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SkeptiKC's avatar

I grew up in a family with various manifestations of mental illness manifesting in real time on both sides.

I witnessed my first episode of suicidal ideation manifest in an individual suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when I was nine years old.

I remember the animated late night phone calls when my father's younger brother who suffered from bipolar disorder wound up back in a VA hospital again or in jail. Then there was the horrible phone call communicating that Uncle P*** had been shot.

Alcoholism and drug abuse were rampant. I learned how to turn passed out drunks onto their side so that they wouldn't choke to death on their own puke before I was ten.

I won't bother with the details of one of my paternal uncle's inappropriate sexual innuendos when he was living with us when I was teenager.

I remember too damned well talking my little brother out from behind an oven when he was intent upon killing himself, getting him into my car, driving him to the hospital and spending the day having him committed to the local state mental hospital for an 30 day involuntary lockdown. My parents refused to have any contact with him.

I have suffered significant anxiety and depression for as long as I can remember. There have been two episodes when I was in a very bad place and didn't think I'd be able to make my way back out. But Fate has favored me and I'm still here.

Too many aren't. Too many others will exit under conditions too horrific to contemplate. It doesn't have to be this way.

Readily accessible mental health care should be available to all Americans throughout their lives and that care should not be stigmatized. Needing a little help every now and again is NOT "weak".

Knowing when you need to ask for a hand demonstrates incredible courage. That hand simply has to be there.

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Queen Méabh's avatar

What worries me most about this man being sent to prison is the medical care he won't get there. I am currently advocating for FOUR women who are incarcerated in Missouri prisons who are not getting adequate medical care. In fact, the doctor at their prison is committing gross medical malpractice, including denying that they have existing medical conditions for which they have copious medical records that affirm them. They could easily die soon due to lack of appropriate medical care. Two of these women have acknowledged mental health issues, which makes it easier for the prison doctor to say they are lying about their (documented) medical history, and so that's what he does. There is apparently no oversight of the outsourced medical departments whatsoever.

Multiply these four women's cases by the number of cases I haven't heard about in the 1,079 prisons in the USA, and you can see there is a big problem with our Correctional systems.

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