The status of mental health in the U.S. in 2011 is one of the worst problems I have ever seen. So many people are affected by mental illness and the numbers just continue to grow. The suspect in the Tucson shooting slipped through the cracks.
The shooting in Tucson involving Congresswoman Giffords unfortunately is likely to happen again. The fact is that more and more mentally ill people are unable to receive services they desperately need. For example, in South Carolina we had more than 6,000 beds in the Department of Mental Health in the 1950s. Today we have less than 500.
The concept in the 1960s was to replace these chronic beds with community mental health centers that would help stabilize the mentally ill. The concept may have had a chance if caseworkers had what they should have – meaning 50 to 75 patients each. But in South Carolina, many caseworkers have 200 to 300 patients each and as a result, the mentally ill receive little or no attention.
On an average day in South Carolina there are more than 100 mentally ill patients in our hospital emergency rooms waiting for beds. It is a public health crisis across the U.S., and state and local governments continue to defund the programs we need for the mentally ill.
These patients are dealing with long-term, chronic illnesses. They can be stabilized, but they will never be “normal” in the true sense of the word. These patients are not going away. We are paying for their care in the most expensive settings. The solution is that we need more, long-term chronic beds in the Department of Mental Health and we need to reopen beds that have been closed. In addition to this, we also need be willing to ease the involuntary commitment laws in order to help with this issue.
I realize that the shooting in Tucson and at Columbine and Virginia Tech as well as others are not all preventable. But we can only expect that the situation will get worse because the mental health system is in collapse. Some states have few if any public beds left. The private market will never help with this type of patient. States must step up.
Following the shooting in Tucson, politicians began posturing and finger pointing as usual when they should be focusing on the real issues. They ought to be focusing on mental health and the lack of availability of needed resources. Patients who do not get the care they need end up in jail or on the street due to the lack of resources.
Mental illness is THE most serious public health issue in America. How long are we going to look the other way?
Kester Freeman blogs regularly at Action for Better Healthcare.