This Nation's Current and Past Mental Health PoliciesJames Lapinel 6/12/13Prior to the 1970s, asylums for people designated as psychotic or otherwise seriously mentally ill, called “institutions ”, were quite common. Most of these asylums were built to imitate Victorian mansions and hold hundreds of patients. This and many similar structures have become symbols of oppression, largely due to Ken Kesey's literary work and abuse scandals at the turn of the last century. I live near one of these former institutions. It was Hudson River Hospital and represents my personal experience with this nation's current mental health policies. Institutions across the country have been closed for many reasons. Some facilities were suspected, and then confirmed, of abusing their patients. Containment of the psychotic was questionable. Most of the people held in the institutions had not committed any crimes, and to many the asylums seemed like prisons. Deinstitutionalization is the process of removing institutions from the mental health care system. According to pbs.org, deinstitutionalization began legally in the United States in 1955, when chlorpromazine became widely available. Chlorpromazine was the most effective antipsychotic ever at the time. Its development has prompted lawsuits based on the idea that psychosis could and should be treated in the least restrictive setting possible. Deinstitutionalization reached its peak in the 1970s. This idea is incorrect because antipsychotics are not a guaranteed “cure” for all psychotic patients. Psychosis is often difficult to define and diagnose and much more difficult to treat. Not…half of paper…a functioning mental health care system. Those who directly suffer from serious physical ailments often vow not to let the illness define them. This is a brave sentiment, but why can't the mentally ill say the same for themselves? They have no choice? Are the psychotics of today's world destined to suffer on the streets and prisons of this country? I have no credentials in any of the areas I've discussed, I don't know what can be done about them, but it's clear to me that not enough is being done. Surely this world had a better quality of life to offer Mr. Sprankle, can't we provide that to him? Deinstitutionalization has worsened the plight of psychotics in America and nothing is being done to correct this situation. A return to pre-1955 institutions would not only be nearly impossible, it would be harmful. A new system must be conceived and implemented at all costs.