Eight decades ago, the United States launched one of the most dramatic social changes in modern history: the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill.
Before that, mental health systems in New York and elsewhere consisted solely of state-run psychiatric institutions.
Regardless of your condition, all government had to offer you was confinement in an asylum.
Long story short, we decided not to do that anymore, and slashed over 90% of our public psych beds since the 1950s.
The result was twofold: Many people got more appropriate care and treatment through “community-based” outpatient programs.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
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Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
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