Does sending the mentally ill to psychiatric hospitals help cure their disease?
The mentally ill have been suffering a lot throughout history. The idea of the mentally ill being an inferior race of human beings has been circulated amongst all societies for decades. It in turn has greatly increased the suffering of the mentally ill people and made their condition even worse. The society has thought that the best cure for people with mental illness is to isolate them away from the society by sending them to psychiatric hospitals, where they presumably get the best treatment for their disease. There has been a lot of debate on whether the psychiatric hospitals are good for the health of the patients or not. Stories of the patients being abused, experimented on, euthanized, and many more cruel treatments being conducted on them in the psychiatric hospitals has been shared amongst the people. Psychiatric hospitals should be shut down globally, and the world should collaborate and work together to stop psychiatric hospitals to be built and focus more on finding a cure for the mentally ill.
The first mental institution ever created was in modern-day Cairo, Egypt. A person named Ahmad Ibn Tulun had a keen interest in the mentally ill, so he built a mental institution that confined them. Since then, the concept of confining the mentally ill in special institutions has spread throughout the world. Almost all countries have built psychiatric hospitals to confine the mentally ill. In the United States, there are a total number of 5,686 registered mentally ill hospitals, many of which have been shut down or in the process of shutting down (Bennion 2).
Additionally, it is too costly for the state governments to operate the state psychiatric hospitals. Considering that the psychiatric hospitals are considered an ineffective way of treating mental illness, the states are considering not reinvesting further in the psychiatric hospitals. However, in some states, the psychiatric hospitals are effective. Numerous advocates have argued that the psychiatric hospitals should be closed to allow the mentally ill patients to receive normal health care. The government should consider creating community-based services rather than sending the mentally ill persons to the psychiatric hospitals (Zhu et al. 257).The mental illness requires a long-term care and treatment program. It is because the patients are resistant to treatment, non-responsive, and suffers major side effects among other explanations.
Over the years, there has been increased pressure to close to psychiatric hospitals depending on the provisions of Medicaid law. The Institute for Mental Disease (IMD) Exclusion restricts the funds, which could be used by the states to fund the treatment of psychiatric disorders (IMDs). However, the proponents of the psychiatric hospitals argue that the exclusion of the mentally ill persons from the psychiatric hospitals leads to homelessness, incarceration or death to many people who are unable to take care of themselves. Among the close to 5 million Americans suffering from depression and schizophrenia, close to 50% are not treated on a particular day (Dols 188). In the recent years, the evidence indicates that the hospitals are admitting psychiatric patients with less severe conditions while prohibiting more seriously ill patients. It is important to close to psychiatric hospitals as they exclude the patients from the other people in the society. It is usually a difficult psychological condition and situation for the patients. Thus, the mentally ill persons should be sent to community-based services, which allow for interaction with other normal persons in the society.
The psychiatric hospitals lead to more adverse effects than positive impacts on the health condition of the mentally ill patients. Most of the psychiatric hospitals have extreme environments, which exposes the patients to serious psychological and physical deterioration. For instance, the patients are usually confined to small rooms, which lack interaction with the external environment. Such extreme environments are more likely to increase the risks and impacts of mental illness. For instance, the prisoners who were placed in solitary confinement ended up with adverse mental illness conditions. The long-term isolation of individuals leads to the increase costs and antisocial behavior, which places the individuals at the risk of deteriorating mental condition (Krasnov and Gurovich 333). The psychiatric hospital environment can be seen to be torturous and cruel. It limits its ability to support the treatment of the mentally ill patients.
Most importantly, there are lacks any scientific evidence and understanding relating to the nature and extent of solitary confinement effects. However, the reactions to isolation differ amongst the different patients. However, a larger percentage of the patients do not indicate any positive recovery from the physical hospital admission intervention. One of the major concerns is the perceived isolation rather than the actual isolation in the psychiatric hospitals. The general perception is that the hospital excludes the patients from the overall society. Both national and international agencies have expressed their concerns and worries about the ability of psychiatric hospitals to treating mental illness. They recommend the need to consider alternative treatment options including the community-based services, which allow the patients, support from their friends and family. Such responses lead to social disconnection and mental weakness in overcoming the mental illness condition. Thus, the state and federal governments should develop stricter regulations to eliminate the sending of the mentally ill persons to the psychiatric hospitals.
The psychiatric hospitals have been receiving a lot of criticism for their treatments towards the patients. The patients are forced to be confined in a room similar to the solitary cell found in prisons. The psychiatrists are deceptive in their medical procedures, which includes the hospital setting, white coated staffs, and the use of complex equipment. The psychiatric treatment is crucial and horrific, but the families of the patients do not understand the implications of the strategies. The medical procedures used are very profitable to the medical psychiatrist and the hospitals as they entail a long-term and expressive psychiatric care. It guarantees the hospital business and long-term income from the care offered to the patients. For instance, the psychiatrists use the electroshocks to treat the patient’s condition purporting the intervention are effective.
However, numerous research studies determined that even within five months of the procedures, there are no any changes to the health situation of the patient. Moreover, almost all the patients who receive the medical procedures relapse after five months. In 2003, the medical health insurance rejected to cover the multiple treatments of the patients using the procedures as it was revealed that the intervention was ineffective and even exposed the patients to severe risks (Bennion 3). Persons treated with ECT are also subjected to loss of memory and their intellectual capacity. It limits the ability of their memory and brain to function properly. It was also determined that the psychiatric hospital interventions lead to the changes in personality and memory impairments which make therapeutic interventions difficult. Thus, the psychiatric hospital procedures could be said to be assaulting.
The advanced technological treatments were continuous to be used to develop a perception of scientific development and progress. However, psychiatry is always not close to determining any causes or ways of treating patients with mental illness. Consequently, psychiatry continues to propagate betrayal and brutality towards the patients in the perception of treating mental health. In spite of all, the mental health professionals can rely on the psychiatric hospitals to conduct an in-depth examination and analysis of the patients. The professionals have a professional and legal mandate to determine the presence of physical disease in the patients. Since, the physical diseases could heighten the risks of mental illness.
Even though the effectiveness and quality of mental health treatment program have advanced in the last 40 years, psychiatric hospitals do not offer any benefits to the patients. The negative experience with the psychiatric hospitals discourages other personal with mental illness from seeking treatment. The poor personal experience leads to the creation of negative attitude towards the psychiatric intervention as an effective treatment method (Bierer and Ivor 2). Today, many patients within the psychiatric hospitals are severely ill. The increased knowledge of mental illness and the development of holistic treatment make the recovery of more possible.
Nevertheless, it is clear that numerous people with mental illness can be able to live happily in the community. Since, the stays at the psychiatric units are not desirable. There is a crisis in the psychiatric units with over admitted patients and staffs who are unsupported and demoralized. From 1996, the government has funded the mental health programs heavily to develop new services. Individuals using mental health services are also involved in the planning and the delivery of services. For instance, the clinicians have been empowered to understand the care and treatment of the mental health patients. Despite the advanced mental health programs, the effectiveness of the psychiatric hospitals is wanting. The individuals with mental illness are treated as second-class citizens with unsuitable treatment medicines and options. For instance, they are forced to take medicines and thus, violating their fundamental rights.
The psychiatric hospitals treated the patients as prisoners. In most instances, the hospitals have been accused of restricting the patients inappropriately. Such actions limit the recovery process of the patients, as they are not free to express themselves. Close to 50,000 patients was subjected to detainment in mental hospitals under compulsory treatment orders in the community in 2012. The cases had increased by 5% from the last year (Chinn, IanAli and HollyPatkas 53). The mentally illness persons in the psychiatric hospitals needs reliable care and support to speed their recovery. Few psychiatric hospitals have been working well to treat the patient with respect and dignity.
In spite of all, it is worrying to observe that certain hospitals have accepted cultures to growth were control are prioritized rather than the treatment of the patients. The recommendations indicate that the psychiatric hospitals cannot be trusted to provide effective treatment to the mentally ill patients in the community. Under the psychiatric hospital treatment strategies, the fundamental rights of the patients are violated through the controlling measures, which only serve the interests of the hospitals. For a while, the hospitals have been able to develop a culture of rules, which denies the patients their fundamental rights. Therefore, the psychiatric units cannot be trusted to offer better treatment to the patients as their controls are detrimental to the expected level of care.
In summary, the sending of the mentally ill persons to the psychiatric hospitals does not guarantee treatment. Since, the psychiatric units treat a patient like prisoners with unacceptable restraints and unsuitable medicines to the patients. Based on the various studies, it reveals that a large percentage of the mentally ill patients admitted to the psychiatric hospitals do not get any useful treatment care. The mentally ill persons should be treated with respect as other people. Thus, the hospitals should provide sensitive training to their staffs to ensure that they do their jobs and roles well. Additionally, in spite of the advanced technology treatments over years, psychiatric hospitals are worsening regarding delivering quality and reliable treatment to the patients.
Works Cited
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