Suffice it to say that THAT didn’t happen!

Instead, you have numbers of severally mentally ill people who spent most of their lives in institutions (i.e. Schizophrenics) suddenly forced out of their structured and medically monitored environments into communities to live in group homes where the staff was (and still are) mostly undereducated, low-income workers. That was/is insane!

Predictably, we now have a population of at least hundreds of thousands of mostly mentally ill Homeless people across this country living on the streets. Many are extremely dangerous!

Amen to this.

In short, for at least the past 30 yrs life has an been absolute nightmare for people who are seriously mentally ill and come from poor and blue-color working class families. Especially people directly affected primarily by deinstitutionalization of state psychiatric hospitals, which began in 1981 under Pres. Reagan “who had made major efforts during his Governorship to reduce funding and enlistment for California mental institutions.” 

Reagan “pushed a political effort through the U.S. Congress to repeal most of MHSA….Mental Health Systems Act of 1980.”

Why did he do it? To “privatize” community mental health, which made certain people a ton of money at the expense of the severally mentally ill, in particular, those who were/are powerless to do anything about it. 

In other words: For his deep-pocket friends and “The Love of Money” of course.  

Once again, Let the Church say AMEN! 

DJ you’re on a roll, with your post yesterday and now today. 

And since I somehow overlooked listing Mental Health among America’s biggest Failures, in my response yesterday, let me add it to the list today because it certainly belongs there!