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I got busted. I wrote an email to an aquaintance in Colorado. 18 hours later the police showed up at my door, and demanded that I tell them that I did or did not write a suicide note. I asked how this was a police matter, and why a mental health professional wasn't sent if I did instead of the police. I was scolded for my attitude. I was then asked if he could enter my apartment. I told him no. He said he was coming in any way. I was charged with assaulting the officer with my door! I spent the night in jail for that. The charges were dismissed. I guess the court would have found it too embarrassing to read the charge out loud.

I had been hospitalized for mental illness before. Yep. In jail, not a hospital. Right next to the Lane County Jail. 'Patients' get the same food, and nearly the same treatment as criminals. Essentially no respect. That's care! Care for the rest of the community. It really boils down to keeping the rest of the population safe.

I've been in the Lane County Mental Health system too. That's a great system! You get 15 minutes a month, and only 15 minutes a month. Like, thats a big help! Their excuse -- no budget. During my visits to them, they were in need of a facility. They got one. A brand spanking new six million dollar buiilding, although they had no budget. The patients got a tree dedicated to them. A tree. Not new, expanded programs, and virtually none existed at the time. They got a tree dedicated to them. Hopefully it will grow. But the doctors got a brand spanking new facility! Six million dollars worth. One of the speakers at the dedication was a patient. She said "All we wanted was a bathroom".

No.. that's not my real name above. I've learned better than to use my real name. You see, once you've been into the 'mental health system', you're fingerprinted. This way they can show you're a danger to the rest of the world. You are stigmatized from day 1. Nobody gives a rats ass about you, not even Lane County Mental Health.

I have a dual diagnoses. I have, along with frequent bouts of depression, severe, chronic neck pain. No medications worked. Only the most expensive ones were prescribed... the ones I can't afford. And no doctor was willing to give me what I needed -- a narcotic pain reliever. "You might kill yourself," I was told. "I don't need your help to kill myself," I told him. "I need your help to stop the pain. Do you realize I might kill myself if someone doesn't put an end to this?" Needless to say, I got no cooperation from this doctor. He really didn't care. All he cared about was his liability.

Soon, and already, it's boiling down to what it always boils down to. Money! The economic impact! The world cares more about the economic impact than the people that suffer! I guarantee you that more time and effort will go into studying the financial end of this than the care. Guaranteed! And you know it too!

All the proposals and all the medications and all the talk that you see before you lacks one very important word. Nobody is saying the word that would fix it all. Love! Love is the right approach. Love and respect! Yet we don't have time for that. We only have time to measure the costs of a new hospital, new treatment plans, the economic impact, and how it's all going to be funded. Money money money! How much will it cost to keep the community safe, not the sufferers!

Listens2Opb, who I'm replying to, has got it right. If there's a crisis situation, don't send the police! Send somebody who cares! The police is there to protect the community, not the person under duress. And have you any clue what drove that person to the crisis stage in the first place? I can tell you -- it is the lack of love and understanding. I know. I been there. I can tell you first hand! Family members tell the sufferer what he needs to do to end THEIR suffering, not his. Police tell the sufferer what to do, so that that the policeman doesn't have to resort to force (and fill out all that paperwork).

All the scientists and all the legislators don't have the answer. They continue to be and are key role players in the endless cycle. They are the ones that start the endless cycle, and they are the ones that perpetuate it. PHDs in psychiatry or psychology have 1/2 hour for you. When that's up, it's up. Need another appointment? Pay again! Pay! Pay... pay... pay! Money money money! Love? "Get that elsewhere. I'm a scientist!" And a capitalist!

Now, I ask you, does this sound like the rantings of a madman? Or does it sound like the rantings of an angry man?

People are so stupid. They analyze things to death, but can't see the Truth for the very life of them. Look at all these posts! Talk, talk, talk. Show some love! That'll solve the problem. Don't know how? Well, do an economic impact study on it. That'll replace it and show that you care.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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