Ed Heil wrote:
> I wish that were true, but it's not. In the 1960s and 70s, there was wide
> popular belief in the idea that mental illness was nothing but "being
> different" and therefore that institutionalization was invariably a bad thing
> - a societal jailing of the "different."
> (This is not to deny that there may have been serious problems in the care and
> treatment of the mentally ill *before* this movement in the 60s and 70s; it is
> only to point out that the idealistic solution that was put into effect was a
> cure worse than the disease.)
To be fair to the deinstitutionalizers: They wanted people removed
from monolithic hospitals/holding tanks and given treatment in their
own communities by (much cheaper) local treatment centers. A
combination of fanatical cost-cutting and NIMBY ("Not in my back yard!")
prevented the second half of the program from ever getting started.
--
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org
You tollerday donsk? N. You tolkatiff scowegian? Nn.
You spigotty anglease? Nnn. You phonio saxo? Nnnn.
Clear all so! 'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)