I once read a book - "This Stranger My Son" in which a mother was raising a child with severe mental problems. As he grew older, he got violent against her and the family. She could find no options for help for extended time - especially when he reached 18. All his life she was faced with his illness causing him to be denied access to schools but with no options for handling him.
So very sad and very revealing about the inefficiencies of our mental health agencies.
Sometimes the ill one just has no place for help.
If people had the slightest clue to just how inadequate many state and local mental health services are, they would be outraged.
Six months before AY killed her children, I was dealing with severe PPD, but I wasn't pychotic. I can't and don't want to explain what I was going through but I was so tormented that I drove to the police station to turn myself in even though I hadn't committed any crime.
I was driven to a local hospital and dumped among the drunks and crack addicts (after they removed my shoe strings). A doctor came in, asked a few questions and told me that my problem was a lack of communication. Less than 12 hours later, I was released from the hospital on my own. My family was never contacted...I was literally dumped on the streets.
My story has a happy ending, though. I got appropriate medical help once MY husband came downtown and picked me up in the hospital lobby.
I told that doctor (and the police) that I was afraid I would kill myself and hurt my children. They were so concerned...they locked me in a room with drunks and released me a few hours later.
That, my friends, is quality "state run" mental healthy care in this country!