Bedlam

Click to view the trailer for Bedlam

As a person living with mental illness, I am outraged as I watch this trailer. Please, I beg you, NOT to look away. In my opinion, the mentally ill have been and still are, more stigmatized by Society then any ethnicity, gender affiliation, or social class. In the 1960s, President JFK presented The Community Mental Health Act of 1963. This Act did shut down many institutions in the nation that were holding mentally ill persons as prisoners. These institutions were used to keep disabled persons and the mentally ill “out of sight, out of mind”. Unfortunately, Kennedy’s assassination put this act in jeopardy of carrying out his plan to fruition. Instead, the mentally ill and disabled fell between the cracks of society, leaving us with the horrific debacle we now have in 2020. As a consumer of these woefully lacking services, I can attest that they often serve to worsen the sufferers condition. The family members and friends of those with Disorders, are left feeling helpless and lacking in resources. I witness the fall-out from this broken system on a regular basis now that I am in full-time advocation. I spent years in denial, hiding my condition… now devoting all I am able in hopes of fostering change for those like me. Change MUST take place. The mentally ill live a life that is currently plagued by stigma, a lack of medical facilities run properly, and a deficit of caring psychiatrists and therapists. A campaign of Education and Training on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves is needed. The over sedation with psychiatric meds and restraining a patient is still common practice in 2020. While necessary opioids and pain meds are restricted even after major surgery, psychiatric meds are distributed as if in a Pez Dispenser. Potent psychiatric medication that can alter the brain and cause other psychological and physiological side effects that cannot be treated or reversed. It is way past time that we as a society open the doors of inclusion, diversity training and tolerance to the Mentally Ill Community. Please pass it on.

Thank You, Alice M. Pirola 

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