Re: Homelessness and “mental illness”
from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Louise Bouta)
Date: Dec.27, 2003
Subject: Mpls homelessness and mental illness re Mpls Digest 1851, 1852, 1853
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I was given to understand that the subject of mental illness is not a proper subject for these pages because it is not specific to Mpls. (but see mpls 1851, message 9) However, neither is homelessness and it is clear that the issues are inexorably intertwined. I’ve read that 60% of homeless people carry the label of “mental illness.” It is a heavy label to carry. The billions of dollars used to make and keep people sick and disabled in the mental health system could be used to ameliorate homelessness.
Jonathan Palmer writes in answer to Margaret Hastings (Mpls 1852, message 2)
“ if you actually have an agenda or specific goals you refuse to put them out.”
We in Well Mind Association have had some actual goals since we started as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit in 1994. At first we merely said we want to let people know how some of us have recovered from what was labeled “mental illness” by using holistic health practices and integrative health cares. Our goal now is to end the practice of forced drugging and forced shock treatment after the need for them is past.
People in many parts of the world are allowed to recover, and they do, spontaneously, when allowed to get off the disabling drugs once the need for them is past. The package inserts from psychiatric drugs say that the drugs cause delusions and hallucinations. You can read the same in the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) at the library.
The offer to help by Jonathan Palmer or anyone else will be gratefully accepted. It is difficult to find allies when all the non-profiit groups and many churches depend on subsidies from the drug companies to keep operating. The drug companies are the only ones who have money these days. I would be willing to meet with anyone to work on this problem.
The counties want to send people to the state hospitals and do not have money to provide for community living which would cost a fraction of the expense of state hospitals. The reason given is that federal money in the form of Medical Assistance payments to patients is available for paying state hospitals. I was always told that this is money that is not available for community living. Besides the cost, there is the smallest chance that health might more easily be enabled in the community.
However, I found out a few years ago that it is an illegal violation of the federal Title 42 Code of Federal Regulations, Sec.435.1008, passed in1978 and still on the books. I checked it on the internet the other day. This is called the IMD regulation because it was passed so long ago that it referred to state hospitals as “Institutions for Mental Diseases.” They cannot receive federal dollars in the form of MA payments nor Veterans Administration funds. It seems to be irrelevant that the counties and the state are illegally violating federal regulation
At meetings of the State Advisory Council for Mental Health, this was discussed a few times and they tried to get it changed. Evidently, there was opposition. They explained that the federal money is being put into the General Fund and taken from there to pay the state hospitals. They said this means that more people must continually be put into state hospitals to (illegally) replenish the continuing supply of money. One woman spontaneously said, “Well, that isn’t right.” She looked around the room and realized she was not supposed to have said that in that gathering. There was complete silence for a minute.
The federal HHS-Office of Investigator General looked into this a summer or two ago. However, we are still funneling money to the state hospitals instead of to community settings.
Through watching the commitment courts and listening to the people abused in the system, it became clear that some of the most intelligent and most sensitive people in this society are caught up in the mental health system. Reasons given in court for labeling people, drugging and locking them up include: “he prays a lot, he was walking outside without clothing suitable for the weather, she said the mold in her building is harming her health, she said the food (MSG) is poisonous, she reads the Bible a lot.” I was invited to a picnic with some “consumers” and they all were afraid to slice the onion for the hamburgers for fear the mental health workers present would report they were seen crying. Then they would be given higher doses of the hated, disabling drugs.
This is the inevitable problem when there is no “discernible pathological lesions or genetic abnormalities” in mental health disorders. The American Psychiatric Association had to admit to 22 fasting protestors last summer that they could not “provide any evidence for a physical diagnostic exam -- such as a scan or test of the brain, blood, urine, genes, etc. - that can reliably distinguish individuals with these diagnoses (prior to treatment with psychiatric drugs) from individuals without these diagnoses.” Without evidence of brain pathology, no basis exists to call emotional distress, disturbing behavior, or unusual thoughts or perceptions "neurobiological disorders."
This is the foundation on which rests the right of the mental health industry--the biggest business in Minnesota--to degrade, disable, and destroy luckless people accused of “mental illness,” and defraud the taxpayer.
The APA confirms that, in the absence of biological markers, mental disorders are defined by "a variety of concepts": "distress experienced and reported," "level of disability," "patterns of behavior," and "statistical deviation from population-based norms." Precisely. The APA should therefore explain how such sociological concepts -- which easily define conditions such as poverty, discrimination, or war -- substantiate the existence of "neurobiological disorders." http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/hungerstrike.shtml
Many people are returned to the commitment courts by the Case Managers and many are brought in by one member of their families. We have to recognize that some, or most, of the family members had good intentions at the time. Most of us were prevented from learning what the true effect of the drugs and the demeaning treatment would be or that there are health-repairing alternatives in the holistic health sector. Now the knowledge is available if you ask anyone not connected to the orthodox medical industry.
Forty years ago I watched a teen-age 4H-er demonstrate how he figures how much of trace minerals and supplements he gives to his calf. He had three blackboards covered with equations detailing the weight of his calf, how much nutrients were in the feed he was giving and how much of which supplements he would need to add for his calf’s optimum health.
People are aware of the need for vitamins in their dogs and cats and provide them. Yet, modern medicine doctors have not yet learned of similar needs in humans. They have not been taught. The present system makes too much money for everyone in the biggest industry in Minnesota -- the health care industry, particularly in mental health. And it is surprisingly easy to snatch the accused from the jaws of health, disable them, and keep them disabled for life.
When a person is brought into the commitment courts because he is disturbing a family member, or someone wants his assets, or a landlord would like a different renter who might yield to his sexual aggression, or whatever, no one is allowed to tell in court what the true situation is -- not a family member, nor a court-appointed defense attorney, nor an advocate the person has contacted. Appeals to the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board go unanswered. We have also learned there is no place where you can complain about the injustices of the hearing judge. The Legal Aid-Mental Health Law Project is no help, nor is the State Ombudsman’s Office assigned for Mental Health.
JP: the reason I’m asking these questions and have offered help and suggestions.
LB: We surely do need help on all fronts. A Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs was started by the Governor in September and organized by the Citizens League. The following is from: http://www.citizensleague.net/mental health/
“More than $1.2 billion is spent each year on mental health services in Minnesota and there are hundreds of public and private mental health programs, activities and agencies. But despite all this money and activity the system is not working the way it should. Patients and their families are dissatisfied because their needs are not being met. The system is inefficient and often ineffective. There is little coordination between public and private services and between the health care and the social services systems.”
Their vision is “of a comprehensive mental health system that is accessible and responsive to consumers, guided by clear goals and outcomes, and grounded in public/private partnerships.”
One problem is that they forgot to invite two groups of stakeholders to the table. One is the identified patients and survivors of the system and the other is the taxpayers who unwittingly are paying to disable their neighbors and to keep them disabled for life. I sat in four of the six groups where 13 to 22 people were around the table. A few consumers from the corporation-funded parent groups or state-paid groups were there. Other than that, I was the only person at the tables who is not making money off the misery of others. The system is what some people would identify as a racket. It makes a lot of money for a few people while devastating a great many people.
They talk about outcomes but the system has been resisting collecting information about outcomes for decades. Nobody wants to be compared; therefore, we don’t know what works, if anything. Besides, they don’t allow recovery. They can’t allow even one person to leave the system and recover. They make too much money to allow that. That’s why the taxpayers have to pay for Case Managers to go to people’s homes or apartments and watch them take their “medications” every day.
I have no illusions that any information I put forth at the meetings will show up in the reports.
Jonathan Palmer writes in Msg 1954:
Isn't the best of democracy listening to all opinions and then working to find common grounds and solutions? Isn't the best of democracy giving as many people as possible a voice and then following the
will of the people as best you can?
Further info from: http://www.citizensleague.net/mental health/
How to Provide Input You may submit information using the following format:
Stakeholder (includes Taxpayers, says lb) Solutions: Submit a proposed solution of three (3) pages or less in a defined format. It will be given to all panel members and reviewed and presented by staff during the Leadership Panel meetings.
Stakeholder Statement: Submit a general statement of 10 pages or less. The staff will review the material and present a summary to the Leadership Panel members during their meetings. In addition, this material will be made available to interested panel members.
General materials: All submitted material will be made available to interested panel members.
Information may be provided either electronically or by regular mail.
Please identify in the cover email or letter exactly what type of material you are submitting to the Leadership Panel. By email: Please send the cover email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and attach materials to the email. Please provide any written documents in PDF or MS Word.
By regular mail: Please send all materials to:
Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs
600 Pillsbury Center South
220 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis MN 55402-4501
Louise Bouta
Kingfield
Well Mind Association of Minnesota
4003 Pillsbury Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55409
Phone: 612-823-8249
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.wellmindminnesota.org
