Isolation and cost...

Here is an article about a hoarder:  http://bit.ly/109knsF . This is an article about a mental illness that I don’t have a lot of knowledge about. (Except for the knowledge that I have from watching TV.)  I like this article for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that it provides a pretty good picture of what it is like to live with mental illness and how difficult it is to have to deal with a system that you don’t understand.  It also explains how it feels to try to ‘fit in’ in a society that doesn’t understand you.  It outlines the social isolation of many of the mentally ill.  Roger’s life experience is very common for those struggling with mental illness.  I recognize the struggle.  I also understand his ambivalence about the medication because I have heard the same things from other mentally ill people.  And I knew many people who did not consistently take medication for similar reasons.  If you talk to people who work in the mental health system, they will tell you that they know many patients who come in and out of the hospital because they stop taking medication.

The most touching aspect of this article for me is the part of the article that talks about the fear expressed by Roger’s 83 year-old friend Greg Lein.  His friend worries about what might happen to Roger after he dies.  This is something that I have heard before from family members of the people that I have worked with.  Having personal and professional experience with hospitalization, I understand the need that the mentally ill have for a support system.  As mentally ill people attempt to recover in the hospital, family members/close friends are an important factor as you plan for discharge.   But because of the stress of mental illness and the difficulty of dealing with a mentally ill person, many people lose the support of family and friends.  And they frequently don’t have the social skills necessary to create a new support system.   Dealing with mental illness and living a life impacted by such illness is difficult and frequently isolates people.  I would also like to point out that many mentally ill people come into contact with the criminal justice system in the same kinds of way that Roger has. They didn’t talk about a jail stay in the article. But, I had many clients who ended up in jail.  And interestingly enough, whether the charges were serious or not, I couldn’t continue to follow them while they were in jail.  And I found that many times, they weren’t able to get medication while incarcerated.   It is my opinion that dealing adequately with mental health issues could have an impact on our jail population.  And would result in decreased costs because the mentally ill would have fewer periods of crisis.  It seems to me that preventive care could operate in the same way that it does for other physical illnesses.  Prevention, and ongoing case management, would result in more stability and better health outcomes.

When we view mental illness as a character defect or evidence of weakness, we end up with a system that doesn’t support normalization for those dealing with mental illness.  And the result of that is a system that ends up costing more in the long run.  We see the mentally ill dealing with frequent hospitalizations, jail stays and other costly consequences.  I wonder what would happen if mental and physical health care were more available for those needing it?  I wonder whether we would see people healing and becoming more productive?  What do you think? Let me know!!