I generally post a blog from my files each Friday but today I am making an exception to share two stories and a website with you that are well worth your time.
Schzophrenic. Killer. My Cousin by Mac McClelland is a riveting story published by Mother Jones Magazine that combines the author’s investigation into a murder inside her family with a study of how we’ve gutted our mental health care system. The sub-title of the story reads:
It’s insanity to kill your father with a kitchen knife. It’s also insanity to close hospitals, fire therapists, and leave families to face mental illness on their own.
Collectively, states have cut $4.35 billion in public mental health care spending since 2009, the author notes. Meanwhile, between 1998 and 2006, the number of mentally ill people incarcerated in federal, state and local prisons and jails has more than quadrupled.
The Problem With How We Treat Bipolar Disorder by Linda Logan published in the New York Times Magazine presents an interesting viewpoint about the loss of self and identity when you are diagnosed with a mental disorder.