Originally posted by: O2bnVegas
My take on this is similar to other social Ills. In the case of mental illness, in times past persons with mental illness were hidden away by their families, little to no treatment. Wars brought home soldiers who weren't the same son, husband, brother, etc. they waved goodbye to. Families rightly expected the lovely homecoming, everybody happy, hugs all around, everything back to normal. But what they got was a scarred young man unable to get back to where he was socially and psychologically, a daddy who couldn't give what he no longer had to his wife and kids. Families hid them away somehow, or maybe they drifted out of the lives of those who had loved them once. Veterans hospitals became shell-shock center and ongoing psychiatric care, what was known of it at the time. (I had some experience in that arena. I still smell the odor of paraldehyde, one of the few 'drugs' available in 1968, at least, to calm their damaged minds.)
As more and more soldiers came home damaged, psychiatric facilites began to bulge at the seams. Criteria had to be established for who would be housed there forever. Judges were loathe to limit freedoms by involuntarily committing everyone.
So, I don't know about "Ronald Reagan closed mental health facilities, but somebody had to take care of them. Residential treatment was designed, people willing to take the least sick of the sickest into their homes, house, feed, personal care, ensure they got their meds, for a stipend. Success of that type of program varies, but that was one example of "closing mental health hospitals", because there just isn't enough room and skilled medical staff willing to practice in that environment versus make millions doing cardiac procedures. But it isn't like doors were locked and treatment abandoned.
Candy
Candy, Abraham Lincoln realized that the true cost of the Civil War would go on for generations--thus, he founded the VA. But a century later, we didn't want to acknowledge a similar burden from the Vietnam and Korean wars. Remember Reagan's Happy Fun Sunshine Bunnies and Rainbows in America shtick? Caring for our vets didn't jive with that. So they were swept under the rug. Which helped to pay for all them shiny new GUNZ to rattle at them Rooskies.
Yay Ronny Raygun!
