• OatsteakOP
    29·
    2 years ago

    I’m thinking even if this report is honest, it’s still manipulative. 100 people out of billions, over several years is not what I would call a big systemic issue. Also things like being forced to take medication? That’s what happens if you get committed against your will. Anywhere.

    • mylifeforaiur
      25·
      2 years ago

      Apparently, usians prefer the model where people with severe psychiatric problems live on the street and die of exposure. That’s real “freedom.”

      • carpe_modo
        14·
        2 years ago

        Well, we still have places for mentally ill people. They might be worse than our prisons. Nobody ever goes willingly. They aren’t hospitals as much as holding centers.

        There are hospitals, but whether you can get treatment in one is dependent on whether you can afford it or if you live in an area that provides those benefits.

        • SovereignState
          14·
          2 years ago

          cw: mental health

          click to expand

          I got put in a psych ward when I was 14 for missing school for a couple days and saying I didn’t want to live anymore.

          They kept me for over a week in a “behavioral center”, a depressed and scared kid, with individuals from 12-18, some with extremely violent and antisocial tendencies. Some who had run away from home. Some who had just tried recreational drugs. One who fought a guy who his girlfriend cheated on him with. One trans kid. Felt like a totally random assortment of kids with generic “behavioral issues”. They pumped me full of drugs, probably tried 3 or 4 different ones. Barred windows, no outside time, 24/7 surveillance including toilet use. No phone. Pencils only when supervised. Group therapy. Two-to-a-room, regardless of how violent one may be. Hospital gown and disposable slippers the whole time. They had a padded isolation room if you misbehaved. I was disallowed leisure time for 2 days because of a misunderstanding (some kid threatened another, and the victim gave a very vague description of his threatener, “stocky, long hair” – it wasn’t until a nurse asked him “was it him?” referring to me, and he acquitted me that I was allowed leisure time.) No apology. Humanization only from technicians, not nurses or psychs. 11th day. “Your insurance will only cover 11 days. You’re free to go. Hope the meds work.”

          Sorry to spill my guts like this. I have family who worked in a maximum security prison, and they told me spree killers often get more freedom than us kids had in the ward. I still don’t know how I feel about that experience to this day. More than anything it probably just “scared me straight”, leading me to hide depressive tendencies thereafter regardless of how I truly felt lest I get locked up again.

          • carpe_modo
            8·
            2 years ago

            Unfortunately, experiences like this are pretty common. It’s why so many people just try to hide their mental health issues as much as possible instead of getting treatment(if it’s even accessible).

            Edit: I feel particularly bad for the people who end up in permanent facilities. They’re even worse, and as much as we Americans like to pretend we’ve moved past the whole “family members can have you locker up for no good reason” stuff, we really haven’t. It just takes more paperwork now than it used to. This is particularly an issue for queer and trans people like you witnessed.