A POV Post I Made Three Years Ago

[winetourdriver01]

[ret5hd]

1. How is your buddy doing?

I hope you were able to help, at least in some small ways.

[winetourdriver01]

2. Lockdown

When the lock down happened here, nobody living in an apartment house could have guests. My little buddy relied on couch surfing. He left the City and went back to his hometown. I wish him luck. It's a hard life, and when you have a pervasive personality disorder, it's damn near impossible. I did my best.

[erronis]

3. Thanks for this. The de-institutionalism (what a mouthful) of people is a mixed benefit.

I live in a very small community that had a state MH hospital that was closed.

While placing individuals in long-term institutions seems harmful, it is often the better alternative. Many of the original and might-have-been patients are now in the community and have very few resources to help them. Yes, there are state and non-profit groups who try, but they are severely underfunded and under-staffed. Money alone won't solve it.

[winetourdriver01]

4. I remember the difference

I remember when Reagan closed the state supported institutions. The very next day the streets had lots of scared and confused homeless wandering the streets. God my hatred for Reagan went ballistic.
SF has plenty of protocols in place to help those who seek help. As you know, people with personality disorders seldom seek that help even as their lives are disintegrating. He lost everything to that disorder, his wife and kid, his job his home and extended family. He lost EVERYTHING. He couldn't keep friends and was desperately lonely. Tough situation. I did what I could, more than I should have, but I couldn't help myself.
He wouldn't take care of himself, keep himself housed or lay off hard drugs. I haven't seen him in three years, and doubt that he is still living.

[ShazzieB]

6. I lived in a small enough town at that time that I did not see firsthand what you described.

But I knew shutting all those places down was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing. Coming from a family that was riddled with serious mental illnesses, I thought, "This cannot possibly work," and boy howdy, was I ever right!

It didn't work then, it still doesn't work, and it never will unless all humans suddenly evolve into some sort of higher life forms that are immune to all forms of mental illness and addiction. That was one of the worst things Reagan ever did, out of very long list of awful things.

Since we're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, I'll just close by saying, "Reagan is dead. Good."

[alfredo]

5. Wonderful story