Managing mental illness: Why we need a public safety/public health model

John is 28years old and has been mentally ill for as long as anyone can remember. His doctors say he has a schizophrenia disorder. Sometimes he hears God whispering in his ear. Other times it's Satan teasing and mocking him. John's been arrested for public intoxication, trespassing, disorderly conduct, aggressive loitering, burglary and theft. In and out of jail, he stays a few days at a half-way house, then is back on the streets, sleeping in some bushes, panhandling, gulping 40-ounce cans of beer, and hustling in exchange for drugs. Sometimes, he can't stop laughing. Other times, he cries so hard he chokes. Some days, even John agrees that he would be better off in a hospital somewhere. 'The problem is, ' he says, I don't know where to go.' Last year, John was sentenced to 10 years in prison after breaking into a woman's apartment and kidnapping her because he believed he was sent by God to protect her.
The facts Because of 'deinstitutionalization' and failure to adequately fund community mental health programs, hundreds of thousands of individuals with serious mental illness have been 'trans-institutionalized' from America's public mental [...]