If you have a disease that affects your brain, that is somehow different. They're the walking wounded. They have psychiatric diagnoses, but they continue to work. Schmitz never approached mental health service about free psychiatric care. But if he had, Lindsey said, it's doubtful Schmitz would have received much help.
Many psychiatric illnesses take years of counseling and drugs.
The state-funded mental health service has been operating with a flat budget for several years and must ration its resources to the most severely mentally impaired. That leaves little money for treatment of people like Schmitz. These kind of cases are out there. They are a concern. Talk to us.