May 07, 2005

Human Rights for Mentally Ill

One of our members (Capricorne) pointed us towards this recent report on human rights for the mentally ill, written by an instructor at the Harvard University school of public health. A brief excerpt is below:

Out of the Shadows: Using Human Rights Approaches to Secure Dignity and Well-Being for People with Mental Disabilities

Mental health is perhaps the most neglected area of health policy and programming. According to the 2001 World Health Report, “some 450 million people suffer from a mental or behavioral disorder, yet only a small minority of them receive even the most basic treatment” [1]. More than 40% of countries have no mental health policy and over 30% have no mental health program. Over 90% of countries have no mental health policy that includes children and adolescents [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental and behavioral disorders are estimated to account for 12% of the global burden of disease, yet the mental health budgets of the majority of countries constitute less than 1% of their total health expenditures [1]. The relationship between disease burden and disease spending is clearly disproportionate.

See the full report: Out of the Shadows: Using Human Rights Approaches to Secure Dignity and Well-Being for People with Mental Disabilities



Comments

To Whom it may concern,
My name is marshall and i live in florida. My mom is mentally ill and she thinks she does not need treatment. She has no place to live due to the present situation with her sister. They both have their own problems and all they did was fight.Anyway i can not take care of my mother much longer. Hotels are to expensive to keep her there. She is also HIV+ and i would like to know if there is government assistance she can receive. Thank You for your and help,

Marshall Esposito
(904) 940-0582

Posted by: Marshall Esposito at December 7, 2005 12:10 PM

Hi, I have a daughter that is mentally ill. The doctors have diagnosed her with several disorders(borderline personnality, schizo effective, schizophrenic, compolsive obsessive disorder). She has been in and out of the hospital since she was 12 (now 19). She seems to live in her own little world. Talking about how many kids she has, her differnt ethnic backgrounds (she is caucasian), living in dead bodies, and more off the wall stuff. This last stay in the hospital has been for 6 months. The doctor is now telling us she knows what she is doing and can take care of herself. I think he just doen't know what to do with her or how to help her. We have not been able to see her for a month because the doctor is trying new behavioral stradegies when she gets agressive ( take family away). I finally got to see her yesterday after a month. I don't think she even knew it had been that long. They let us meet in her room which was like a pig sty. All of her clothes where dirty, sour milk in cartons, no sheets on the bed, she had very dirty clothes on stained with how many days of food (who knows), she smelled bad. It broke my heart to see all of this. We can not afford to keep her with us so we do not get any custodial rights. I know the doctors has seen her room and the way she looks he is suppose to see her every other day. I know these people are probley tired of dealling with her, but that is their job. How can I make sure they are taking care of her when I can't see her. You have to keep telling her what to do and help her do it. They all act like she is going to hurt them because she has gotten agressive and hurt people before. If she is not able to take care of herself (no matter what the docttors says) then they should help her. What can I do? Thanks for reading my helpless feelings.
Betty

Posted by: betty at April 24, 2006 06:42 AM

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