Writing Journal Assignment #3

Andrew Connaughton
Eng1050 – 20
Writing Journal Assignment #3

I was surprised to see how much mental health care has diminished over the past 50 years, from 559,000 hospitalized in 1955 to 47,000 in 2005. I always thought that in the present day we are a little over-cautious and maybe a little paranoid about disease and illness. I often wonder what it was like 50 years ago when many diseases that we take medicine for now were unknown. Many people are diagnosed with ADD and ADHD today when it wasn't even regarded as an issue several years ago. But the fact that there is less mental health care being provided today that 50 years ago is extremely surprising. I thought that there would be more types of mental diseases, treatments, and requirements today, putting many more people in mental hospitals. If a person is living in a public community and is mentally ill, I believe that they need to be medicated. If they do not, they are putting themselves and everyone else around them at risk, as stated in the article. The sick people should be forced to take medication because if they are unaware that they are ill then they are probably an intensive case. If they continue to refuse medication, then they should either be forced to move out of the community or be put in a mental facility, preferably the latter so that they don't hurt anyone, including themselves.