It would be a nice thing if we could steer this discussion away from how 60 minutes presents a story to a real discussion on mental illness. As a pharmacist, I have had my heart broken too many times by seeing brave people struggle with severe depression as well as with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. The way they are often ostracized by others is terrible. The weapons we have to treat these illnesses are often inadequate and come with significant side effects. In the (I believe) 1970's, with the advent of new antipsychotic drugs, we thought it was safe to let people out of mental institutions that often resembled something from the dark ages. We made it more difficult for people to be institutionalized against their will. For many, these new treatments allowed them to resume normal lives, but for others it led to homelessness and in some cases an increased danger to society. These are the discussions we should be having......how to remove the stigma from mental illness; how best to treat people who may need to be institionalized; how to identify cases of mental illness earlier, etc.
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