NY has a “Tragedy Before
Treatment” Mental Ilness Policy. We need a “Treatment Before
Tragedy” System.
In NY hearing voices and
being delusional is, not enough to get someone treatment if they don’t
recognize they are ill. For that to happen, they have to force the issue by
bringing on a tragedy. Rather than prevent violence, NY laws require it.
About
16% of all the people in Office of Mental Health psychiatric hospitals are forensic
patients, who gained admission only after a tragedy occurred and a court
process forced the state to admit them.
New York went from 600 beds per 100,000 population in
the mid-1950s to fewer than 27 today. As a result, Rikers Island is New York’s
largest psychiatric institution, holding more mentally ill people than all
Office of Mental Health hospitals combined.
State mental health officials are proposing to close
more psychiatric hospital beds, thereby making hospitalization even more difficult.
They claim few of the existing beds
are used, but that is only because the Office of Mental Health discharges
patients “sicker and quicker” to artificially reduce the count. Experts say, to meet minimum standards, NYS needs 4300 more beds to serve those with serious mental illness. Here's what we need to do.
We have to make greater use of Kendra’s Law.
Kendra’s Law allows courts
to order those who have mental illness and a past history of violence or
needless hospitalizations to stay in treatment as a condition of living in the
community. It also allows courts to order the mental health system to provide
the treatment. Individuals in Kendra’s Law
are four times less likely
to engage in future violence than those in a control group. Kendra's Law
reduces homelessness (74%); suicide attempts (55%); and substance abuse (48%).
It keeps the public safer by reducing physical harm to others (47%) and
property destruction (43%). It saves money by reducing hospitalization (77%);
arrests (83%); and incarceration (87%).
It also saves money.
We have to spend existing resources on treating the
most seriously ill NYS spends $3
billion on mental health making it the largest state agency. There is more than
enough money to treat the most seriously ill, but it is spent on worthy
social service programs masquerading as mental health programs in order to tap
into the $3 billion. Bullying, bad grades, discomfort with marriage or sexual
identity, stigma, poor housing, lack of jobs have all been defined as ‘mental
health’ issues and showered with money, while the elephant in the room:
delivering treatment to people with serious mental illness is ignored.
Violence by persons with serious mental illness is rare and almost due to someone with serious mental illness going without treatment. Here are stats on violence. http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/mental-illness-violence-stats.html
Here are 90 other incidents in NY (Not updated for White Plains Train Station, Union Square, Times Square, and other recent incidents.)
http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/kendras-law/mentalillnesstragediesnys.pdf
Here are our op-eds on the mental health system
with lots of stats about NYS you can use.
