Hello William, I have spent the last hour I think, reading this entire forum. It does seem to have become a private one, with just you, Lee and Julie. But I must join in. I have worked in a state mental hospital. My mother had 4 nervous breakdowns, (they were called in those day), I have a daughter diagnosed bipolar. I am glad to know new and perhaps trully progressive findings, in the field of mental health are being made. Also I am proud to be a native of the state of Arizona. That post almost makes me want to pack-up and move back there. It has always saddened and even infuriated me that our society puts such a stigmatism on mental disease. Now substance abuse and addiction fall right in behind it. You have presented some very interesting information here. I don't have any documented evidence to add, just an opinion, obtained from a lifetime of 1st hand experience. Won't go into my life story here, just want to say what I have tried to assure my daughter. Do you know anyone that has lived their entire life without ever being physically sick? I mean, never even having a bad cold, or flu? Of course not. So what makes you think people can live an entire life-time completely and totally sane? The human mind is trully The Last Frontier. My prayers have been and will always be for God to help us all learn to REALLY communicate and eliminate the stresses and traumas of sharing this globe. God Bless, Karen

Hello Karen Welcome to our forum. While sometimes it does seem that my forums are private I assure you that they are always open for comments and opinions. Mental illness is a very difficult topic for many people so often times I get many visitors but few replies. You, having seen the devastation from different perspectives, puts you in a particularly interesting vantage point. You have seen the suffering along with things that ease that suffering and yet you have also seen how seldom someone with a mental illness actually benefits from our present of mental health treatment. Stigma and discrimination are very large barriers to receiving treatment. Once past those barriers, then we must face such things as lack of medical coverage, limited availability of beds in hospitals and many many other obstacles. I myself have suffered pretty much needlessly for many years with severe depression. Proper diagnosis and treatment 30 years ago could have prevented me from having to live my life the way I have. I can only hope that now, since I know there is hope, we can share that message of hope with others who suffer. There is much that can be done even on an individual basis to help improve things for all of us with a mental illness. Please look through my other forums and see the different programs and consumer movements that are taking place around the U.S and the rest of the world. Your opinions and your message of hope will always be welcome. Thank Youy once again Karen and please do stop back soon for another visit OK? May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and be there waiting,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health And Political Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=9637 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=13254 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=11791 Business Forums http://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com http://www.ourpowerforcedmatrix.com/team.php?UID=10561

Thanks for the chance to share about this topic William. My fiend in Canberra, our national capital, has a daughter with a dual diagnosis. She self medicates with anything and everything she can get. Recently she escaped from the psych hospital. She spent $3000 in 2 weeks. I hear you ask how did she have so much money? Well she has been in the hospital many times in the past year or so and her dad has been saving her pension for her. Any way she is 5'7" and only weighs 45 kg, she is painfully thin. So she is taken back to hospital to low care, where she can escape from at any time. No one wants to do anything for her. She has complex needs and problems. So the proffesionals are virtually ignoring her. In desparation her mother threatened to go to TV stations, newspapers and expose the state of the psych system. Within 2 hours her daughter was in high care and her medication and treatment plans were being reviewed. She has tried to kill her mother so she cannot return to the family home. Until now nothing had been put in place to find appropriate accomodation for her when she is well enough to be discharged. Now they are making plans for this. Sometimes it takes almost black mail to acchieve any positive results. The question must be asked. What happens to people who do not have any family or friends to advocate on their behalf? There is no justice only 'Just Us'. So we must all take responsibility to advocate and lobby for a better deal world wide for those who have a mental illness. Imagine the furore if medical hospitals started treating people with serious phsical illness in the same manner as many people with mental illness are treated. I must state that I now there are excellent facilities and staff doing fantastic work in this area. It is the overall standard that should be the same as these leading facilities.

Hello Cheryl The picture that you have painted here about the life of your friend is unfortunately, a very common one. It is a world wide problem and there must be factors involved that we are kept in the dark about. In the US there are roughly 50 million people with a mental illness. That equates to nearly 1 in 5 people throughout the population. Insurance companies never offer the same type of coverage for mental illness as they do for physical illness. In the US, there are more people in prison with mental illness than there are in treatment. It is my belief that there is a big dark secret about mental illness that the government is protecting. Just as in the case with Autism and the connection with childhood immunizations. The evidence is so overwhelming that thimerosal, the mercury based preservative used in vaccinations and some anti- biotics, causes autism, that it boggles my mind how governments can continue to deny this connection.. We, as the citizens of our respective nations, must rally together and force change on a system that has been failing us since it's very beginning. I have information in my forums on how to reach politicians and demand their support in this matter or lose votes. We have to make the best of what little there is left of our constitutional right to vote. If we don't act very soon, we mnay not ever get another chance. Thank you Cheryl, for visiting this forum. If I can be of any assistance to you or your friend please don't hesitate to contact me. I have a lot of information about mental health programs, treatments, medications and just about anything else you could need. Take care my friend. May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and be there waiting,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health And Political Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=9637 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=13254 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=11791 Business Forums http://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com http://www.ourpowerforcedmatrix.com/team.php?UID=10561

Hello Evrybody

   I have spoken many times about the difficulty that people with a mental illness have when seeking treatment. I have also spoken many times about how our penal system has become the largest provider of mental healthcare. I have never spoken about people with a mental illness actually seeking treatment at the county jail. Well, this seems to be the case in at least one town in Ohio. 75% of the prison population here has a diagnosable mental illness and for most of them, if it weren't for being incarcerated, they would have no access to treatment. I just have to wonder when our legislators will finally realize the grave mistake they are making by cutting mental health budgets. Every time someone with a mental illness lands in jail, the taxpayers are being billed an additional $30,000 per year for their care. That is how much it costs to house a prisoner these days.

    The last estimate that I had on the cost of maintaining someone on meds and out patient care it was about $7,000 per year. Doesn't it make more sense to treat people before they end up in jail. Most people with a mental illness can be treated successfully and live a normal, productive life. They can even be a taxpayer like the rest of us if given the proper care at the proper time. Mental illness strikes about 1 in 5 people in America during their lifetimes. Most of them can be treated successfully if their illnesses aren't allowed to progress to a crises stage. Even then, the success rate for treatment of mental illness is far greater than for diabetics, cancer patients and heart disease. Jail is not the answer.

     The following link will take you to the articla about this Jail/ M/H treatment center.

http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/10/22/hjn102206mentallevyjail.html