FiendishHawk t1_is367ww wrote
Reply to comment by twolfe0 in In Pa. county jails, people with mental illness are routinely met with pepper spray and stun guns by WITFnews
It’s very much a liberal issue as conservatives think that this sort of thing is the responsibility of the family of the mentally ill person, not society.
twolfe0 t1_is38coh wrote
Perhaps...either/or it sure has become society's problem, a problem that clearly grew over the last few decades and is reaching critic mass. As far as it being the responsibility of the person's family ... That's great if the family is responsible to begin with...or if they are indeed responsible but managing and caring for a mentally ill person is beyond their capabilities as it is for most ...or that the mentally ill person has a family to begin with
FiendishHawk t1_is39gd2 wrote
Right.
Bonegirl06 t1_is56h76 wrote
Very few families have the resources or knowledge to treat mental illness. Conservatives live in a fantasy world.
ashleyorelse t1_is5yc1y wrote
Conservatives think everyone should do everything for themselves.
That's because their political views are designed to benefit rich people, who have the means to do this, but don't want to help or pay for others.
Everyone else who thinks that way was conned by rich people propaganda.
What's really fun is to discuss it in depth with a evangelical Christian conservative.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is always great to mention (Luke 10). Jesus teaches to help those in need in order to be a good neighbor.
So is the story of the sheep and the goats. (Matthew 25). Jesus teaches that whatever his followers do to others, they are essentially doing to him.
If they let you get that far, after presenting these scriptures and stories, it's great to ask them if they would tell Jesus to do whatever they insist the poor or needy should do.
Go tell Jesus to "get a job". Tell Jesus he "doesn't want to work because he's lazy". Tell Jesus "bootstrap yourself up". Tell Jesus he "doesn't deserve the help".
Most times you can't even get them that far because they will walk away in self righteous indignation as they do not want to hear the truth that their political ideas and their faith simply do not line up.
FiendishHawk t1_is63oa2 wrote
Rich folks can throw money at any family problem so they think that everyone should. If their family member becomes an addict, they can pay for fancy rehab. If their family member get schizophrenia they can pay for the best psychiatrists and an apartment for them to stay in.
ashleyorelse t1_is694ex wrote
Exactly.
Their real achievement is convincing poor and middle class people to adopt the same mindset, but without the resources. Not only that, but to advocate it for others.
FiendishHawk t1_is6fqzk wrote
Ordinary people can’t necessarily take troubled relatives into their homes because they have other responsibilities and limited resources. If you can only afford to rent a room for yourself, you can’t necessarily let your drug addict brother stay. If you have children at home, a schizophrenic relative with terrifying behaviors might cause them to grow up traumatized. This is why people end up on the streets despite have family.
klauskervin t1_is5fn3p wrote
A lot of these folks have no family to speak of. What do you do with a 50 y/o with schizophrenia that has no job or family?
FiendishHawk t1_is5h1dr wrote
A lot of them do have families but severe schizophrenia strains the resources of all but the richest families: it’s hard to invite your schizophrenic uncle to stay long term if he screams constantly and rants about demons and can’t help with the rent.
alaxsxaq t1_is683v7 wrote
How do you think this should be addressed? Fine to blame someone else, but if you have no thoughts about a solution, you are just being lazy and contributing nothing. This country is locked into left/right bullshit that solves nothing. Perpetuating that is of no value.
FiendishHawk t1_is6ek20 wrote
It should be addressed by addressing it. Conservatives are reluctant to engage in the issue and the only suggestions I’ve seen from them of any practical intent are “Bring back the asylums” which I do not suppose they are willing to pay for.
Oh and sometimes they suggest just shooting all the homeless but that is more fascist than conservative IMHO.
alaxsxaq t1_is6u00c wrote
Conservative/liberal arguments aside, have any of our politicians in this state proposed a solution? Does that solution have broad support?
We put up with piss poor services in this state for what we pay. I'm not sure why we expect so little of our government. Placing the blame all on one party is pretty much an act of surrender. If you care, you should realize that you need to do more than complain or march off to the polls every year and vote for your party in the hope that finally be done.
Healthcare in this country is an abomination and we all smile and accept it. We get what we deserve.
FiendishHawk t1_is6umu4 wrote
Liberals have ideas about healthcare reform but it’s really got to be a federal effort, because otherwise the red states will just put all their mentally ill on buses and send them to PA or wherever reforms first.
heili t1_is6rdoi wrote
> It should be addressed by addressing it.
What?
Let's say, for sake of argument, that I agree with funding mental healthcare for people who suffer severe mental illness. How do we get people to accept treatment? One of the large problems with treating things like schizophrenia is noncompliance with medication.
FiendishHawk t1_is6tfdk wrote
Let’s get the funding and see if that’s still a problem. Schizophrenics from rich families seem to have less problems with compliance - very few rich men’s mentally ill kids living on the street by choice, hmm?
heili t1_is6uwue wrote
My family has dealt with this exact issue. It was a revolving door of him taking his medication, feeling better, stopping medication, going off the rails, ending up having problems, emergency holds, convincing him to stay in the hospital, getting him back on meds...
That door revolved for over thirty years until he died. And I do not come from a wealthy family. It's not like there was endless money to throw at this.
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