One quarter of arrestees booked in San Francisco were found to have contact with Mental Health Services. Jails are under a consent decree which legally binds them to provide psychiatric services to all who need them. The lack of housing for psychiatrically disabled individuals is another destablizing element for a traumatically neglected population. Psychiatric treatment must be seen as an integral part of the overall medical system of care, as the root cause of psychiatric illness is brain disease. For too long, individuals with psychiatric disabilities have been isolated, stigmatized and shunned.
Psychiatric disabilities are treatable.
Treatment must be provided on demand and in a variety of methods and settings that address diverse population needs. Given the advances in psychiatric treatment in the last ten years, it is unconscionable that anyone in this city should suffer, become homeless, and possibly die due to the effects of a treatable condition, simply because they are poor.