On 11/20/13, 9:13 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/20/2013 6:54 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:


Tightening state budgets have widened the gap in available beds. In the
wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting that claimed 32 lives,
Virginia’s legislature took measures to revamp the emergency-evaluation
processes, updated the criteria for involuntary psychiatric commitment
and raised state funding for community mental-health services. But
according to a report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness,
Virginia’s overall state mental-health budget decreased $37.7 million
dollars from $424.3 million to $386.6 million between fiscal years 2009
and 2012.

“The consequences of not providing treatment should demonstrate the
importance of the need for it,” says Kristina Ragosta, director of
advocacy at the Treatment Advocacy Center. “Most people with mental
illness are no more violent than the general population, but when we
talk about people with untreated mental illness, they are at greater
risk of committing violent acts.”



Even the private facilities are tough to get into right away. They are
usually full and there's often a waiting period for a bed. It's hard
because it takes a herculean effort by friends and family to convince an
addict that they need help and even a day's delay can result in the
person going back into denial mode and refusing help.

The situation I am familiar with took several attempts over a 2 year
period to finally get the person into rehab. The first time he agreed
to go and his friends got him into a facility in Boston. He stayed
overnight and was evaluated by a shrink the next day. The shrink
determined he was suffering from anxiety and depression and prescribed
some pills to make him feel better. All it did was make matters worse
because he left the facility the next day, now armed with a prescription
anti-depressants along with his alcohol addiction.

When he finally hit "rock bottom", he still wouldn't admit he had a
problem. He was now drinking plus taking some over-the-counter
medication that, when combined with booze, produced a "high" similar to
the anti-depressant drugs the shrink had prescribed. He was a mess.

Some of his friends finally got him into another 5 day de-tox.
Temporarily sober, he left and by the next afternoon was passed out from
drinking again. That was when we became actively involved in trying to
get him some help but he continued to deny there was any problem.

His personality had totally changed ... truly out of his mind, he had
lost his job and was living in a shed in a friend's backyard.

The next Saturday he was transported to a hospital for yet another
overnight de-tox after being found by the police on a beach with booze
and pills.

The hospital discharged him the next day and he immediately hit the
booze and pills again.

On Sunday I visited to check up on him and found him laying unconscious
and having difficulty breathing. Called 911 and back to the hospital he
went. One of the cops told me that I should call the hospital and
request that he have a psychiatric evaluation following the de-tox
period and before he was released. He explained the "involuntary
commitment" procedure for rehab in a state facility (which happens to be
run in state prisons).

I did as he suggested. The doc who conducted the evaluation called me
the next morning and said that based on her observation she could *not*
recommend involuntary commitment because she determined he was not an
immediate threat to himself or others. She and I had quite a go-around
about that, but she was patient with me and explained how the law works
in the case of a court ordered commitment to rehab.

Meanwhile, we had located a private facility who could take him but he
had to agree to go within 24 hours, otherwise the bed would go to the
next person on the list.

So, I lied to him. I told him that I had all the paperwork and
recommendations required for a court ordered, 30 day involuntary
commitment to a state re-hab facility. I explained it would be a
mandatory 30 day stay at a minimum. "Or", I said, "You can go to a
private facility voluntarily and you can leave anytime you want if you
don't like it."

It still took much convincing and we now only had about 10 hours left
before he would lose his spot in the private facility. At one point it
got pretty testy and I thought things would get physical. He continued
to refuse to go, so I told him that I had no choice and would make the
phone call to have the police pick him up for transport to the state
facility.

That's what it took to get him to finally agree to enter re-hab at the
private facility. He still didn't go cheerfully, but he went and has
been clean since. The fog in his head has cleared and he has reverted
back to the decent, considerate person that we and others knew him to be.






You definitely get the Good Scout award.

--
Religion: together we can find the cure.