Do you think over the years we've grown more sympathetic or apathetic to the mentally ill among us?

Question

When people talk about mental hospitals they always talk about how much better they were in the past. They say that now most psych wards are like dorms while in the past mental hospitals were like prisons. But while mental hospitals in the 30s may have resembled prison, over the 40s they got better and reached their zenith in the 1950s and the largest psychiatric facility ever constructed was the Pilgrim psychiatric center that housed 13,000+ patients and while parts of it resembled prisons, those portions were only for the most violent patients. As patients got better and better they would get to the sections that were less and less restrictive. And they had things like arts and crafts, activities and they would even tend gardens outside. And do you know how much it cost to build it? 25% of the NYC state budget O_O Could you imagine the US spending 25% of its budget to help the mentally ill? Now many people argue that we don't need such excessive hospital systems because now we have psychiatric drugs to treat people with mental illnesses. While it did attenuate the need for psychiatric hospitals, I can't help but think we overshot and put too much faith in medicine as the graph below shows.
 
Now you may say that mental hospitals now a days don't resemble prisons like the ones in the past, forget winding up in a place that resembles a prison, many people who were driven to criminal behavior by their mental illnesses actually end up in prison. Either that or they are homeless.

NearlyNapping · Accepted Answer

I think we've gotten slightly more sympathetic with increased knowledge and public awareness. I don't think we've become more apathetic at all.

One problem is that mental health knowledge is still in it's infancy. I think mental health patients are still being used a guinea pigs.

I think those statistics are too narrow and miss a lot of factors. One major factor over the years is that mental illnesses have been much more broadly defined. A lot of things that are called mental illnesses today would never have been called such in the past. That can really skew the numbers when compared over time. It also makes me skeptical of any numbers I see. (I'm pretty much like that with any statistics I see, not just these.)

I think the courts today are more reluctant to commit people to mental institutions against their will. However if they commit crimes, the person will likely still go to jail, and it might even be mandatory.

Part of this is because insanity defenses were viewed as frivolous by the public, and often were. It might really be the case sometimes, but it's also a tactic used by defense lawyers whose only goal is winning. That's something that has definitely changed over the years.

I do think a lot more needs to be done in this area. But until we have a better understanding, progress will be slow. We've gone from the dark ages to the slightly less dark ages. We have drugs with less side affects than 50 years ago, but they still turn people into zombies and have many other side effects. It's still a very young science.

Waffles731 · Accepted Answer

I would say we've gotten more apathetic as opposed to actively malevolent

Rocket_Queen · Accepted Answer

I think it's apathetic but I think that's because unfortunately mental illness is over diagnosed in a lot of people for little things. My SIL is "bipolar" however all of her "bipolar" behavior happens to be illegal. My aunt has "anxiety" and gets Xanax however she was a heavy drug user so now she seeks drugs by script. And because of people like that, the people who really need it fall through the cracks. And it also has caused a lot of people to view mental health as crap when it's very real, and so nothing gets done. That system is failing.

Glitz_Glamour · Accepted Answer

I have a profound empathy and compassion for anyone with a mental illness. I think there's too many misunderstandings surrounding mental illnesses , and there still needs to be more awareness

Due to more people being diagnosed with a mental illness now, I do think people in general are more symaphetic , but most just don't fully comprehend what it's like for the person suffering.

somebodysaycheese · Answer

We have grown more sympathetic as we have normalized it and not forced people into mental hospitals anymore. But at the same time we have normalized it so much that we are now ignorant on mental illness. We are more of a society of " dont judge" " let them be true to themselves " that all logic has gone out the door.
I do believe we need mental illness reform. It sucks.

reptocarl · Answer

We keep building prisons but no mental health facilities. Our prisons have become dumping grounds for the mentally ill. It's pathetic. As someone disabled by mental illness myself I've watched several mental health facilities close in my state

peachblossomluck · Answer

We live in a sad society which largely stigmatizes mental illness and considers these brave souls to be the undesireables of society. There's something seriously wrong with that!

Mustachekitteh · Answer

Most don't care at all and just assume they're dangerous and completely insane. Though I guess most still treat people with mental disorders better than they did in the past.

AlwaysBelieving · Answer

A little of both actually. Drugs are just one piece of a difficult puzzle.

GrapeJuice · Answer

Are you mentally ill?

dudeman · Answer

sympathetic for sure. we used to just kill them

ToruMatsuda · Answer

Lol nope people will always be assholes

Anonymous · Answer

Apathetic

Do you think over the years we've grown more sympathetic or apathetic to the mentally ill among us?

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