PubMed · 2516256
The source did not provide an abstract. Follow the original record for more information.
Explore connections, maps & timelines
C Alderman. Moving out.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2516256/
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.
KEEP EXPLORING
There is a growing body of work on geographies of deinstitutionalisation and its consequences, but the weight of this scholarship has focussed on people with mental health problems and physically disabled people. With only few exceptions, the 'post asylum geographies' of intellectually disabled people remain neglected by geographers. We advocate a redressing of this imbalance. First, we assess reasons for the relative absence of 'intellectual' considerations in geographies of disability. We then consider ways in which the full spectrum of those with mental differences might be included in geographical research. We conclude that Wolpert's call 25 years ago to 'open closed spaces' is just as applicable to our efforts to conceptually link health, place, and disability, as it is to the material welfare of vulnerable groups in society.
The public mental hospital system was created in part because many mentally ill people were being held in prisons and jails. Support for those hospitals waned over time, however, and by the time they had degenerated into "snake pits" a consensus was reached to close them down. Unfortunately, they were not replaced with adequate community mental health resources, so as the hospitals have emptied, the prisons and jails have filled, partly with the mentally ill. That is the destructive reason for the growth of prison psychiatry in this country: the prison has become the last mental hospital. The constructive one has been a new emphasis on bringing psychiatric treatment to a previously neglected population: people who have committed serious violence, whether because of Axis I mental illnesses or Axis II character disorders. Unfortunately, four inter-related, mutually reinforcing nationwide trends threaten to reinforce that destructive development and vitiate the constructive one.
Persons with mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse disorders are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates in comparison to the general population. Reasons may include high standards for involuntary commitment, an overall increase in substance abuse and the policy of deinstitutionalization. However, one significant reason may be that psychiatric institutions serve a social control function, which has not been appreciated by policymakers and program developers since deinstitutionalization. This paper presents provider views of the population and issues of concern for clients, families, and the agencies. Discussion includes service-provider response to the population, new program models, and implications for policymakers.