Discuss deinstitutionalization, including what it was meant to accomplish, the problems that have resulted for the mentally ill, and some workable alternatives

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that long-term "institutionalization" can lead to dependency, isolation, and continued emotional disturbance. Deinstitutionalization, the reduced use of full-time commitment to mental institutions to treat mental disorders, was meant to remedy this problem. However, its success has been limited. Many states reduced mental hospital populations primarily as a way to save money. The upsetting result is that many chronic patients have been discharged to hostile communities without adequate care. Many former patients have joined the ranks of the homeless. Sadly, patients who trade hospitalization for unemployment, homelessness, and social isolation all too often end up rehospitalized or in jail. Large mental hospitals may no longer be warehouses for society's unwanted, but many former patients are not better off in bleak nursing homes, single-room hotels, board-and-care homes, shelter, or jails. A trend in treatment that could prevent the dependency is partial hospitalization. In this approach, some patients spend their days in the hospital but go home at night. Others attend therapy sessions during the evening. A major advantage of partial hospitalization is that the patients can go home and practice what they've been learning. Overall, partial hospitalization can be just as effective as full hospitalization. Halfway houses also provide a better way to ease a patient's return to the community. Halfway houses are short-term group living facilities for people making the transition from an institution to independent living. They offer supervision and support, without being as restricted or medically-oriented as a hospital. They keep people near their families and reduce a person's chances of being readmitted to a hospital.