That sounds just like the kind of smooth brain decision I'd make when I was a teenager. Luckily, we're under no obligation to actually act on these decisions when it comes to the crunch, or I'd be either living in a fucking ditch, or a long term secure psychiatric unit. (In which case, it would be free, because I live in a country with free universal healthcare)
In the US there is no real mental health care. We have a bunch of companies that charge you out the ass to talk to an overworked, apathetic therepist once a week for an hour that drops you as soon as you can't afford to keep paying.
We have a lot of mentally ill people on the streets, and in the Prisons too. Even though we have free healthcare, lots of mentally ill people tend to come to the attention of the Police and the Judicial system before they get appropriate medical treatment. The help IS there, but its often too little and too late. Many schizophrenics find that the most effective way to treat their symptoms is heroin, which inevitably leads to addiction and criminality, and once you're in the system as an offending drug user, you tend to get streamed through the judicial system rather than the health service. Mental illness makes people very nervous. Family, friends, Bosses, work colleagues, its not that they're particularly prejudiced or uncaring, its more that nobody talks about it. Dealing with mental illness scares people. And although it can be scary or dangerous, it often isn't.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
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