health answers:

Yes.

To gain insight you might read Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” – Soma is the answer. It gives some insight into a mental health controlled society… I also think a quick read on the fall of the Roman Republic is in order – It lasted about 200 years and then corruption from the top turned the Republic into a dictatorship… Sound familiar, you greedy corporations, super rich and Republicans???

The mental health of a society is often a reflection of the mental health of its leaders – we have mentally ill (I am being kind) members of congress right now. So there is a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering going on for everyone in the US…

health answers:

Health insurance – private or paid by the State covers the cost. If admitted to a psychiatric facility, you will get automatic medicaid. It covers all the costs. But please don’t fall into the system.

It is hell and will only make you worst. Trust me. If they can’t find something wrong with you. They will make something up. Cause it is the only way for them to make their money. Hospitals are like any other business – some are good and some are not.

health answers:

The mental health system here is a joke, here, unless you have at least $100/week to spend on a half decent therapist.

Insurance companies do not take mental health seriously and some insurance won’t even cover it.
When it is covered, it’s covered by very poor doctors and the amount of therapy allotted to a patient per year is very limited, unless you are rich and can afford the right kind of insurance…

Generally for the poor – medicare or medicaid covers some of the cost…

One payer health system, anyone?

health answers:

A mental hospital can be a safe place to get you stable. This is especially true for those where are generally functional persons. Most people that go there, only stay for a short time.

I think that we need to understand that not every person that has been in a mental hospital is a lost cause. Most of the time, it’s just to monitor meds and get that person back on the right track. So that they are not a danger to themselves. This can’t be done in a regular hospital setting. Maybe if there was more money set aside for these hospitals, the stigma wouldn’t be as such.

Releasing mental ill patients who just become homeless is just turning the problem over to someone else who is less likely to affect a positive outcome…

health answers:

The one that comes to mind is PACT or ACT –

Program for Assertive Community Treatment

or

Assertive Community Treatment.

Some localities that are rural do not have PACT or ACT, but have a variation called ICT (Intensive Community Treatment).

These teams in America are normally mobile and provide intensive services to those with serious mental illness. You’d need to be screened for appropriateness to a program like that and have a well-documented history of serious mental illness.

If you were hospitalized here, the hospital treatment team most likely would make a referral to the agency that runs the PACT. Usually the agencies the hospital refers to, are public mental health clinics. It would be up to the clinic to refer you to the most appropriate service within the agency, and not all have PACT.

Hope that helps!