REAGAN, BUSH 1, or BUSH 2 who was worst about mental health?

reagan started in with the prisons. He cut, chopped, removed, deleted, and erased hundreds of millions in funding for diagnosis and eventual treatment of mental disorders in federal prisons. Studies that followed his cuts proved that recidivism increased shortly after the cuts took place, and that violence in prison populations began to rise. Even worse, the failure to diagnose mentally ill detainees meant they could not contribute to their defense, and their behavioral abnormalities inside prison caused a never ending cycle of inappropriate behavior, prison punishment, worse behavior, etc.

In his second term, he barely scratched the surface of non-criminal mental health budget cuts.

Bush 1 followed that path, but expanded in his four years. Mental health experts were beginning to decry the prison fiascoes greatly, and warned of homelessness, increased crime and worse.

unfortunately, Clinton never concentrated on mental health as an important topic. Once, both houses were GOP, even mention of mental illness only brought derision, not any opportunity.

Of course, whatever safety net existed before, was decimated by the current president. 6 yrs later, homelessness has increased greatly, as has the difference between rich and poor.

So, who do you think was the worst president with respect to mental health?

although it is true that it was Reagan who put us on the bad path we're on.

That's just the laugh I needed today!

Before his administration ended, New York looked like Calcutta.

How fast has the prison population grown since Ranger Ronnie?

I'm not saying we'd all be in a padded cell, but we all sure as hell would have had a brush with the system.

And it's getting worse all the time.

There's one poor guy who stands on the corner of the block where I work, with his bag all neatly packed and a nice, very clean and new blanket on top. Just standing there... like he is waiting for a ride... day in... day out. He was gone for a few days a week or so ago. When he came back, he had a new set of clothes and the aforementioned nice, clean, new blanket. I think someone, family member or something, picks him up once in a while... and the rest of the time he stands there and waits... across the street from One Wilshire... oh, the irony.

to make way for a prison. many were dumped in chicago but many stayed here and were placed in much better facilities than the state provided. my wife worked for both and the private one is far far better.

...the Reagan cuts all but shut it down....leaving only the most seriously mentally ill with housing and car. almost all of them (pre-Reagan) had no family or had been jettisoned by family....they were pretty much left without housing or medical care and scattered with the wind....

but hey, that Reagan tax cut really went a long way toward making me forget all about those people!

Oh, wait, I never saw a fucking dime.

They all have ignored the issue.

Mental illness is an ILLNESS. amazing how we have regressed in this country in 20+ years.

Thanks to Raygun's cuts this hotel that was subsidized by HUD funds was shut down, putting dozens of people out on the streets...literally. Many of these people ended up living in the parks and under the bridges...the first time in my life I had encountered the concept of homeless...and shortly thereafter some of these people died from neglect.

My sister is mentally handicpapped and the cuts forced us to move her to several different rehabilitation centers and workshops and then going in with several other families to found a private center that I still help oversee. We were fortunate...and we've taken in many over the years who had financial and other difficulties, but we're limited and the need is so great.

Someone that truly knows what is like to work directly with the poor, with the mentally ill, with the needy...

capped Act. When he couldn't do that, he did the next worst thing: he defunded the Washington office that oversaw the Act's implementation across the country. The net result was that schools could go back to writing their own rules about what they did and didn't do for handicapped children, including those with emotional problems. The Feds were no longer on their backs. Parents with money could get a lawyer and sue the school system, but the vast majority still have to accept the school's determination on what help it will provide to children with special needs.

As we know it was all rejected.

I'm truly hoping...

the drug companies have a lock on mental health, mental health contracts and just about everything else having to do with mental health. Drugs help a lot of people but so does intensive therapy. Average # of visits for people per year, 20. Now how do you help a schitz or a psychotic with 20 visits a year?

big pharma execs will be among the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

figure out how to cure autism or schizophrenia in two to three years (and that includes in-patient days)

A process is in place to provide a hearing for disputes or for errors that school districts make in the course of implementing an IEP. Schools are not mandated by the federal gov't to provide services that do not relate to the student's needs in the school environment. Data on a student's functioning drives the process of determining what a student's needs are or are not.

There are and will continue to be exceptions to the above practice. However to assume that all schools simply hand out an IEP in which parents have no say is oversimplifying a complex process. That is a disservice to parents who may feel burdened by doubt about themselves or their child and need to rely on the help of service providers in a school system.

did not comply, the federal government could shut down funding for the whole state...a pretty big stick. Down here in Florida, there is no stick, especially if you are Hispanic, poor, single, African-American, etc. A mom goes in and faces a room full of school "authorities" who tell her what is needed and what is available. This scenario often has nothing to do with what the child actually requires but reflects what the school wants to do. Do you really think a poor single woman barely speaking English stands a chance to help her child?

In fact, IDEA provided recourse to parents that they did not previously have. Reagan had nothing to do with that. IDEA was pushed by parents who exercised their public clout. Recent regs have again altered some things but Florida parents are just as entitled as anyone else to IDEA mandates.

At no time has the Federal government shut down education funding for an entire state, regardless of special education errors or implementation. Factually, the Federal government has never fully funded special education services in all states anyway.

You speak of possible scenarios....keep it real, cite a real case and we'll talk and I may be able to suggest what to do. The rest is all speculation on your part.

and it is supervised by the US Dept of Education. Always was, since the Dept of Ed was created under Carter. I think you are confusing IDEA with other legislation regarding disabilities, like maybe ADA.

PL94-142 was replaced by IDEA.

PL94-142 was replaced by IDEA.

replacing it with a community mental health model. The CMH model is 'good enough' for garden variety mental ailments but wholly ineffective with personality disorders, schitzophrenia and anti-social patterns of behavior. Every president since Reagan has reduced the budget for mental health services. Private insurance companies have also reduced coverage drastically.

:kick:

reagan was a front man and after he was shot bush 1 ran the government. reagan was told what to say and do as a grade b movie actor he delivered the lines

Reagan gutted this country's mental health care.

Bush I had to be a little bit crazy to fuck Barbara

And Bush II... well... let's just say the wheel's spinning but the hamster's long dead.

there wasn't much left to ruin after he was done. He started in California and did for the country what he did here.

Let's not forget what party was in control of Congress during Clinton's reign - we were too busy worrying about a blow job instead of getting the things done we should have. Though all 3 after Reagan are guilty of not putting things back together.

funding aid for it?

I'd vote for Little Boots for the former and Ronnie Raygun for the latter. :7

B-)

Carter wouldne't sign 504 regs for the 1973 Rehabilitation act until a major sit-in forced his hand.

The deinstitutionalization movement was in full throttle for years before, and people with mental illnesses had been calling for desegregation for for a very long time.
Policy makers had begun to include people with physical disabilities in the discussion by that time. But adult mental illness includes taboos- alcoholism and drug abuse (exactly what made Carter reluctant) they were much more of a stigma then.

Carter didn't sign it until 1977 that reluctance was a problem because they didn't have time to build a program to go with it.

People with mental illnesses got rights just in time for Reagan to make it hell for them to have them.

History is not always so easy. People with mental illnesses have been disregarded for a long time by many many people.

to mental health care.

In 1972, Geraldo Rivera was a reporter in NY and he did a series of reports on facilities for the mentally retarded in that state. He won an emmy for this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldo_Rivera

That was one of the balls that got the movement rolling to close these facilities and mental health hospitals got caught up in it. For nearly 10 years, mental health professionals worked at improving care for the mentally ill and eventually, Reagan became president and changed the way mental health care was funded by the government.

Also in 1974, special education legislation mandated that children with disabilities be given the same free education that non-disabled children received in the US.

The care of mentally handicapped people was changed nationwide. Instead of warehousing them in horrid institutions, they were mainstreamed into society and into our schools and for the majority of people who suffer from mental illness, this was a better model of care. At this same time, it also became more difficult to commit people to psychiatric care against their will.

Unfortunately, many do still need to be institutionalized and funding cuts have taken away the access to care in many of our communities.

As much as I detested Reagan, it really isn't fair to blame him for what happened to mental health care. The movement to make necessary and long overdue changes had been in the works for nearly a decade before he became president. It really just happened on his watch. A Democratic president who cared more about taking care of people would maybe have insisted in a more comprehensive care model but the old institutions would have been on the chopping block regardless.

So I blame Geraldo instead of Reagan :)

now, he gets to argue with Billo, hardly a sign of sanity.

These guys have been using the same neo-con pricks behind the scenes since Reagen. Probably earlier. The only way we'll get out of this nightmare is when they all grow too old to stand up.