Ibarruri
Apr 2014
#31
What incredible increase? The overall crime rate has been decreasing for the past 20 years.
Spider Jerusalem
Apr 2014
#10
Reagan was the worst President ever, but US crime rates have been falling
Bluenorthwest
Apr 2014
#11
We need better access to psychiatrists, psychologists and medicines, not institutionalization.
liberal_at_heart
Apr 2014
#20
Here's where the mentally ill with no care end up because they commit crimes and end up in prison...
Sarah Ibarruri
Apr 2014
#34
So it not really an overall increase in crime but rather an increase of mentally ill in prisons. Nt
hack89
Apr 2014
#45
Mental illness needs to be treated but many families are not able to afford
Thinkingabout
Apr 2014
#35
Wow, I just looked that up on Amazon, and I'm going to order it. Thank you! It should be
Sarah Ibarruri
Apr 2014
#44