Commentary: coerced community mental health treatment--an added burden on an overstretched system.
The sudden and massive depopulation of psychiatric institutions that occurred in the 60s and 70s overwhelmed a fragmented and undersourced community mental health system, leading, in part, to the high number of chronically mentally ill individuals currently residing in jails and prisons, a situation that has been described as reinstitutionalization or transinstitutionalization. Any process that forces more people out of jails into mental health treatment in the community without a sound, effective, available, and accessible community mental health system of care is potentially catastrophic.
Dike
Charles C
CC
Whiting Forensic Division, Connecticut Valley Hospital, CT, USA. charles.dike@yale.edu
D003068:Coercion; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014481:United States