[baskethead]

I was talking to a psychologist/counselor that works with one of the counties in the Bay Area. He said that top 10 most frequent people he sees costs the county well over $1 million per year, and the top person costs over $10 million. He said that about 30% of the people he works with need counseling but he also confirmed that there simply is a large percentage of people that he works with that need to be forced into treatment and he agreed with Michael Shellenberger's approach in the book "San Fransicko". He said even within the Bay Area, people bounce around between counties, and there is no system to keep track of them, and that also leads to a lot of wasted money.

This is a perfect case of how sometimes people need to be forced into treatment for their own good, and for the good of others.

The issue of government overreach is absurd in these extreme situations. This woman is brazenly ignoring public health, probably because of a mental health issue. There needs to be a way to declare some people as being unfit to care for themselves. I, for one, think that if you are so addicted to drugs and/or alcohol or are so mentally ill, that you drop unconscious on the sidewalk, you should be put into forced mental health care for at least 60 days or longer.

[shadowgovt]

> There needs to be a way to declare some people as being unfit to care for themselves.

There is in the law of each state; it varies from state to state. For obvious reasons, it's a pretty high bar to clear and usually requires an advocate for commitment to be dedicated to the cause to make sure that the involuntary commitment process goes all the way through to completion.

[dragonwriter]

It also, even with the high bar, is frequently abused for various forms of exploitation. While it serves a clear need, its an extremely dangerous thing to have; it is very difficult (impossible, arguably) to safeguard removing a person's agency in a way which does not make it a vehicle for rather extreme abuses.

[1letterunixname]

When has it been abused? What's your evidence for this claim?

[sidewndr46]

A practicing psychologist suggests people need to be forced into treatment? Well color me surprised! Next you'll be telling me the jail warden thinks those in jail need to be locked up!

[eduction]

My only opinion on all this is I don’t trust any solution that does not acknowledge and address why we ended forced mental health carceral treatment in the first place. Chesterton’s Fence.

There was a “crisis” that caused that practice to end just as there is now a “crisis” bringing it back. If it’s brought back it should be done outside of this framework of panic.

[RobotToaster]

I'm convinced de-institutionalisation was just a cost cutting measure.

Yes there were issues, but a lot of those were due to under-funding.

Not to mention the community support that was supposed to replace institutionalisation never materialised.