[NYAPRS Enews] USA Today: Lindstrom Pushes Prevention, Community Outreach Not Forced Treatment

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: A very timely on target message from Mental Health
America's new CEO, Wayne Lindstrom.

 

Opposing view: Don't Link Violence With Mental Illness

Rather than forcing more people into treatment, dedicate adequate
resources toward prevention

By Wayne Lindstrom  USA Today OP ED  January 11, 2013

 

Calls to make it easier to commit people for involuntary mental health
treatment will do little or nothing to prevent violent acts. It will
only scare people from seeking help voluntarily and fail to increase the
number who are committed.

The premise that we can predict or prevent violent acts is unsupported.
Even in the case of severe mental illnesses, mental health professionals
possess no special knowledge or ability to predict future behavior.

The fact is people with mental health conditions are no more likely to
be violent than is the general population. Continuing to link violence
and mental illness only stigmatizes people and deters them from seeking
care.

Paradoxically, making it easier to commit people to treatment will not
lead to more commitments or more people getting care. A chronically
underfunded mental health system, which has experienced $4.6 billion in
state budget cuts since 2009, does not have the capacity to meet those
needs.

When Illinois lowered its standard to allow the commitment of virtually
every person with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, commitments
decreased because of the continued reduction in public and private
inpatient beds.

In Washington, a study of the state's lowered commitment standard
revealed fewer voluntary admissions and a rapid increase in the
revolving door of discharges and re-admissions. In fact, the number of
people who meet existing commitment standards in every state already
exceeds the beds available for them.

It is highly unlikely we will increase the number of psychiatric beds.
Nor should we.

Rather than forcing more people into treatment, we should dedicate
adequate resources toward prevention and early identification of
emotional disturbances in children and fund cost-effective
community-based interventions that work.

Just two-thirds of those with severe mental illness and one-third with
moderate illness receive appropriate services. When care is provided,
there is a gap of up to 10 years between their first symptoms and first
treatment.

Expanding access to care under the Affordable Care Act and mental health
parity law will serve people better than changing commitment laws that
will change nothing.

 

Wayne Lindstrom is the CEO of Mental Health America.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/01/10/mental-health-america-w
ayne-lindstrom/1566226/ 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20130111/e6fe59b4/attachment.html>