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While the closing of psychiatric hospitals and putting people out there in the community was well meaning, I do think they went too far with it. Some folks are a danger to themselves and others and honestly probably need to be in an institution.
A lot of people you see having episodes are fucked on ice. I know this for a fact because I used to run with a lot of them.
Some want to quit and they should have access to treatment and resources to allow them to reintegrate into society.
But then there's the others. And honestly, these people are the larger percentage. They don't want to quit. They either see no issue with their lifestyle or are too dependant to even consider quitting.
It's this second cohort we need to figure out what to do with. The first lot just need government funding.
Perhaps the solution for the second group is to figure out a way to make them not get on drugs in the first place, at least not the variety that is prone to inducing psychosis. From what I know, most people who get hard into the drugs have usually had a shit start to their life. So better mental health care is probably a good option to start with. Besides that, better systems for looking after kids in care, more resources being put into rehabilitating parents who are in/have been in prison, more of an emphasis on family preservation and/or reunification are good bets.
I do think that the second group are fixable and can become their former selves again, but it's a fine line. The only option I see for them is some sort of forced intervention and rehabilitation. But obviously you can't just take people in psychosis, stick them in a prison, and wish for the best. You also can't just make them go cold turkey, so you'd need somewhere to ethically hold them (more than likely against their will), while also still providing some of whatever drug they're on, without risking an overdose or allowing any secret syphoning into other people's bodies (people pretending to shoot up but saving some to sell to other people, etc), and all of that while keeping them and their families reasonably happy, and not violating UN conventions on illegal detainment, and our human rights laws. So thats probably not happening under any democratic government
And then you'd also need a way to make sure that it isn't easily accessible to them again. Which probably means even more enforcement of drug laws, more drug dogs in public, random searches, etc, which would also piss off everybody
Tbh I don't see how it is possible to rehabilitate them in an ethical, just, and civilised way. But nonetheless, there are options. It's the sort of thing I could see working in a dictatorship, but then the problem becomes the dictators or their cronies getting paid off to look the other way
Perhaps the solution for the second group is to figure out a way to make them not get on drugs in the first place, at least not the variety that is prone to inducing psychosis.
That requires some really difficult conversations about how western society is broken AF, and no one seemingly wants to have that cause it doesn't help the capitalist system.
Both of them are due to Shit Life Syndrome. Honestly with everything electronically tuned to produce the biggest state of fear imaginable on top of end stage capitalism, I'm not surprised that substance escapism is rampant.
that substance escapism is rampant.
escapism as an addiction is a huge problem. But no one wants to talk about phone or alcohol addiction as its often not as public.
I'd easily argue alcohol addiction is very much public in Australia. But as long as it's the amiable cool fun guy social drinking you get a pass.
It's going to sound barbaric but I feel like this happens a lot when bad things come to light, or are realised by the masses. A couple of things that come to mind from Resi are that hugs with workers were either banned or highly discouraged depending on the placement, regardless of circumstance, and because of all the people that used to come in to work with kids just to feel like a mini dictator, pretty much any form of punishment was prohibited
The last one was kind of hard for me to swallow because I came into the system after they'd been formally banned and restricted in usage, but before the old timers had quit. So when I moved in, if you stepped out of line, there'd be consequences. Might be no drives, or an outing getting cancelled, or losing out on pocket money. But then a few years later all the hardened old timers had quit, and it felt like a free for all. The others would smash up the kitchen, not clean up their mess, go off at a worker, then go to Geelong an hour later.
obviously though...
Obviously that's not to say that punishment or consequences always have their place, but it just sort of sucked to see other people get away with stuff I'd've gotten in deep shit for. But not always getting my way did end up making me a more rounded person and less of a little shot, so I guess it helped me
The issue was that Jeff Kennett closed the institutions with the idea that there would be support in the community, and then the funding for that support later got slashed.
I agree there's a real problem though.
The issue was that Jeff Kennett
So much of the states problems could start that way.
Yeah. I was quite young when he was in so not familiar with much more than that, but it seems like he had a lasting impact.
It's probably really good the institutions were closed due to the human rights violations. But austerity and cuts in mental health have done so much damage.
My area is still recovering from all the secondary school closures. There used to be quite a few, and now there's a population explosion in the area and only 2 high schools bursting at the seams with 2,000 students each! Makes me so mad!
To be fair it's a trend that occured across the western world (closure of facilities), so it's certainly not isolated to Victoria.