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Did the Emptying of Mental Hospitals Contribute to Homelessness?
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Jun 5, 2022, 4:20:46 PM6/5/22
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https://www.kqed.org/news/11209729/did-the-emptying-of-mental-hospitals-
contribute-to-homelessness-here
After patients were released from mental hospitals, there wasn't always a
place for them to go. On this week's episode, we explore if
deinstitutionalization was a factor in the Bay Area's homeless crisis. Bay
Curious is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering your
questions about the Bay Area.
Earlier this year, we asked for your questions on homelessness. More than
1,300 of you responded and we answered many of your questions in our first
round of reporting.
There was one topic that kept coming up again and again as we sorted your
questions. This week on the podcast, we answer listener Debbie Ow’s
question:
“Is the situation as bad as it is because of the closure of mental health
facilities in our state?”
Click the red play button above for the full story, and look below for a
timeline of deinstitutionalization.
Deinstitutionalization: A History
1833 Worcester State Hospital opens in Massachusetts as the first mental
hospital fully supported by state funds.
1860 Twenty-eight of the 33 existing U.S. states have state psychiatric
hospitals.
1939-1945 During World War II conscientious objectors enter state
psychiatric hospitals to replace doctors who were sent away for the war
effort.
1946 Life Magazine publishes photos depicting the horrors inside the
hospitals.
1954 Chlorpromazine, marketed as Thorazine, is approved by the Food and
Drug Administration. It’s the first anti-psychotic drug widely used to
treat the symptoms of mental illness. For many, it brought hope that some
patients could live among the community.
<https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-800x540.jpg>
'Bedlam 1946' spread from Life Magazine. (The Jerry Cooke Archives)
1955 The number of patients inside public mental hospitals nationwide
peaks at 560,000.
1959 The number of patients in California state mental hospitals peaks at
37,000.
1963 President John F. Kennedy signs the Community Mental Health Act. This
pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients from the state toward
the federal government. JFK wanted to create a network of community mental
health centers where mentally ill people could live in the community while
receiving care. JFK could have been inspired to act because his younger
sister, Rosemary, was mentally disabled, received a lobotomy and spent her
life hidden away.
Less than a month after signing the new legislation, JFK is assassinated.
The community mental health centers never receive stable funding, and even
15 years later less than half the promised centers are built.
1965 The U.S. Congress establishes Medicaid and Medicare. Mentally
disabled people living in the community are eligible for benefits but
those in psychiatric hospitals are excluded. By encouraging patients to be
discharged, state legislators could shift the cost of care for mentally
ill patients to the federal government.
1967 Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the
number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan
administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department
of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget
despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended
staffing levels.
1967 Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and ends the practice of
institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts
of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”.
Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the
law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people
entering San Mateo's criminal justice system doubles.
1969 Reagan reverses earlier budget cuts. He increases spending on the
Department of Mental Hygiene by a record $28 million.
1973 The number of patients in California State mental hospitals falls to
7,000.
1980 President Jimmy Carter signs the Mental Health Systems Act to improve
on Kennedy’s dream.
1981 President Reagan repeals Carter’s legislation with the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act. This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill
patients back to the states. The legislation creates block grants for the
states, but federal spending on mental illness declines.
2004 The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 10 percent of state
prisoners have symptoms that meet criteria for a psychotic disorder.
2015 In the San Francisco Homeless Count, 55 percent of people
experiencing chronic homelessness report they have emotional or
psychiatric conditions.
--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: sf.n...@mail.house.gov
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
contribute-to-homelessness-here
After patients were released from mental hospitals, there wasn't always a
place for them to go. On this week's episode, we explore if
deinstitutionalization was a factor in the Bay Area's homeless crisis. Bay
Curious is a new podcast from KQED that’s all about answering your
questions about the Bay Area.
Earlier this year, we asked for your questions on homelessness. More than
1,300 of you responded and we answered many of your questions in our first
round of reporting.
There was one topic that kept coming up again and again as we sorted your
questions. This week on the podcast, we answer listener Debbie Ow’s
question:
“Is the situation as bad as it is because of the closure of mental health
facilities in our state?”
Click the red play button above for the full story, and look below for a
timeline of deinstitutionalization.
Deinstitutionalization: A History
1833 Worcester State Hospital opens in Massachusetts as the first mental
hospital fully supported by state funds.
1860 Twenty-eight of the 33 existing U.S. states have state psychiatric
hospitals.
1939-1945 During World War II conscientious objectors enter state
psychiatric hospitals to replace doctors who were sent away for the war
effort.
1946 Life Magazine publishes photos depicting the horrors inside the
hospitals.
1954 Chlorpromazine, marketed as Thorazine, is approved by the Food and
Drug Administration. It’s the first anti-psychotic drug widely used to
treat the symptoms of mental illness. For many, it brought hope that some
patients could live among the community.
<https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2016/12/lifemag-800x540.jpg>
'Bedlam 1946' spread from Life Magazine. (The Jerry Cooke Archives)
1955 The number of patients inside public mental hospitals nationwide
peaks at 560,000.
1959 The number of patients in California state mental hospitals peaks at
37,000.
1963 President John F. Kennedy signs the Community Mental Health Act. This
pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients from the state toward
the federal government. JFK wanted to create a network of community mental
health centers where mentally ill people could live in the community while
receiving care. JFK could have been inspired to act because his younger
sister, Rosemary, was mentally disabled, received a lobotomy and spent her
life hidden away.
Less than a month after signing the new legislation, JFK is assassinated.
The community mental health centers never receive stable funding, and even
15 years later less than half the promised centers are built.
1965 The U.S. Congress establishes Medicaid and Medicare. Mentally
disabled people living in the community are eligible for benefits but
those in psychiatric hospitals are excluded. By encouraging patients to be
discharged, state legislators could shift the cost of care for mentally
ill patients to the federal government.
1967 Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the
number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan
administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department
of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget
despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended
staffing levels.
1967 Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and ends the practice of
institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts
of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”.
Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the
law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people
entering San Mateo's criminal justice system doubles.
1969 Reagan reverses earlier budget cuts. He increases spending on the
Department of Mental Hygiene by a record $28 million.
1973 The number of patients in California State mental hospitals falls to
7,000.
1980 President Jimmy Carter signs the Mental Health Systems Act to improve
on Kennedy’s dream.
1981 President Reagan repeals Carter’s legislation with the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act. This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill
patients back to the states. The legislation creates block grants for the
states, but federal spending on mental illness declines.
2004 The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 10 percent of state
prisoners have symptoms that meet criteria for a psychotic disorder.
2015 In the San Francisco Homeless Count, 55 percent of people
experiencing chronic homelessness report they have emotional or
psychiatric conditions.
--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: sf.n...@mail.house.gov
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
BeamMeUpScotty
Jun 5, 2022, 4:30:52 PM6/5/22
to
they can't function in society... they should already be in private
facilities or in a Government run mental facility to protect them from
themselves and to protect the public.
Not that all mentally ill need to be housed, the gays and Trans who
aren't violent and don't pose any known threat and haven't been duly
convicted or declared by the courts to be dangerous and mentally ill
should be free to be homeless or earn Billions... which ever they choose.
--
-That's karma-
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The only way to fight the STAGFLATION would be to shrink the size and
taxing and spending of the Government combined with raising the interest
rates to their NATURAL self determining rates and cease the printing of
worthless money rather than the FAKE INTEREST RATES and worthless
counterfeit dollars created by the DEMOCRATS under Obama/Biden-2008 and
Biden/Obama-2020....
The problem isn't "the economy stupid", the problem is
*the stupid government manipulated economy* .
Hiding from reality to find happiness is almost the "text book"
definition of mental illness.
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