Every so often I like to feature an article that caught my attention. In the June 7 edition of Seven Days I found a compelling critique of a previously published article about Vermont’s approach to the mental health crisis, which could just as well refer to the dearth of health care resources in the US. The letter to the editor submitted by John McCullough III of Vermont Legal Aid is titled ‘A Question of Psychiatry’. Excerpts follow:
“I was disappointed by your willingness to accept the prevailing orthodoxy that forced hospitalization and medications are a panacea for people with psychiatric diagnoses. The scientific research reported in Robert Whitaker’s book Anatomy of an Epidemic clearly demonstrates that popular notions about the nature of mental illness and the necessity and efficacy of psychiatric medications are not supported by the evidence. We should all question whether the power placed in the hands of the psychiatric establishment has done more harm than good.
What the article does well, however, is demonstrate how inadequate and underfunded the community supports in our mental health system are. It is unconscionable that our society should expect an untrained family member like the father in your story, no matter how well intentioned, to bear the burden of providing care for his severely disabled son in the middle of a psychiatric crisis.
One symptom of Vermont’s mental health crisis is the unprecedented numbers of people detained in emergency departments without treatment or even access to such basic necessities as social interaction and access to the outdoors. The cause of this crisis is not delays in involuntary medications. No, it is the failure of the mental health system to address problems before they reach a crisis stage, to avoid hospital admission by getting people help where they live, and to provide readily available housing and supports when they are ready to leave the hospital, that causes backlogs in psychiatric hospitals and emergency departments.”
Thank you, Mr. McCullough, for pointing out the “sad consequences of the inadequacy” of our health care system and offering some potential solutions. Will local and federal leaders step up to turn the tide of preventable, steadily rising deaths of the most vulnerable of our population? We should all be asking our elected officials, ‘where do we go from here?’