Negative Effects Of Ar Deinstitutionalization

For centuries, institutions for mentally ill people were the most common way to treat those with mental disabilities. However, they were not safe or sanitary. Critics argued that hospitals harmed their patients rather than helped them, and mental illness was unjust if a person had not proven dangerous to others. In 1955, the first antipsychotic medication was introduced and made it possible for people to be medicated for severe mental illnesses. Shortly after, John F. Kennedy made a law that declared people could not be hospitalized against their will unless they were a threat to others. After the implementation of this law, mental patients were “deinstitutionalized”, which, according to the Encyclopedia of Psychology, is the process of transferring patients with mental disorders or developmental disabilities from long-term institutions, which isolate the patient, to more integrated community-based mental health services. Today, more than 1.8 million of the 4.8 million people with severe mental disorders
Living in the community, they tend to experience more freedom and can live more normal lives. They also have more activities during the day, which is great for those deinstitutionalized patients who have benefited from their relocation. Unfortunately, there are many other patients who are often homeless, isolated, and victimized. Critics point out that many patients that have been moved from psychiatric hospitals to nursing or residential homes are not always staffed or fully equipped to meet the needs of the mentally ill. Many mentally ill who were released from institutions were re-institutionalized in jails or prisons. Only one in three of these patient’s report receiving treatment while in jail. Another problem the mentally ill face is discrimination. The community at large is often afraid of people with mental illnesses and think that they are