Perhaps the most despicable treatment of the mental ill occurred in Europe during the Middle Ages. While Muslim Arabs sequestered their mentally ill in asylums, in Europe the mentally ill were shunned and left to make due wandering through the countryside. In the 1950s, the appearance of psychotropic drugs that for many controlled the most several behaviors improved the prognosis for many of the mentally ill. This treatment permitted the release of many formerly confined patients. Unfortunately, many are left in a limbo between institutionalization and inadequate supervision.
Medication only works if it is taken according to specific protocols.
There is a class of chronically mentally ill individuals who are too functional to be placed in confinement, yet not sufficiently responsible to be counted on to remain on regular medication. There also remains a battle between single-minded civil libertarians whose excessive concern for the personal liberty of the mentally ill precludes compelling the mentally ill to take medication, while the true freedom of action of these individuals is radically constrained by their disability. Ultimately some find themselves incarcerated, not by the mental health community, but by the judicial system. Trauma at birth, coupled with chronic drug use by my nephew's biological mother conspired to produce severe emotional disorders. Despite the help and attention provided by his parents, when he reached adolescence it was clear that his emotional development and maturity would never keep pace with his physical growth.