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When people have cancer, we usually hand them into the care of Oncologists. If someone has a problem with their heart – we hand them into the care of Cardiologists. There’s usually an army of nurses to support these specialists and by doing this we hope to give the sick the best care possible. They receive expert care and we are all grateful when we survive such lethal diseases ourselves, thanks to their skills. The same cannot be said in cases of mental health support in the UK, with issues such as Schizophrenia or Dementia.


When people get sick in their heads – we hand them over to a team of “care support workers.” These are overseen by care managers and social workers, who in turn consult Psychiatrists and Psychologist to tap their skills. These Psychiatrists are not experts in the way an Oncologist or a Cardiologist is an expert. They rely on opinion, experience and most crucially – on the verbiage, opinions and feelings of the patient when formulating their diagnosis. Highly paid – the Psychiatrist spends a brief hour or so with the patient – perhaps prescribing a pill at the end, then they move on to the next client. The bulk of their skill lies in covering for any decision they make that could haunt them later – if the patient causes harm.


Of course, there are "good" Psychiatrists among the run of the mill ones, but the system directs itself into not making the most of these "better" physicians. And the whole process of arriving at a diagnosis is so "unscientific" - it may as well be Witchcraft they are practicing. Good motives to get the diagnosis right - are also stifled by cost concerns. As


Martin Seligman commented in a TED talk; Psychiatry in the US is just about getting there in being scientific in its approach; in the UK it's far from being the case. It's primitive because it's cheaper that way.


The bulk of the “care” in the Care in the Community mandate – is carried out by the Police, taxi firms, shopkeepers and the public at large; all of whom are ill-equipped and untrained in how to help a mentally ill person.


When people get sick – they go to hospital; it’s been like that for hundreds of years. Today, in the “modern way” – when people get sick in their minds – the whole unsuspecting “community” has to put up with their lives being disrupted by abnormal behaviour from people they don’t know. They are forced to “care” by the State – who has been advised by Progressive-types who think they should experiment on society without permission; you and me are their guinea pigs in their experiments.


Yes - it all sounds so loving, forcing joe-public to “care” for some old OAP who has lost their mind. But from an objective standpoint – it’s despicable and uncivilized. The Police should be chasing after criminals, not Mums and Dads who have forgotten who they are and where they live. Taxi firms should not have to waste journeys, granted they may be paid, shuttling Schizophrenics who are following their hallucinations, on wild goose chases. Superstores should not be required to explain to the mentally impaired that they cannot use their Club Cards to buy groceries. And neighbour should not be subjected to bizarre behaviour – such as standing under a tree, in the rain for hours, waiting for an imaginary friend to come and pick the ill person up.


Care in the Community – may work on paper and perhaps it’s better than caging people up in homes – like beasts waiting for their inevitable demise. But if it’s sickness were are treating, then there should be places where the sick must go to be healed. Having the public “look after” their own without the necessary skills to do so – is really the State abdicating its responsibilities to keep all of us safe and a waste of resources.


Care in Community only benefits those earning healthy wage packets prescribing pills and keeps the army of social workers and carers employed. The patient is just a resource, a commodity to feed off financially for the few running the system.

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There are so many angles to this issue. First of which is that there is no perfect solution, just "best possible" solution.

In the US we now have a homeless person crisis (again for multiple reasons) but it started in the 70s when Carter decided to close all the govt mental institutions. I don't remember what the reason was, it may have been financial. A horrible outcome of this decision is that my cousin's 7-yr old daughter AND her friend were murdered in their own back yards by one of the people released. He had no where to go except back to his mother's home and she couldn't get him to take his anti-psychotic medications. He later committed suicide in jail. Before this happened, the govt institutions were disgusting hell-holes that were understaffed and underfunded where much abuse took place and excrement covered the walls. They were never "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" nice and clean. Giving humane life-long care to people who didn't choose mental illness, didn't choose Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, didn't choose severe autism, didn't choose dementia or ALZ, etc., is exceedingly expensive to have the low staff-to-resident ration it requires. I wish they could have the care they need while protecting them and society.

So now that the US chemical addiction issue has swollen the ranks of the impoverished and homeless, there are not enough people or resources to address the problem in any meaningful way. Would I be willing to "adopt" a senior who was in true need of help, through no fault of their own? Sure, if I didn't already have 4 people over 85 that I'm currently managing care for, while running a small business with my husband, while housing my adult son AND his 9-yr old son. The vulnerable need *consistent* quality care by reliable people, and I wish I could help more but I (and many others) just can't be the solution.

From what I can understand the UK's Care in the Community sounds nice in theory and is a response to loneliness in the elder ranks. IMHO some of this is self-made because we refuse to be realistic about what our seasoned years will be like. People don't save enough, people don't take care of their health like they should, people don't get their legal ducks in a row before they slip into ill health or forgetfulness. Many assume their families will take care of them. I'm juggling 4 seniors. That's plenty for me, thanks. I've already told my sons I plan on getting myself into a care community facility before I think I'm "ready". I've been as responsible as I can be. My sons aren't responsible for my happiness. No one is. This is life. No one gets out alive. Few die peacefully in their sleep in a nice, clean bed, with all their mental faculties surrounded by loved ones. Plan for the worst-case scenario and you will have truly prepared. My "comment" has veered off into a rant! But it makes me crazy that people willfully ignore that their lives will eventually end and they do NOTHING to prepare for it. Then they become a challenge to society at large. This is why I often encourage caregivers (especially young ones) on this forum to situate their LOs to a decent facility and go on with their lives without guilt. As to VAuser1's assertion that there's a for-profit industry that surrounds this: yes there is but it's because people themselves have created it and not the other way around.
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I was involved with community organisations at the time the decision was made to close institutions, particularly for adults with an intellectual disability. The rationale among the professionals was that ‘normalisation’ was the go. Many parents of these adults supported moving them out of the institutions, for more freedom in supported accommodation in the community. Other parents thought the opposite – that there were more options in a bigger place. A bitter mother told me that the only thing that stayed the same was that there wasn’t a choice! The politicians were quite prepared to support the closures, because we had some large institutions on very attractive grounds, originally city fringe but now ripe for development. Politicians just love new theories that they think are going to be cheaper.

Now you see support workers who are ‘paid to be friends’ - take someone on an outing, including coffee at the shopping centre while the ‘worker’ spends time on their phone. It’s actually quite a nice earner for some regional towns. I dealt with a management committee that had stopped letting people leave the group home, in case there was an accident and the management committee were blamed. So much for freedom! For people who are not going to be ‘cured’ of anything (which can include many people with mental illnesses who used to be institutionalised), any option seems to have more downsides than upsides.
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VAuser1 Aug 2019
Thank goodness - someone else (if not many) has spotted the "Emperor's naked" condition.

If I ever hit retirement age and are showing signs of dementia - I'd opt for Euthanasia rather than being a cash-cow for these inhumane people.
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