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family members of difficult to treat mentally ill persons, we want to share this information and make it possible for families to break
down the isolation, culpability and guilt that keeps us ineffective, paralyzed, emotionally and financially bankrupt and unable to take
care of our dear ones, ourselves and the rest of the family.
The web site is a work-in-process project with no professionals
or experts participating in any way. Most of the links are of organizations
in the fields of mental illnesses and/or legal issues affecting
the care of our dear ones.
Please
revise the information we are presenting and, if coincides with
your own experiences, share it with relatives, friends, neighbors
and coworkers.
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SILENT CRISIS
_________________________________________________________________________________ TO CAREGIVERS OF PERSONS WITH UNTREATED,
SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS.
"Yours may be the one out of every five families in the United States that
is or will be directly affected by a serious brain disorder" ("Open
Your Mind", NAMI, 1997.)
The following information, copied from the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury
Final Report, the United Nations and the World Health Organization
(WHO), is sent to you with the explicit intent to awaken the conscience
of the general public and to compare how the U.S. and the rest of
the world address the care of persons with severe mental illnesses who
lack insight and/or have substance abuse problems.
Since half of the most severely affected persons cannot ask for help due
to their inability to comprehend that they are mentally ill,
(see: www.lackofinsightmi.org ) we
strongly urge there be a formation of a panel of non-experts, to impartially
and objectively evaluate and bring to light the economical and emotional
cost to the community caused by the lack of appropriate care to our
relatives and, after deliberations, to inform the community and recommend
to
our legislators the changes in the law and funding needed to improve
services.
The panel could include: family members of "Difficult to Treat Mentally
Ill Persons," mentally ill individuals in recovery, police
officers, members of civic and religious organizations such as the Chambers
of Commerce, real estate agents, neighborhood groups, county
officials, etc. Those who should not participate on the panel would include:
providers of mental health, judiciary or correctional
services, health insurance or pharmaceutical representatives, researchers,
professors and intellectual experts in mental health, etc.
After deliberations, the panel would be able to recommend to the Legislature
the changes in the law and funding needed to remedy this
inequity. Is there in the U.S. an impartial civic-minded person or group,
who would be able to organize such a panel?
The mentally ill population, their families, the community and the legislators
would all benefit from a different perspective - one that
would have the potential to improve the quality of life for all of us.
Sincerely,
Families of Untreated Mentally Ill Persons
www.lackofinsightmi.org
Miami, Fl.
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In the best interest of all Americans, please
consider:
The MIAMI DADE COUNTY GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT - Spring Term
A.D. - 2004, underlines, (page 2) "there are three
times as many men and
women with mental illnesses in U.S. prison as in state
psychiatric hospitals",
and (page 17): "During the year 2000, taxpayers in King
County (Seattle) Washington spent over $1.1 million on drug
and
alcohol acute services and criminal justice resources for just
20
individuals. Similarly, in Summit County (Akron Ohio, during
the year 2001, the cost to taxpayers for a group of 20 individuals
was $1.3
millions
See complete report: http://www.miamisao.com/publications/grand_jury/index.html
The UNITED NATIONS's Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment
of Prisoners Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on
the Prevention
of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held at Geneva in 1955,
and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolution
663 C
(XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977, establishes:
"B. INSANE AND MENTALLY ABNORMAL PRISONERS
82. (1) Persons who are found to be insane shall not be detained in prisons
and arrangements shall be made to remove them to mental
institutions as soon as possible.
(2) Prisoners who suffer from other mental diseases or abnormalities
shall be observed and treated in specialized institutions under
medical management.
(3) During their stay in a prison, such prisoners shall be placed
under the special supervision of a medical officer.
(4) The medical or psychiatric service of the penal institutions
shall provide for the psychiatric treatment of all other prisoners
who
are in need of such treatment.
83. It is desirable that steps should be taken, by arrangement
with the appropriate agencies, to ensure if necessary the continuation
of
psychiatric treatment after release and the provision of social-psychiatric
after-care."
See complete Report: http://shr.aaas.org/thesaurus/instrument.php?insid=124
The WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) recognizes the burden to
the families and to the community "especially when the health
system is
unable to offer treatment and support at an early stage."
Mental health problems: the undefined and hidden burden
The undefined burden of mental problems refers to the economic
and social burden for families, communities and countries. Although
obviously substantial, this burden has not been efficiently measured.
This is because of the lack of quantitative data and difficulties
in
measuring and evaluating.
The hidden burden refers to the burden associated with stigma
and violations of human rights and freedoms. Again, this burden
is difficult
to quantify. This is a major problem throughout the world, as
many cases remain concealed and unreported.
Undefined burden:
Mental illnesses affect the functioning and thinking processes
of the individual, greatly diminishing his or her social role
and
productivity in the community. In addition, because mental illnesses
are disabling and last for many years, they take a tremendous
toll on
the emotional and socio-economic capabilities of relatives who
care for the patient, especially when the health system is unable
to offer
treatment and support at an early stage. Some of the specific
economic and social costs include:
lost production
from premature deaths caused by suicide (generally equivalent
to, and in some countries greater, than deaths from
road traffic accidents);
lost production from people with mental illness who are unable to work,
in the
short, medium or long term;
lost productivity from family members caring for the mentally-ill person;
reduced productivity from people being ill while at work;
cost of accidents by people who are psychologically disturbed, especially
dangerous
in people like train drivers, airline pilots,
factory workers;
supporting
dependents of the mentally ill person;
direct and indirect financial costs for families caring for the mentally-ill
person;
unemployment, alienation, and crime in young people whose childhood
problems,
e.g., depression, behaviour disorder, were not
sufficiently well addressed for them to benefit fully from
the education available;
poor cognitive development in the children of mentally ill parents,
and the
emotional burden and diminished quality of
life for family members.
See complete article: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs218/en/
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Other sites of interest: http://www.psychlaws.org/JoinUs/founding.htm
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/editorial/letters/10592153.htm
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