My son is schizophrenic. The ' reforms' I fought politically for have made him worse.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If you were to encounter my son, Tim, a tall, gaunt man in ragged clothes, on a San Francisco street, you might step away from him. His clothes, his dark unshaven face and his wild curly hair stamp him as the stereotype of the chronically mentally ill street person.

People are afraid of what they see when they glance at Tim. Policymakers pass ordinances to keep people who look like him at arm’s length. But when you look just a little more closely, what you find is a young man with a sly smile, quick wit and an inquisitive mind who — when he’s healthy — bears a striking resemblance to the youthful Muhammad Ali.

Tim is homeless. But when he was a toddler, my colleagues in the Connecticut state legislature couldn’t get enough of cuddling him. Yet it’s the policies of my generation of policymakers that put that formerly adorable toddler — now a troubled 6-foot-5 adult — on the street. And unless something changes, the policies of today’s generation of policymakers will keep him there.

How it went wrong

I was 25 years old in 1978 when I entered the Connecticut House. I had a seat on the Appropriations Committee and, as the person with the least seniority, was assigned last to my subcommittees. “You’re going to be on the Health subcommittee,” the committee chairs informed me. “But I don’t want to be on Health,” I complained. “Neither does anyone else,” they said. Six weeks into my legislative career, I was the legislature’s reluctant new expert on mental health.

The 1980s was the decade when many of the state’s large mental hospitals were emptied. After years of neglect, the hospitals’ programs and buildings were in decay. In my new legislative role, I jumped at the opportunity to move people out of “those places.” I initiated funding for community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs for adults, returned young people from institution-based “special school districts” to schools in their home towns and provided for care coordinators to help manage the transition of people back into the community.

Critical misjudgements

But we legislators in Connecticut and many other states made a series of critical misjudgments.

First, we didn’t understand how poorly prepared the public schools were to educate children with serious mental illnesses.

Second, we didn’t adequately fund community agencies to meet new demands for community mental health services — ultimately forcing our county jails to fill the void.

And third, we didn’t realize how important it would be to create collaborations among educators, primary-care clinicians, mental-health professionals, social-services providers, even members of the criminal justice system, to give people with serious mental illnesses a reasonable chance of living successfully in the community.

During the 25 years since, I’ve experienced firsthand the devastating consequences of these mistakes.

Every year, one in every five children and one in every four adults has a diagnosable mental illness. A quarter of all mental illnesses are considered serious. Until Tim came into my life in 1985, I had no experience with mental illness in my immediate family.

http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/my-son-is-schizophrenic-the-reforms-that-i-worked-for-have-worsened-his-life/2012/10/15/87b74a98-eadd-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_story.html

Edited October 16, 2012 by Commie Appeaser

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Every year, one in every five children and one in every four adults has a diagnosable mental illness. A quarter of all mental illnesses are considered serious. Until Tim came into my life in 1985, I had no experience with mental illness in my immediate family.

http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/my-son-is-schizophrenic-the-reforms-that-i-worked-for-have-worsened-his-life/2012/10/15/87b74a98-eadd-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_story.html

Yup. We call it liberalism.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Obama 2012

[lostinblue 1,989]

We need more mental hospitals..This is what doing drugs will get you. Smoke more weed

Schizophrenia

Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.

Why should teenagers be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? No one knows for certain, but it may be something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of ‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance, that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological effects.

Recent research in Europe, and in the UK, has suggested that people who have a family background of mental illness – and so probably have a genetic vulnerability anyway - are more likely to develop schizophrenia if they use cannabis as well.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/problems/alcoholanddrugs/cannabis.aspx

There is growing evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of time in the past. Regular use of the drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or long-term schizophrenia.

My solution is to have public executions of all drug dealers.Weed crack whatever. This will take care of the drug problem in a hurry.

[lostinblue 1,989]

one in every four adults has a diagnosable mental illness.

If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

We need more mental hospitals..This is what doing drugs will get you. Smoke more weed

Schizophrenia

Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26. They found no evidence of self-medication. It seemed that, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop symptoms.

Why should teenagers be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? No one knows for certain, but it may be something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of ‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance, that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological effects.

Recent research in Europe, and in the UK, has suggested that people who have a family background of mental illness – and so probably have a genetic vulnerability anyway - are more likely to develop schizophrenia if they use cannabis as well.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/problems/alcoholanddrugs/cannabis.aspx

There is growing evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of time in the past. Regular use of the drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or long-term schizophrenia.

My solution is to have public executions of all drug dealers.Weed crack whatever. This will take care of the drug problem in a hurry.

Please, there has never been anything concrete that ties cannibas to schizophrenia. Many have tried to make it one of the causes, but if anything it's more like kindling for an already lit fire. Schizophrenia is more neurological than anything else and like any nuerological disorder, it can be enhanced and even squelched by certain drugs. However to try and attribute the root cause and primary factor in the disease is completly absurd and a political ploy by anti-drug legalization groups.

Reminds me of why they made Cocaine illegal a century ago with their "crazy negro syndrome" race baiting bullshit.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

If you were to encounter my son, Tim, a tall, gaunt man in ragged clothes, on a San Francisco street, you might step away from him. His clothes, his dark unshaven face and his wild curly hair stamp him as the stereotype of the chronically mentally ill street person.

People are afraid of what they see when they glance at Tim. Policymakers pass ordinances to keep people who look like him at arm's length. But when you look just a little more closely, what you find is a young man with a sly smile, quick wit and an inquisitive mind who — when he's healthy — bears a striking resemblance to the youthful Muhammad Ali.

Tim is homeless. But when he was a toddler, my colleagues in the Connecticut state legislature couldn't get enough of cuddling him. Yet it's the policies of my generation of policymakers that put that formerly adorable toddler — now a troubled 6-foot-5 adult — on the street. And unless something changes, the policies of today's generation of policymakers will keep him there.

How it went wrong

I was 25 years old in 1978 when I entered the Connecticut House. I had a seat on the Appropriations Committee and, as the person with the least seniority, was assigned last to my subcommittees. "You're going to be on the Health subcommittee," the committee chairs informed me. "But I don't want to be on Health," I complained. "Neither does anyone else," they said. Six weeks into my legislative career, I was the legislature's reluctant new expert on mental health.

The 1980s was the decade when many of the state's large mental hospitals were emptied. After years of neglect, the hospitals' programs and buildings were in decay. In my new legislative role, I jumped at the opportunity to move people out of "those places." I initiated funding for community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs for adults, returned young people from institution-based "special school districts" to schools in their home towns and provided for care coordinators to help manage the transition of people back into the community.

Critical misjudgements

But we legislators in Connecticut and many other states made a series of critical misjudgments.

First, we didn't understand how poorly prepared the public schools were to educate children with serious mental illnesses.

Second, we didn't adequately fund community agencies to meet new demands for community mental health services — ultimately forcing our county jails to fill the void.

And third, we didn't realize how important it would be to create collaborations among educators, primary-care clinicians, mental-health professionals, social-services providers, even members of the criminal justice system, to give people with serious mental illnesses a reasonable chance of living successfully in the community.

During the 25 years since, I've experienced firsthand the devastating consequences of these mistakes.

Every year, one in every five children and one in every four adults has a diagnosable mental illness. A quarter of all mental illnesses are considered serious. Until Tim came into my life in 1985, I had no experience with mental illness in my immediate family.

http://m.washingtonp...182b_story.html

And if Liberals had not bankrupted this country by handing out entitlements like candy, to the able bodied who are able to work, we would have boat loads of money to help those who could not help themselves.

[JohnR! 5,495]

And if Liberals had not bankrupted this country by handing out entitlements like candy, to the able bodied who are able to work, we would have boat loads of money to help those who could not help themselves.

To be sure, when the last democratic president left the WH the country was bankrupt! Were it not for the brilliant manner in which W handled he economy we could very well have faced a meltdown of the economy in 2008....

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

To be sure, when the last democratic president left the WH the country was bankrupt! Were it not for the brilliant manner in which W handled he economy we could very well have faced a meltdown of the economy in 2008....

Your kidding right. we are almost 4 years into a democratic President that has grown the Debt by almost 45% and has seen a economy deteriorate in almost every single measurable statistic. Obama has made GWB economy look like the good ol days.

How could you seriously say democratic president and Economy in the same post. So you want us to vote based on Clinton vs Bush ?? You do know the current year don't you and who has been President 4 years. ??

[JohnR! 5,495]

Your kidding right. we are almost 4 years into a democratic President that has grown the Debt by almost 45% and has seen a economy deteriorate in almost every single measurable statistic. Obama has made GWB economy look like the good ol days.

How could you seriously say democratic president and Economy in the same post. So you want us to vote based on Clinton vs Bush ?? You do know the current year don't you and who has been President 4 years. ??

No, I am not kidding. I think you had to be there to believe it.

During the W regime the economy collapsed. You can say and think what you will of Obama, but it is you who must be kidding if you failed to experience the eight years of unrelenting spending and two wars that W was so kind to bestowed upon us.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

No, I am not kidding. I think you had to be there to believe it.

During the W regime the economy collapsed. You can say and think what you will of Obama, but it is you who must be kidding if you failed to experience the eight years of unrelenting spending and two wars that W was so kind to bestowed upon us.

In all fairness the economic collapse was destined to happen based on policies put into place prior to W ever taking office.

We can easily blame ####### spending during the W regime, but to blame the administration for the economic collapse is very ignorant of the events that took place in the late 80's and throughout the 90's.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

In all fairness the economic collapse was destined to happen based on policies put into place prior to W ever taking office.

We can easily blame ####### spending during the W regime, but to blame the administration for the economic collapse is very ignorant of the events that took place in the late 80's and throughout the 90's.

True, in the sense that dropping interest rates so that more and more people could qualify for mortgages in a housing market where real estate was overvalued anywhere from 200 to 800 percent, while at the same time allowing people to have a line of credit secured only by the equity created solely through overvaluation, any reasonably bright person would realize the collapse of such a system was inevitable. I know I did, and counseled others that the bubble was about to burst. The ones that listened, are doing fine. The ones that didn't, lost everything.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

True, in the sense that dropping interest rates so that more and more people could qualify for mortgages in a housing market where real estate was overvalued anywhere from 200 to 800 percent, while at the same time allowing people to have a line of credit secured only by the equity created solely through overvaluation, any reasonably bright person would realize the collapse of such a system was inevitable. I know I did, and counseled others that the bubble was about to burst. The ones that listened, are doing fine. The ones that didn't, lost everything.

That was only part of the bubble that was bound to pop the moment that people stopped trading the risky loans.

The real culprit in all of it was (and still is) the unregulated derivatives market. The CTFC under Brooksley Born tried to gain control and regulate the market, but congress ultimately stopped her under pressure from the Clinton administration and Alan Greenspan. She knew exactly the time of economic collapse that it would cause years before it ever happened but she was shut down by those who didn't way their field of play to be ruined by some regulator. Millions of people's financial lives played with off the books and not a damn thing anyone could do about it. Congress' legislation in 1999 to stop the CFTC from regulating that market ultimately caused her to resign and I don't blame her one bit.

There's actually a great Frontline on this as well called "The Warning."

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

In that sense, you can blame A.C.O.R.N. and George W. Bush, for encouraging more institutions to loan money to people that were not yet qualified to fulfill the American dream. But you also had speculators flipping houses and others buying distressed properties, turning them into rental units.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

We just need more free stuff.

[JohnR! 5,495]

We can easily blame ####### spending during the W regime, but to blame the administration for the economic collapse is very ignorant of the events that took place in the late 80's and throughout the 90's.

As would be ludicrous and ignorant of reality to blame the current administration entirely for the state of the economy, conveniently ignoring the events that took place in the millennium.