By David E. Geiger, MEE, PE (ret’d.)
Sadly, there are those with mental illness across the nation who have no place to live except the streets. They have the additional brand of “homeless.” And they get no help. It happened in my case. It happens in America. It happens around the world. The reason why they receive no help is because the law says that the person suffering must ask for help. And because the patient does not see himself as sick, called anosognosia, he does not ask for help and so gets worse and worse until he finally kills himself or someone else. This has been the law of the land for over half a century.
Today a growing number of people – including me – are saying this is crap and are making inroads to understand how this works and what can be done about it. The laws have begun to change as a result of our efforts. The changes began in Louisiana about a half year ago where the law now says that if a person shows something called “psychiatric deterioration” the person can be taken off the street for treatment.
I am trying to make this work in NJ. Write to your State assembly person.
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Comment on the book:
Powerful and compelling, very hard to put down, and I kept thinking about it each time I had to close the book for real life. -Paisley Booker 5/5 stars on Goodreads.