AThrough the country, the disturbing trend is accelerated: the return of the institutional character – the brand has been renamed and re -framing as “modern mental care”. From the ruler Cathy Hochol Click to expand the voluntary commitment In New York to Robert F. Kennedy Junior Suggest “wellness farms” Under the Make America’s healthy initiative again (Maha), politicians revive the logic of imprisonment under the guise of care.
These proposals may differ in form, but they participate in a common function: expanding the strength of the state in a scanning, detention and “treatment” of marginalized people who are considered a disorder or perverted. Away from providing real support, it reflects a profound investment in the fly -control community – especially for disabled, non -disabled and racist societies and LGBTQIA+. Societies that have often seen how institutions framing as “treatment” are both Violent history and its continuous heritage. By doing this, these policies erase societal solutions, undermine autonomy, and strengthen the same imprisonment systems that they claim to exceed.
Take Hochol suggestionWho seeks to reduce the dumping of the Importing Psychological Hospital in New York. Under her plan, individuals cannot be arrested not because they pose an imminent danger, but because they are considered unable to meet their basic needs due to “mental illness”. This mysterious and subjective criterion opens the door to controlling the overwhelming state to people who have not been unprecedented, and disturbed by others who struggle to stay amid systematic neglect. Hochul also suggests expanding the authority to start forced therapy for a broader group of professionals – including psychopaths – and requires practitioners to be treated in a person’s history, in fact to create previous diseases as reasons for detention in the future.
This is not a margin suggestion. It depends on an increasing wave of efforts to restore the constitution at the country level. In 2022, the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, directed the police and EMTS by force Hospital people are considered “mentally ill”Even without the imminent danger signs. In California, the governor of the ruler Gavin News People are forced to “the treatment” that the court ordered.
Now, these efforts are shipped at the federal level. The RFK JR’s Mahaa “Well-based” initiative suggests a reaction to homelessness and addiction-an idea Clearly repeat the institutional farms From the twentieth century, where the disabled people and colored people were restricted, wiped and exploited under the rehabilitation guise.
Recently, the US Department of Health and Humanitarian Services (HHS) I announced a comprehensive restructuring This will dismantle critical agencies and unify the authority under a “new management of America” (AHA). It is in line with the RFK JR initiative and the guidance of “Government Efficiency Management”, Donald Trump, the plan merges the management of drug and mental health services (SAMHSA), HRSA and other agencies in a central structure that focuses on apparently on combating chronic disease. But through this restructuring – And the collective launch of HHS employees The federal government installs specialized infrastructure that supports mental health, disability services and low -income societies.
Restructuring is already ongoing: 20,000 jobs for it It has been eliminatedInverted regional offices, and community life management (ACL) Solve its vital programs For the elderly and persons with disabilities scattered through other agencies without a few clarity or accountability. This is not an administrative simplification; It is a calculated dismantling of protection and support, dressed in the discourse of competence and reform. Samhsa – the country’s behavioral health system column, is responsible for coordinating addiction services, responding to crises and societal mental health care – The charges are being chargedThreatening programs such as the 988 crisis line and access to opiate treatment. These moves not only reflect austerity, but a broader government strategy for Manufactured confusion. By dissolving the same institutions in charge of adhering to the rights and needs of low -income and low -income persons, the federal government sets the basis for a more expanded and less accountable “care” system.
This new era of psychological control is marketed as an ethical necessity. Supporters insist on having a human duty to intervene – “help” people who suffer. But coercion does not care. Contracts from the research shows that the non -voluntary (forced) psychological interventions often It leads to shock, lack of confidenceand And the poorest health results. The forced hospital has been linked to Increase the risk of suicide Long -term association from mental health care. More importantly, it turns attention from the actual engines of distress: poverty, instability in housing, criminalization, regular racism, and broken health care system.
The claim that we simply need more family of psychiatry is distraction. What we need is the transformation of the full model – away from coercion and group care. Interested alternatives already exist: First housing initiativesand Response teams to non -police crises and peersand Damage programsAnd Voluntary and societal health services. These models give priority to dignity, independence, support for monitoring, control and imprisonment.
like He argues Layat bin MoshePrisons were not simply resorted to asylum. Instead, the two systems coexist and develop, work alongside investigation, and contains and controls the marginalized population. Today, rehabilitation is under a more therapeutic interface: “wellness farms”, court transfer programs, an expanded voluntary commitment. The language has changed, but logic remains the same.
This moment requires resistance. We must reject the idea that locking people is a form of care. These proposals must be named for what they are: the state -run containment strategies, rooted in the ability, racism and fear of non -conformity.
Real public health does not depend on strength. It does not require the inventory of people or pathological poverty. This means meeting the needs of people – through housing, community care, health care and support, voluntary and civilized systems.
Also budget negotiations in New York Continue to continue – with expansion to the unique commitment to the table – and since RFK JR offers fly care proposals at the federal level, we face a decisive option: will we continue the long history of institutional violence, or will we build something better – something rooted in justice and collective luxury?
The future of mental health care – and human dignity itself – depends on our answer.
