Are asylums the answer to mental illness in homeless population?
- Many homeless people struggle with mental health issues
- Some people believe a return to mental institutions is the answer
- Some advocates for the homeless population oppose any forced treatment
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(NewsNation) — Multiple incidents involving homeless people who were believed to be struggling with mental health issues have drawn national attention in recent years.
Now, some believe the answer to America’s mental health problem is a return to mental institutions, including for the homeless population. But some advocates for the homeless disagree.
“I do think we need to start thinking about reopening some of our mental institution homes for the mentally ill, they shouldn’t be on the street,” said Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.
Caplan is part of a growing group of people who believe asylums will help those who are homeless and struggling with mental illness.
The earliest recorded mental health institutions opened in the 1750s. By the mid-20th century, mental hospitals housed over 500,000 patients. But over the years, asylums turned extreme and by the 1970s, most psychiatric facilities had closed.
“It’s gotta be closely regulated, we know what went wrong in the past, but to argue that we’re just going to leave a significant number of people running around on the streets with mental illness, that’s not humane, that’s not ethical, that doesn’t do them any good,” Caplan argues.
But some advocates for the homeless are against the idea of returning to mental institutions.
“We definitely oppose any version of ‘treatment’ which necessitates taking people’s rights away,” said Carlos Wadkins, development coordinator at Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco.
In San Francisco, major businesses have vowed to leave the tech hub amid rising crime and a growing homeless population, which has risen to roughly 8,000 people.
“There’s plenty of people now who want to get mental health treatment who either have been told there’s not enough space, they’re on a waiting list, or they don’t know how to navigate the system,” Wadkins said. “So where there’s all this voluntary need, (it) doesn’t seem the correct response is to invest in involuntary mental health programs.”
