>>1960997This is the typical liberal spouted BS, but what Reagan did was really just in response to what the ACLU did.
In the 1970's the ACLU started suing mental institutions left and right, on top of that they legislated against keeping people involuntarily committed when they could be treated outside the hospital setting. With the advancement of anti psychotic medication and treatment which could be given outpatient and these new laws pushed by the ACLU, patient censuses (number of admitted hospital patients) dropped drastically. Of course this was pretty short sighted as most mental patients don't like to take their meds and typically stop quickly after discharge.
So you had all these massive psych facilities which were built to house and maintain hundreds of people for long periods of time. Now because of the ACLU they sat mostly empty, a shell of what they used to be. So they got shut down because they didn't have the volume of business they used to have.
So don't blame Reagan next time a schizophrenic throws his shit on you, blame their ACLU ensured "Freedoms".
source: Psych nurse who sees the same fucking people constantly cycle in and out all the time. As soon as they stabilize we can no longer hold them despite knowing that they will stop taking their meds and be back a week later. Legally our hands are tied though and psychiatric nursing is essentially an expensive catch and release program.
but yea...keep blaming Reagan like an idiot
