A huge part of the problem is that the government didn’t run the state hospitals well at all. There was abuse, as documented in Fred Wiseman’s doc “Titicut Follies.” Private mental hospitals were often brilliant. Books like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s an ongoing dilemma.
People with Alzheimer’s aren’t mentally ill but the loss of memory and being unable to deal with the real world is also devastating.
They need extremely expensive and specialized care. And taxpayers wind up footing the bill for them.