True Stories

My title is reflective of a documentary I watched last night ( April 28, 2009) on PBS. Shocking, sadden, and hit with a dose of reality were just some of the emotions I felt as I sat in pure astonishment watching the special that highlighted mental illness at its best.

So much hit close to home it became a little painful to watch. It is amazing how medicine can totally turn a persons personality around. I sat and watched a story on a man who was arrested multiple times due to delusions. He thought he was the "Antichrist," Osama bin Laden or he was trying to capture him, and the devil. Out of all the features in the documentary Lynn Moore stuck out more than any of the subjects.

He seemed to be fine if he was on his meds and under supervision. Moore like the rest of the mental ill men in the documentary were fine as long as they had someone there to tell them what to do (when to take their medications). Everything went to hell in a handbasket when they were either released from jail or the group homes some of them lived in.

The purpose of the documentary is to say that people like Lynn Moore do not belong in jail but in a supervised psychiatric hospital. With funds being cut daily and people like more constantly ending up in jail the unasked question is what is the real solution? Mentally ill people do not belong in jail. At the same time there just is not the manpower to make sure that medicines are being taken.

Mental illness is a double edge sword. There are solutions to problems but often the treatment is not accessible or affordable. Many mentally ill people lack support of loved ones and are left to fend for themselves. Sucky, most definitely but unfortunately this is a sad and true reality.