So I have a sister that is suffering from some kind of mental illness (depression at least). I have known for awhile that she has been behaving very erratically and its led her to all kind of destructive behavior including having an affair with a man who was living in the house with her and her husband and child (this guy's girlfriend and child also were living there). Finally it became apparent that she was cheating and my BIL confronted the guy (and it nearly did get violent) but finally he was able to get him and his gf and child out and while they were gone tossed this guys belongings out on the porch and locked him out. And my sister agreed to stay and try to work things out with her husband. Some in my family thought that the worst was over.I didn't.

I have known for quite awhile that she was ill and have been trying to get her husband to get her treatment. He's tried and she has gone on anti-depressants but who knows if she is really taking them or if they are even helping?
Anyway the upshot is that last night she tried to kill herself and swore that she would be dead by Sunday. Finally, because she is a danger to herself BIL had her committed involuntarily for observation.
I knew last week that she needed to be committed but as a friend put it "unfortunately they can't commit you for doing stupid things". Why must we wait till they are a threat to themselves or to others? By the time you get to that point it can be too late to stop something bad from happening.
Why can't we figure out some better way of dealing this?
I hate that there is such a stigma *still* with mental illness that the lack of adequate care and treatment gets largely ignored by the MSM and almost all the politicians. I have heard about people who have their own family so prejudiced against mental illness/and the professionals that treat it that they had to struggle with their illness on their own or totally lose the only support they had?
How many of the homeless are mentally ill people that the institutions are forced to let out because of legal issues?
How many people are thrown in prison when it is psychiatric care that they really need? If we invested more in treatment we wouldn't have to keep building prisons!!
How much crime is committed by people who either a) are undiagnosed mentally ill people or b) people who have gone off their meds because nobody can legally force them to take them?
Lets not forget that in our cry for universal health care, that the mental health system is in even worse shape but has been ignored for far too long because "crazy" people (and I am just as guilty as others of casually throwing that around) make us too uncomfortable to deal with effectively as a society.
Forgive my rant, but my heart is breaking today.