I attended an American Psychiatric Association (APA) Conference

[corneliamcgillicutty]

some years ago in the context of my position at that time. The meeting was held in D.C. I was approached by a gentleman who introduced himself as a psychiatrist from London. He told me that on his way in to the conference center he literally had to step across homeless men who were obviously mentally ill. He asked me how this situation could exist in the United States of America. I had no answer. The memory of this has left an indelible mark on my soul.

[Harmony Blue]

1. Guns are a right

while healthcare is a privilege in the U.S.

[jody]

11. The right is to self-defense and arms are the preferred tool. nt

[Paulie]

13. Legs are much better

More mass when you kick a leg than throw an arm. Though those UFC grapplers do an even better job.

[jody]

14. Legs are useless if one requires a cane to walk. nt

[Paulie]

15. Not at all

The wheel solved that problem quite a while ago.

[jody]

17. I assume you meant that as a joke but it's not funny. Wheel chairs are not preferable to canes. nt

[loyalsister]

21. Depends on the situation

Many of my friends love their wheels and prefer them to cumbersome crutches or prosthetic legs they find difficult to maneuver

[jody]

22. All of my friends who depend on wheel chairs for mobility would love to be able to use canes. nt

[loyalsister]

25. And my friends who can wheel faster than they can walk don't buy into the bias

nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

16. True. Thanks for bringing this up. Right wing ideology has turned this country into a f mess. nt

[Iris]

28. Well-said

It really does seem that simple

[Skittles]

2. you had no answer? try "REAGAN"

[progressoid]

10. Yes but...

I'm not disagreeing that Reagan and his crew were the horror that started it. But we as a society (and the government we've elected) seem to have accepted it as the new norm.

What have we done since Reagan to reverse that? Not a rhetorical question. What have we done?

[loyalsister]

24. This has very little if anything to do with Reagan

Deinstitutionalization was a movement initiated by people who have mental, intellectual, and even physical disabilities. It has been the will of congresses that have followed that movement AS WELL AS the biases and laziness of American citizens to look at people and care about how people can survive let alone succeed.

In addition, this country has aggravated the situation by entering wars and starting wars.

[librechik]

12. Reagan turned thisfrom e pluribus unum,the "common good" nation into the "fuck you" nation

and millions of butthurt greedy Republicans angry over Watergate, jumped on the bandwagon. After all, how could we afford all those safety net luxuries for the poor when the Russkies needed to be stopped with Star Wars technology?

Reagan defunded everything and destroyed the labor infrastructure that had supported a decent middle class life for Americans. And his loyal acolytes (Scalia & Thomas) are still happily collecting the spoils--and fabulously expanding-- the new system of looting and plunder that replaced the rule of law.

Why didn't the progressives stop them? Becasue we are mere people working with the piss-poor tools of democracy and they are superstrong corporate entities willing to do ANYTHING to further their plans of total power.

We just are no match for them, especially since they own the media now.

[Warpy]

19. He wasn't the only one, "deinstitutionalization" was global

and the hospitals warehousing the mentally ill were cleared out. However, other countries had something the US never had: national health insurance making it easy to get treatment. They also lacked the Puritan Christian monsters who treat mental illness like a moral problem.

We've had the perfect storm: worsening access to health care across the board, idiots in the heartland who don't know what's going on in the cities electing stingy Republicans, and a too narrow definition of "danger to oneself or others" that renders families helpless to get care for adult children, siblings, or even parents.

That's the real answer, right there. Yes, a lot of it belongs on the backs of the Republicans. However, they've had help from civil liberties lawyers who went too far and a plutocracy that wants us all untreated and dead.

[TygrBright]

20. This. Unfortunately.

But yeah, Warpy. From the nutshell, you preach it.

disgustedly,
Bright

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. +1

[Tumbulu]

29. so true!!!!!

as usual Warpy, you have it right.

[CountAllVotes]

3. homeless men who were obviously mentally ill

They have such individuals in the U.K. and in the EU. Who are you trying to fool?

I saw beggars lying on the streets of Budapest recently and some were not quite all there so to speak.

This sort of problem is a word wide phenomena FYI.

Have things changed that much since you met up with this "psychiatrist"?

[Hoyt]

4. But those folks could get care if they wanted it without worrying about having health insurance.

[CountAllVotes]

5. really?

Have you been to a Hungarian hospitial recently? I had the bad luck of ending up in one while there and they refused to treat me despite the fact I have insurance that covers me world wide. I left in a rush after they demanded that I give them 400 euro which I did not have and left untreated.

So much for free healthcare eh?

[Hoyt]

7. Maybe so in Hungry, but psychiatrist was from UK.

[CountAllVotes]

8. All I know is what I saw

and no, it was not at all "pretty" believe me.

[enlightenment]

9. What has that got to do with the UK?

The OP was talking about someone from the UK - not Hungary. What happened to you in Hungary (which has well-known issues with their post-Soviet health care system) has nothing to do with the ability of indigent individuals in the UK to receive health care, including mental health care.

[CountAllVotes]

18. Hungary is part of the EU

I did not see how the health care system in Hungary reflected any real change but I don't know what it was like say 15 years ago before they were members of the European Union.

That said, any person walking into a hospital in a country that is citizen of the EU and has appropriate "papers" should be treated.

sShame on them is all I can say and the ER's in Hungary are not a whole lot different than the one's here in the USA are ... wait wait wait forever and care you want? It just was not there.

As for the UK, you are talking the United Kingdom which includes northern Ireland. Maybe we should thwart this discussion now as I really don't want to go there (discussing health care in northern Ireland that is and, add Scotland and Wales to this picture as they too are members of the UK).

I was not impressed and remain not impressed.

Health care that is supposedly "free" is being rationed heavily since the decline in the global economy, at least in the countries ruled under the EU. From what I've heard from friends and relations in the UK, it is not a whole lot better there either now.

No country is immune from this horrific plight of failing to care for the needy, the aged and the disabled. None of them.

[corneliamcgillicutty]

6. I had that experience exactly as stated

If you choose not to believe it, that is your prerogative.

[Celebration]

26. sure, but the shooter was being medicated

We need to have a serious discussion about psychiatric medications. A possilble side effect of SSRIs is increased violence and suicide.

We have always had guns freely available. Our so called "free" press needs to break with their advertising sources and start the discussion about psychiatric medications.

[cbdo2007]

27. That homeless person didn't qualify for Medicaid or disability???

People assume too much about other people's situations. Someone who is "Obviously mentally ill" would be able to get Medicaid and would be on disability. Did you ask the homeless guy why he didn't go after those options?