1990 report on the state of care for the seriously mentally ill

By the Public Citizen Health Research Group and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill:

• 1 in 5 of the 2.8 million people with serious mental illnesses receiving sufficient care
• State of psychiatric services for the seriously mentally ill in a state of near collapse
• Federal budget for mental health research = $515 million – just a fraction of the billions spent on Aids, Cancer and Heart Disease research
• Not since the 1820′s had so many untreated people with mental illnesses lived on the streets, in public shelters, in substandard boarding houses, transient hotels, or jails.

Torrey, E. Fuller, Karen Erdman, Sidney M. Wolfe, and Laurie M. Flynn (1990). Care of the Seriously Mentally Ill: A Rating of State Programs. Washington DC: Public Citizen Health Research Group and National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

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