Medicate, Release, Repeat: A Broken Mental Health System

The mental healthcare crisis in America demands our immediate attention. We're witnessing a disturbing pattern where individuals with documented histories of serious mental illness cycle through brief institutional stays, only to be released back into society without adequate support systems—often with devastating consequences.

This episode tackles the uncomfortable truth about how our society handles mental illness. We explore the problematic "revolving door" approach where patients receive temporary care and medication before being released, regardless of their ability to function safely. The current system benefits pharmaceutical companies financially while failing both patients and communities.

I break down the various levels of mental illness and why we need tailored approaches rather than one-size-fits-all solutions. The episode examines how profit motives have corrupted genuine care, with institutions pushing medication as the primary intervention without addressing underlying needs. When tragedy strikes, we express shock at learning about the perpetrator's "history of mental illness"—yet we continue the same failed approaches.

Most importantly, this episode proposes concrete solutions: implementing lifelong monitoring and support for those with severe mental illness who cannot safely function independently. This isn't about returning to the problematic asylum model, but creating compassionate, effective systems that protect individuals and communities alike. The research is clear—our current approach isn't working, and we need fundamental change that prioritizes human dignity and public safety over profit and quick fixes.

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Chapters

• 0:28 Introduction to Important Topic
• 1:39 Levels of Mental Illness Explained
• 2:55 The Revolving Door Problem
• 4:53 Medication Without Proper Solutions
• 7:26 Proposing Lifelong Monitoring Solution
• 8:32 Introducing Research Findings

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:17

okay, great to be back again. Guys. I have a topic here today I've been waiting to bring forward to you. This topic is a need and nobody's really addressing on it we're about to talk about. But someone needs to do something and say something, because people are taking advantage Businesses are taking advantage for the sake of money, for the illnesses and weaknesses of others. So to clarify where we're going with this today, I want to be glad to be here, glad you are here and from this point on let's hop right into it. Today's topic we're going to cover mental illness.

Speaker 1: 1:34

Mental illness and we have some issues with mental illness and I want to bring it to light. First off, when we have someone who's mentally ill, we have to analyze them a certain way. We just can't look at every mentally ill person the same way because there's levels of them. There's levels of mentally ill. In somebody's book, I might be classified as mentally ill, but the point still remains there's different levels of mental illness. I might be classified as a functional mentally ill person, but once again, there are different levels of mental illness. I bring that to you because lately, in the past several years, we've been having a lotbing people in broad daylight, right in front of other people Not to say that the way to do it is in the dark, but I'm just saying there's no. You know there's no. How do I put it? It's just reckless behavior. I guess that's the best way to say it. It's just a lot of reckless behavior. And then, once the person gets caught if they're caught what do we hear next? Oh, this person has a history of mental illness, which now leads me to the next point. You know, the person has a history of mental illness, has a history of mental illness. That means they have already been seen by some form of psychologist or doctor, or even been inside of a mental institution already. So my question is now why is this person back on the street if they're mentally ill?

Speaker 1: 4:41

Mental institutions are not curing the problem. You're not fixing anything. What do you do? You dope them up with some sort of medication which somebody's making a fortune on on the back end that in society today we find that, hey, whatever works, you're going to even try and make money off of someone that can't fend for themselves, someone that is actually mentally ill. You're going to dope them up, keep them in a mental institution. For what? 30, 60 days, depending on whether or not it's a voluntary situation or involuntary situation, and then you need some form of court order to extend that. But after it's all said and done, what happens? You release this person who has been diagnosed as having some form of mental illness and you release them back to the street and then they commit another crime or do something heinous and somebody else's life is lost. You put them in a mental institution. They're unable to stand trial because they've been diagnosed as schizophrenia or whatever the case might be and then you put them back on the street.

Speaker 1: 6:39

It's a revolving door, told me. Never present a problem without presenting some form of a solution. Okay, my idea of a solution we need ongoing lifelong monitoring of someone who is diagnosed as having some form of mental illness that is not able to function in society. This is what is needed. I have some work, some research, I looked up, and also I have additional assistance from a friend of mine who also did a lot of research on this topic, because it's a touching topic and I think other people can see where we're coming from when we discuss this, so give me a second here and I'll be right back at you. Let me hit you with some factual data on this mental illness. Stand by, we'll be right back.